Wine specific River cruises...who's the best

[meicheraxo]

Want to think about future cruising and are planning a river cruise for 2024. I'm looking at doing a wine specific cruise to really enjoy the wine regions over in Europe - thinking Danube and wondered which line would be the best to go on. Want wine excursions, wine dinners etc. 

 

Looking at Ama and Avalon. Would love to hear folks recommendations.

 

Michele

[Roz]

2024...nothing like planning ahead. 😉

 

I've never been on a wine cruise, but just for the heck of it I did a little research.  Seems as thought most wine cruises concentrate on France and Portugal.  Wine cruises for the Rhine and Danube are more limited, which is why I assume you're looking at Ama and Avalon.  I wouldn't hesitate to sail on either one, but Ama is generally thought to be a bit more upscale.  

 

Even though they weren't wine cruises, I learned a lot about regional wines on my 3 Uniworld cruises, and I was pleased with the wine pairings at dinner.  For instance, in Hungary I was surprised to learn that there are white Tokay wines.  

 

Good luck with your planning. 

[dogs4fun]

14 minutes ago, Roz said:

For instance, in Hungary I was surprised to learn that there are white Tokay wines.  

We enjoyed a wonderful tasting experience at the Faust Wine Cellar in Budapest.  Our sommelier was awesome - we had no idea that Hungary produced quality wines.

 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

We enjoyed a wonderful tasting experience at the Faust Wine Cellar in Budapest.  Our sommelier was awesome - we had no idea that Hungary produced quality wines.

 

 

Love a good Hungarian Kékfrankos (aka Blaufränkisch, aka Lemberger). It was definitely fun to discover all of those nice wines during our time in Budapest.

Edited October 25, 2020 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

That said, I agree with Roz that Uniworld does (or at least did) a nice job with local wines, every time we've sailed with them. They were always bringing in local wines from the towns that we were visiting, and the daily wine choices were different almost every day. A great chance to try wine that you ordinarily might not find, or even know about. To me, trying local food and wine is a huge part of why we travel. And there is a lot to discover along the Danube, though those wines may not be as familiar to us in the States.

 

In all honesty though, if I wanted to do a wine-intensive visit to any of these regions, I would prefer to DIY by land rather than on a river cruise. I'd rather visit the smaller wineries in a group of just two, and eat in local restaurants of my choosing with the wines that they recommend, rather than take a winery tour with thirty other people and eat on board the ship. I like to be more immersed in the food and wine regions. I like to set my own itinerary. We have a great system; Chris picks about 3x more stops than would be humanly possible to see in a day, and then we get to as many as we can or want to on a given day.

 

Nothing against river cruises; we like them and would happily do another, when I want a relaxing trip. I just think I can customize our trip better, and enjoy it more, when it is just for the two of us. For example, that's exactly what we did last November, when we were looking at Douro cruises. Instead of doing a Douro cruise, we did a DIY Douro visit. We flew into Lisbon, and drove up to Porto over a few days, stopping at wineries and restaurants along the way. After a few days of side trips, food, and wine in Porto, we drove to Salamanca and Madrid.

 

Same itinerary, but at our own pace, and we enjoyed so much local food and wine... We brought 12 bottles home and had fond memories of each one. What a trip! I love to relive my trips through my pictures and blogs; that's what keeps me going during these crazy times.

[Roz]

2 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

We enjoyed a wonderful tasting experience at the Faust Wine Cellar in Budapest.  Our sommelier was awesome - we had no idea that Hungary produced quality wines.

 

 

55 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

That said, I agree with Roz that Uniworld does (or at least did) a nice job with local wines, every time we've sailed with them. They were always bringing in local wines from the towns that we were visiting, and the daily wine choices were different almost every day. A great chance to try wine that you ordinarily might not find, or even know about. To me, trying local food and wine is a huge part of why we travel. And there is a lot to discover along the Danube, though those wines may not be as familiar to us in the States.

 

The best sommelier I had on a Uniworld cruise was on a Budapest to Passau itinerary.  She was a Hungarian lady in her early 20s, and she knew her wines.  I think her family may have been in the wine business.  

 

Eastern Europe has a lot to offer and there are hidden treasures.  

[Farang]

Our first river cruise was with Uniworld in 2015.  The cruise started with a land portion in Prague and ended in Basel, Switzerland.  They no longer offer this itinerary, but it was wonderful.  The actual cruise started in Bamberg and traversed West on the Main through the Franken wine region.  Wines at dinner, all local, were fantastic.  Only when we got home did we come to realize the Franken production is fairly small and primarily locally consumed.. We should have bought some there and sent it home.

[TakingFlight]

Try an internet search for wine River cruises.  Quite a few winery owners sponsor wine-themed cruises, especially on Ama. We participated in such a cruise (on Viking) with a local Santa Ynez winery. It was a Bordeaux cruise and it was fantastic! The best of the 5 River cruises I’ve been on. Especially enjoyed blending my own Cognac in Cognac! And we had fun comparing the California Bordeaux-style wines the owners brought with the French Bordeaux wines on board. 

[Roz]

1 hour ago, TakingFlight said:

Try an internet search for wine River cruises.  Quite a few winery owners sponsor wine-themed cruises, especially on Ama. We participated in such a cruise (on Viking) with a local Santa Ynez winery. It was a Bordeaux cruise and it was fantastic! The best of the 5 River cruises I’ve been on. Especially enjoyed blending my own Cognac in Cognac! And we had fun comparing the California Bordeaux-style wines the owners brought with the French Bordeaux wines on board. 

 

It looks like the OP has already identified Ama as a possibility.  

[mrspaper]

I personally sailed on AMA wine theme cruise. It was great. Besides the regular excursions, several eves we went off the ship for wine tastings. I almost stayed on the ship for one of them and it was the best one, located in a castle. It was a Danube cruise. One night, instead of wine, we went to a place that had beer and lots of singing, etc. 

 

On the ship with us was a vineyard owner from the states. He did several wine tastings on the ship. Those were not impressive to me, but an extra perk, nonetheless