Pictures: Summary: Loire 2024 - Châteaux and Wine - by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller

Dear wine friends,

It is about time to remind you to join me on two extraordinary wine tours in the fall of 2025.

From September 19th to September 29th, 2025 we explore the wine regions in the eastern part of Northern Italy. We start in Munich and end our tour in the magical city of Venice.

You are right: Munich is not a wine growing area but we will start our wine tour through the Northern Italian Alpine wine regions in the beer capital. Saturday morning we will witness the festive “Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries” which is the highlight of every Oktoberfest. The huge brewery horses pulling the beer wagons to the festival tents are beautifully decorated, the landlords and -ladies are dressed in their best traditional Bavarian outfits and this festive beginning of the Oktoberfest has not changed much since its beginning in 1810. You will be a witness to a true, extraordinary, festive tradition unique to Munich.

Sunday, we take the train to the incredibly charming town of Bozen, the heart of the Trentino-Alto Adige wine region and gateway to the higher Alpin mountains. We explore the beautiful wine regions of Alto Adige and Trentino and learn about many grape varieties indigenous to these regions. We also learn about winemaking in the "cool-climate" wine regions. With climate change inevitable, higher altitude regions - such as these ones in the Alpine region - where temperatures are considerably cooler, will become more and more important for producing high quality wines of elegance and moderate alcohol levels. The heritage – also in the winemaking field - is truly Germanic, given the fact that Trentino-Alto Adige belonged to the Austrian Habsburg Empire since the Middle Ages. After WWI and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, these regions were distributed to Italy.

We continue travelling south to the Veneto wine region. This is the region surrounding the city of Verona. Out hotel in Verona is a stone throw from the famous Romeo and Juliette balcony and the Roman Amphitheater where every year in August the famous Opera Festival takes place. One of the countries most famous wine comes from here: Amarone, one of the world’s most unique red wines, which we will explore in detail.

Our journey takes us further east to the Veneto’s Prosecco region. We will stay in the breathtakingly, beautiful Valdobbiadene-Conegliano region - the Prosecco DOCG. We spend two nights in the breathtakingly beautiful Valdobbiadene-Conegliano region, the best zone for top-notch Prosecco production with the Cartizze hill and its ‘Grand Cru’ vineyards. We will learn about Prosecco production, a sparkler made from the autochtone Grape variety “Glera” which is produced in the “Charmat” method by an extended second fermentation in a tank.

Our final stop will be the Lagoon of Venice where we visit Orto di Venezia, the only winery in Venice, located on the quiet San-Erasmo Island. For lunch that day our boat takes us to the small, romantic island of Torcello where we will have a fantastic seafood meal. In the late afternoon we will dock at the Piazza San Marco in Venice to check-in at our hotel. Maybe (I will observe the website to get the schedule for the 2025 / 2026 season as soon as it will be published) I can add a treat for all opera fans: attending an opera performance at the world-famous Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

From October 5th to October 16th, 2025 we explore the Loire Valley wine region in France. We start in the city of Nantes and end our tour in Paris.

When I think about the Loire Valley or when I have a glass of a great Loire wine in my hand I think about the hospitality of the people I met, when travelling there, the stunning beauty of the châteaux, my amazement at the skills in the 14th, 15th, 16th century to create such huge, impressive buildings, and the exceptional high quality of the wines across the board. I love the Cabernet Franc from the Saumur-Champigny region, the Chenin-Blanc from Savennière, and the Crémant de Loire. These wines are simply delicious, the tannins are tamed and the fruit is just beguiling. Of course, I am always in awe when visiting the magnificent châteaux and indulging in the incredible history that shaped France and eventually Europe. The Loire river is at times a wild river wild at this time of the year and had overflowed its banks in large areas.

The Loire Valley is a huge wine region spanning from Muscadet, close to the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Loire river in the west to Sancerre in the east bordering the Burgundy region and then south to the Auvergne mountains parallel to southern Beaujolais and the Côte Rôtie. This vast region has about 185,000 acres of vineyards, most of which are on the hillside banks of the river. The Loire Valley is home to 87 appellations and produces wines of a sheer diversity of styles and varietals, ranging from bone dry to sticky sweet dessert wines, red, white, rosé, vinified in both still and sparkling format. Signature grapes are Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc for the whites and Cabernet Franc for the reds. However, there are several autochthonous varieties which are worth exploring and which we will learn to appreciate on this trip.

The Loire Valley’s viticulture is steeped in history and still today has a cohesive artisan wine culture. It respects tradition but is at the same time dynamic and experimental. It is the Loire wine region where biodynamic wine production took off and subsequently this region has become the spiritual home of natural winemaking. Currently three quarters of wineries and about 80% of the vineyards have achieved some sort of environmental accreditation.

Do not wait too long to decide. The tours are well booked, however a couple slots are available at this time.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information. If someone is interested in the Northern Italy tour and does not want to visit the Octoberfest in Munich, please get in touch with me, I will adjust your itinerary.

Please go to my website: https://ombiasypr.com/ for information on how to sign up, pricing, the itinerary, etc. (The itinerary of the Munich to Venice tour is not yet online, I attach the addresses so you know what we are doing during this tour - the online itinerary will come soon)

I am very much looking forward to travelling with you and to greet you either in Nantes or in Munich in the fall.

CHEERS

Annette

Wine Tours - Wine Education - Wine Events

Annette Schiller, Diplom-Volkswirt

Washington DC - Frankfurt am Main

USA: Ph and WhatsApp +1 703 459 7513

GER: Ph and WhatsApp +49 -177 337 0281

www.ombiasypr.com

Office:

6404 Woodsong Ct

McLean, VA 22101 - USA

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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Announcement: Don't Miss 2 Fantastic Wine Trips to Europe in the Fall 2025! Northern Italy: from Munich to Venice - The Loire Valley: from Nantes to Paris, led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours

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