For 2019, Tour de Wines will be pairing the best wines with some of the best races in professional cycling. Whether it’s a full-bodied Italian red or a dry Austrian Riesling, we will be pairing wines from the Grand Tours to the cobbled Classics. May your wines never peak and your rubber always stay down.
2019 Il Lombardia. Best paired with Ceretto Barbaresco. "So much depends upon Barbaresco." Nothing more beautiful than fall bike racing in Italy. Grapes being harvested. Let this wine remind you of bike races before and those to come. Vendemmia 2019.
2019 UCI Men’s Worlds Road Race. Best paired with Tabarrini Il Padrone Delle Vigne Bianco Umbria. Sometimes an unexpected winner calls for an unexpected wine. After the rain, the wind, the long hours of racing, we need perfectly balanced acidity with hints of peach and apple.
2019 Vuelta a España: Week 3. Best paired with Nit de Nin Mas d’En Caçador. As the last of the Grand Tours gives way to Worlds and falling leaves, the 2019 Vuelta ha been a superb cycling vintage. Spain was its usual gorgeous self, and this last week could do with spicy notes and low alcohol.
2019 Vuelta a España: Week 2. Best paired with Tabarrini Montefalco Rosso Boccatone. There's nothing like the Vuelta to make us fall in love with cycling while also mourning the end of the racing season. As this Grand Tour looks to be a thriller to Madrid, we need ripe cherries and rose petals.
2019 Vuelta a España: Week 1. Best paired with Vinos de Terruños La Milla Albariño. Marred with crashes. Hailstones. The red jersey changing hands seemingly at the end of each stage. And this is only the first week of the Vuelta. May notes of pineapples and peach never leave us.
2019 Tour of Utah. Best paired with COS Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico. With the hangover of the Tour de France firmly behind us, this year’s Tour of Utah calls for round tannins and biting acid. This year’s edition bursts not only with Hermans' performance, but also hints of strawberries.
2019 Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian. Best paired with Vietti Barbera d'Alba Scarrone 2016. One of the most beautiful races on the calendar is best paired with one of the finest expressions of Barbera. Tar and rose petals are at their best during the final run through San Sebastian.
2019 Tour de France: Week 3. Best paired with Alphonse Mellot Edmond Sancerre Blanc. Whenever history is made, you know it has been a good Tour de France. We pair the last week of the tour with Golden colors and green hues to highlight the beginning of the Golden Age of Colombian cycling.
2019 Tour de France: Week 2. Best paired with Domaine Durand - "Prémices" - Cornas. With week 2 of the TdF giving hope to all of France, we went with a Rhône. 100% Syrah. This wine is like a Pyrenees climb filled with dangerously sharp peaks of violets and garrigue.
2019 Tour De France: Week 1. Best paired with Lillet Rouge. We celebrate 100 years of the maillot jaune with a nice fortified wine. With the racing heating up until the Alps, we recommend 2 parts tonic, 1 part Lillet, and an orange wedge. To summers in France.
2019 Critérium du Dauphiné. Best paired with Bodegas Raul Perez Ultreia de Valtuille. Horrible crashes aside (get well soon, Froome!), the Critérium means that the Tour is just around the corner. This whole-cluster fermented beast of a red offers earthy and fine tannins.
2019 Giro d'Italia: Week 3. Best paired with Fiorini - Lambrusco di Sorbara "Corte degli Attimi". With a historic win for Ecuador, this vibrant and acidic pink makes us yearn for future Giros to come. Tired legs are easily put to rest by aromas of lemon and bursting floral highlights.
2019 Giro d'Italia: Week 2. Best paired with Albino Rocca Barbaresco. High Mountains. Ill-timed stops. Dizzying descents. Week 2 of the Giro has offered enough storylines for a thousand Grand Tours. As we prepare for the third week, give us bright ripe ruby red with black cherries on the nose.
2019 Giro d’Italia: Week 1. Best paired with Bodegas Ostatu Rioja Rosado. The first week of a Grand Tour is often a tense affair, and we need floral and crisp notes to settle the sprinting nerves. As the Giro prepares for the mountains, expect a wine that is light on the palate.
