Angelo Gaja dragged Piedmont into the modern fine-wine world almost single-handedly. Combine it with white truffles in Alba and you have the best week in the Italian wine calendar.
Via Torino 5, 12050 Barbaresco CN, Italy
Barbaresco, Piedmont
Italy
Barbaresco · Sorì Tildìn · Sorì San Lorenzo
1859
Castle and cellars in the village of Barbaresco, with single-vineyard Nebbiolo tastings
By appointment, weekdays. Note: Via Torino 5 is the winery — number 18 is the office
The only estate where a Kapoor and a Grand Cru Chianti share the same courtyard. Ama is where collectors who also buy art tend to lose an entire afternoon — and the villa suites make it easy to stay the night.
Località Ama in Chianti, 53013 Gaiole in Chianti SI, Italy
Chianti Classico, Tuscany
Italy
Vigneto Bellavista · L'Apparita (Merlot)
Hamlet 12th century; modern era 1970s
A 12th-century hamlet doubling as a contemporary art park — site-specific works by Kapoor, Kentridge, Boetti and Cattelan among the cellars
Open Mon–Sat, closed Sunday; tastings are premium-priced
Gehry's pink-and-gold titanium ribbons erupting out of a medieval village is the single most startling sight in the wine world. The Cathedral cellar underneath holds bottles from every vintage since 1862.
C. Torrea Kalea 1, 01340 Elciego, Álava, Spain
Rioja Alavesa
Spain
Barón de Chirel Reserva
1858
Frank Gehry's Luxury Collection hotel over the 19th-century cellars, plus Michelin-starred dining and a Caudalie spa
Hotel, spa, restaurant and winery tours all bookable
Calatrava's most photogenic small building, set dead against a mountain range it deliberately imitates. Pair it with the walled hill town of Laguardia ten minutes away for a perfect half day.
La Hoya Bidea s/n, 01300 Laguardia, Álava, Spain
Rioja Alavesa
Spain
Ysios Reserva
2001
Santiago Calatrava's undulating cedar-and-aluminium roofline mirroring the Sierra de Cantabria behind it, with flight tastings and jamón
Spain's undisputed first growth, and one of the very few estates in the world that still coopers its own oak on site. Getting through the gate is itself a collector's credential.
47359 Vega Sicilia, Valbuena de Duero, Valladolid, Spain
Ribera del Duero
Spain
Único · Único Reserva Especial
1864
An in-house cooperage making its own barrels, and cellars where Único ages for a decade or more before release
Not open to the public — access by invitation, wine club or trade introduction
A time capsule that refuses to modernise — wines aged a decade in barrel and released when the family decides they are ready. The contrast between Hadid's futurist pavilion and the cobwebbed cellar behind it is the whole story of Rioja in one courtyard.
Av. Vizcaya 3, 26200 Haro, La Rioja, Spain
Rioja Alta
Spain
Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva · Tondonia Blanco
1877
Zaha Hadid's glass carafe pavilion grafted onto 19th-century cellars where nothing has changed in 140 years
Open Mon–Sat; guided tours around two hours, book ahead in summer
Home to Nacional, a 2.5-hectare plot of ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines that produces perhaps the rarest fortified wine on earth. The riverside tasting room in Pinhão is the easy way in — the estate above is the harder, better one.
R. da Praia 15, 5085-042 Pinhão, Portugal
Douro Valley
Portugal
Nacional Vintage Port
1715
Riverside tasting room with vintage Port flights, and terraced schist vineyards above the Pinhão river bend
Pinhão tasting room open daily 10.30am–7pm, no reservation needed; the quinta itself is by appointment
That infinity pool hanging above the river is the most-shared image in Portuguese wine, and it earns it. The century-old field blends planted with forty-odd varieties are the real reason to stay for lunch.
Quinta do Crasto, Gouvinhas, 5060-063 Sabrosa, Portugal
Douro Valley
Portugal
Vinha Maria Teresa · Crasto Superior
1615
The famous Souto de Moura infinity pool jutting over the valley, tastings in the family house, and old-vine field blends
Open daily 10am–6pm; book tours and lunches by email or phone
Three centuries of family ownership and the deepest vintage library in Port. Stay at The Yeatman on the hill above and you can taste 19th-century Tawnies with the entire Porto skyline in front of you.
Rua do Choupelo 250, 4400-088 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto
Portugal
Vintage Port · Scion · Very Old Single Harvest
1692
Historic lodges of vast aged barrels, a garden terrace for tastings, and The Yeatman five-star hotel and two-Michelin-star restaurant above
Open daily 10am–6.15pm; self-guided audio tour, no booking needed
The first estate in the world planted entirely to Riesling, and the birthplace of late-harvest wine after a messenger arrived late in 1775. The vaulted library cellar holds bottles back to 1748.
Schloss Johannisberg, 65366 Geisenheim-Johannisberg, Germany
Rheingau
Germany
Riesling Silberlack GG · Trockenbeerenauslese
1100
Baroque palace above the Rhine, the 900-year-old Bibliotheca Subterranea cellar, and a terrace restaurant over the vines
Open to visitors; private cellar tastings by arrangement
May–October
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