Food and wine trips to France, Italy, Spain and the UK

When Colin and Jenoa Matthes left their home state of Utah to embark on a world tour in 2019, they found themselves drawn to the food scene in places like France and Italy.

“We really love, in particular, the food in all these different countries… and the locality and their specialization in the different regions… That’s not really what we are. I get as much as in the US, where we come from about a wide range of cuisines from around the world,” Colin Matthes told CNBC by video call.

Last year, the couple founded a travel agency called Stay Aared, which organizes trips “designed around food”, according to the company’s website.

Stay A Regi’s first destination was Bologna, Italy, where guests on a month-long and teleworking food-tasting trip, sampled local mortadella sausages, and tasted almonds and pistachios (an assortment of pistachios). sorbet) and eat authentic tagliatelle al ragu, a noodle dish served with a traditional beef and pork sauce.

Next for Stay for a while is 10 days French pastry trip to Paris in June 2023, where guests will learn to make desserts and pies, from gateau opera, a layered sponge with coffee and chocolate fillings, to classic croissants, which involve quite a process. carefully.

Matthes, an amateur baker, says: While boulangeries and bakeries seem to be in every corner of Paris, recipes are hard to find. Authentic cooking to bake cakes at home. “I feel like a lot of them have been tweaked and can be simplified and… I don’t feel like a real French eclair recipe,” he told CNBC.

To make sure guests cook properly, Stay Aared hired pastry chef Jennifer Pogmore, who trained at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Pogmore will guide participants from a large kitchen apartment in the city’s 11th arrondissement, a district known for its restaurants, bars and opera houses.

Along with learning how to make classic French dishes, the itinerary includes a day of wine tasting in the Champagne region as well as a guided tour of the Le Marais district of Paris to sample delicacies such as cheeses and meats. frozen and chocolates.

There’s also plenty of time for people to explore the city. Matthes recommends visiting Brasserie Bellanger for traditional French staples and family-run bakery Poilane for “arguably the best croissant in Paris.”

Stay Aworthy’s Paris Bakery Tours start at $5,400 per person, excluding flights. The couple plan to take an Italian cooking course at a villa in Tuscany and experience gourmet dining in Spain’s Basque Country, known for its mouthwatering dishes known as pintxos.

“The main goal is for people … to have in-depth experiences with food and cuisine, especially local and regional cuisine,” Matthes told CNBC.

Pintxos are a staple in San Sebastian, one of the most popular spots for foodies in Spain’s Basque Country. The city is a highlight of northern Spain for a luxury tour operator SmoothRed. It organizes bespoke wine and food trips to the area, with sales manager Adam Stebbings suggesting flying to Bilbao, then experiencing the food of San Sebastian and the vineyards of Rioja.

“The triangle… Bilbao-San Sebastian with Rioja is very popular. It’s not just about doing a wine tour … it’s also a gourmet getaway,” Stebbings told CNBC by phone. phone.

A four-day trip can include two nights at Hotel Marques de Riscal, a luxury spa hotel in Rioja, with an eight-course meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant followed by a night at a five-star hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastian and dined at the Casa Julian de Tolosa steakhouse. Prices start from £2,289 ($2,650) per person, including transfers but not flights.

For pintxos, Stebbings recommends Borda Berri and MendaurBerria, both small bars in San Sebastian’s old town. For lunch, he recommends fish restaurant Elkano, about a half-hour drive west of San Sebastian. Pre-booking is as essential as the beginning Named as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world in 2021, says Stebbings.

Stebbings said interest in food-focused trips is growing. Sales are up 60% from 2019, although some of this increase is due to delayed bookings from 2020, he said. France’s Burgundy and Champagne regions are particularly famous, he said.

Stebbings says guests stay longer and add more excursions. During a tour of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, visitors can take a boat trip to an oyster farm off the coast of Montpellier. If they’re in Tuscany, they might add an e-bike tour or two to a vineyard or two.

Tuscany is famous for cities like Florence and Siena, both of which are close to Borgo San Vincenzoa new luxury boutique hotel named after the patron saint of winemaking.

The hotel encourages guests to get off the track and experience the region more authentically, through olive oil tastings from small producers to a cheese-making demonstration at a nearby farm.

According to hotel representatives, sleigh hunts near the historic town of Montalcino and cooking classes at a 13th-century castle with local chefs are popular activities, while an electric bike tour to enjoy the local wine Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is also very popular this year.

This fall, Borgo San Vincenzo will be opening a winemakers’ dinner, with many producers offering private tastings. One of the dinners will feature dishes prepared by the hotel’s chef Giulio Lombardelli, which will be paired with wine produced by his brother, Amadeo Lombardelli, from the nearby Icario vineyard.

Possible pairings include pumpkin, leek and almond lasagna with Icario Trebbiano 2021, white wine or spicy shrimp with pioppini mushrooms paired with Icario Nysa Rose 2021.

Local ingredients are at the heart of Culinary School in Daylesfordan organic farm and luxury real estate in the Cotswolds, a picturesque area known for its countryside and villages with honey-colored stone buildings.

The school’s half- and full-day classes – which range from artisan bread making to the butcher’s workshop – provide a way for guests to learn about the region through its products.

Participants can also sleep on the farm in one of its cottages, converted from the original 19th-century farmhouse, or they can stay at nearby Kingham, a village where Daylesford owns. cottages as well as The Wild Rabbit, a pub with accommodation.

Daylesford also has a farm shop, garden and antique center, liquor store and restaurant, plus a spa and a wide range of organic skin care products.

But despite its expansion over the past 20 years, Daylesford remains an organic farm “at its heart”, according to chef James Devonshire, who oversees its cooking school.

He told CNBC by phone. Visitors can find double Gloucester cheeses produced at its ice cream parlor or a barrel of heritage tomatoes grown in the garden.

Devonshire said: “We use as much material as possible from the garden throughout the year, adding that the garden is not open to the public.

People pick produce for their classes from the garden, with recent recipes including beef fillet with potatoes, capers and rocket and onion bhaji with charred cauliflower.

Classes are held in a high-ceilinged stone barn, and some of the most popular include canape making, a seasonal dinner and summer barbecue course, and a bonfire class.

Devonshire said: “While Daylesford’s shops and restaurants can be busy, the cooking school is quieter.

“It’s like a little oasis,” he said.