2019 Tour of California. Best paired with Division Gamay Noir "Lutte." While this year’s edition was a controversial affair, the Tour of California offered the best expression of New World cycling. Give us Mount Baldy bursting white pepper, tangy cranberry and fresh strawberries.
2019 Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Best paired with Bouchard Père & Fils Les Lavières Premier Cru. If we can’t have snow for this year’s edition of LBL, at least give us rain. With a move from Ans to Liège, we celebrate with good acidity and plenty of black-cherry fruit.
2019 Flèche Wallonne. Best paired with Castello del Terriccio 'Tassinaia.' Hard racing. Multiple trips up the Mur de Huy. Moules-frites. This is Ardennes racing as we have come to love. For Flèche, it is all about structure, stony soil, and dense, round plums and cherries.
2019 Amstel Gold. Best paired with Buil & Giné Montsant Baboix. While Amstel Gold is considered a beer drinker’s race, this Dutch classic requires a red blend from the Monstant region of Spain. Strong layers of bright red berry flavors taste like attacks on the Cauberg.
2019 Paris-Roubaix. Best paired with Château Les Barraillots. For this year’s Paris-Roubaix, a perfectly balanced Margaux that will steady the nerves after hours on the cobbles. Notes of red cherries, tobacco and, spice. May the laps around Vélodrome André-Pétrieux never end.
2019 Tour of Flanders. Best paired with Vigneti Massa Barbera 'Monleale'. A timeless monument needs age-worthy Barbera. For a week considered holy among cycling devotees, give us high acidity, no filtration, and raspberry fruit. Let the wine and bergs flow until Roubaix.
2019 Dwars door Vlaanderen. Best paired with Olivier Rivière Ganko. As a preview of Flemish Ardennes to come, we see the restorative power of toastiness and gripping tannins as the cure for the Kruisberg and the Côte de Trieu. Peppery plum and wild berry flavors for the cobbles.
2019 Gent–Wevelgem. Best paired with Daniel Bouland Chiroubles. There is probably no greater joy than to be on the Kemmelberg with a bottle of Beaujolais. Rich notes of smoke, mineral, dark raspberry, and peppery violets. Perfect for whatever echelon life throws at you.
2019 E3 BinckBank Classic. Best paired with Huguet Can Feixes Blanc Seleccio. Controversy and name changes aside, E3 means one-day racing is in full swing. With DQS' performances so far this season, can anyone stop the pack? Effervescent with hints of melon and straw.
2019 Milan-San Remo. Best paired with G.D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole. The first monument of the season is a serious affair. A long race needs a wine with a long finish. Notes of rose, cherry, and tar. Tannins as big and bold as the watts needed to tackle the Poggio.
2019 Tirreno-Adriatico. Best paired with a Montenidoli - Sono Canaiuolo Rosato. Nothing is better for taking the edge off of steep gradients than a medium-bodied rosato. Round and expressive pink-berry flavors are perfect for seeing both coasts of Italy by bike.
2019 Paris-Nice. Best paired with a Jean-Baptiste Souillard Syrah. One of the most storied one-week stage races. For those halcyon days of pastis, pétanque, Poulidor, and perfectly balanced Northern Rhônes. Any race for the sun requires red berries, black pepper, and iron.
2019 Strade Bianche. Best paired with Meursault Les Chevalières. Nothing says the white roads of Tuscany better than hints of melon, hazelnuts, and lemon custard. After the dust settles off the riders, this White Burgundy will cure even the most tired of legs.
2019 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Best paired with Quinta de Saes. This Portuguese tinto is exactly what is needed for starting the cycling season off right. To combat the cold weather, sprinters need fine tannins and a spicy finish. A great Dao field blend for 2019.
2019 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Best paired with Paitin Barbera d'Alba Campolive. If you are going to spend February in a cow pasture watching cycling, it is best paired with pizza or pomme frites. Paitin is king, and the start to one day racing gives us hints of lavender and mint.
2019 Tour Down Under. Best paired with J.Denuzière Saint Joseph. Nothing like the first race of the season. When north of the Equator is tundra-like, we want our wines bold, full-bodied. 100% Syrah. Dark cherry with purple reflections. Hot racing to help motivate base miles.
