Wine is a drink completely of its place, its unique flavours and character born from the land where it is grown. Dry heat, cool mountain breeze, even early morning mist can all play its part in creating a wine that speaks of its provenance. We know at Skedaddle that places that make exceptional wine, also make for great cycling. Warm reliable sunshine, sloping river valleys and gentle hillsides, peaceful picturesque villages and farming country – all form the key ingredients of some of our most popular cycling routes and holidays.
So, pull the cork on a bottle of wine and begin an armchair journey to some of our favourite cycling destinations – your chance to imagine yourself riding through the vineyards with us…
Smoked Salmon and Cava
The classic way to start your Christmas meal, smoked salmon calls for a glass of fizz. Champagne might be the firstsparkling wine to spring to mind at Christmas, but we invite you to try a glass of Cava. Not as sweet as Prosecco and dry like Champagne, the Spanish sparkling wine is produced using the same champenoise methods as Champagne but with different varieties of grapes (Xarel-lo, Macabeo and Parellada). This means that like Champagne, Cava undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle. Compared to Champagne, Cava has many more authorised varieties alongside the traditional styles so it’s a wonderfully versatile drink to bring to the festive table and one that lends itself well to cocktails.
While the cooler climate of the Champagne region makes it tricky to obtain dry sparkling wines without added sugar, the mediterranean climate of Spain guarantees a reliable harvest year after year. It also makes this a wonderful destination for sunny cycling! Cava originated in the Penedès region of Catalonia, and you can enjoy riding the ribbons of snaking tarmac through the vineyards in the early stages of our three-week epic from Barcelona to Porto.
Cycling holidays in Catalonia
Roast Turkey and Vermentino or Valpolicella
Vermentino is a light-bodied white wine that grows mainly on Sardinia where it thrives in the warm and sunny climate. As you explore this mediterranean island’s beautiful coastline by bike on one of our many Sardinia cycling holidays, you can enjoy a glass of this refreshing wine, which makes a great alternative to Sauvignon Blanc.
Vermetino is delicious served with medium to lightweight dishes that are rich in herbs and spices, making it the perfect accompaniment to your turkey on Christmas day.
Cycling holidays in Sardinia
If you prefer red wine, the Valpolicella from Veneto is a great choice. In the hills around Verona and Lake Garda, you’ll find a beautiful landscape of rolling vineyards and picturesque villages. Valpolicella means ‘the valley of many cellars’ and the region produces several distinct wines. Lighter classico wines ( traditionally served slightly chilled) are great for a simple roasted turkey or go for a fuller Valpolicella Ripasso as an accompaniment to heartier turkey dishes with stuffing or gravy.
The Valpolicella hills are a riding highlight on our newest Gravel Trails of Veneto tour. Designed as an easier-paced gravel holiday, it’s an optimal balance of relaxed off-road riding, cities, culture and scenery. If you’re looking for something even more relaxing, then you might choose Lake Garda to Venice or Venetian Waterways bike and boat holiday.
Cycling holidays in Veneto
Beef and Barolo
Whether you fancy sticking to a traditional roast beef or bringing a little bit of Italian influence to the Christmas table with braised beef in Barolo, this ‘King of the Wines’ won’t disappoint. Barolo wine is made from late-ripening Nebbiolo grapes grown in the vineyards between Alba and Dogliani in Piedmont. This beautiful region of north-west Italy also happens to be an exceptional cycling destination – think picture-postcard rolling hills and medieval towns, much like you might find in Tuscany but with fewer tourists, quieter roads and a spectacular mountain backdrop of distant Alpine peaks. On your tour around Piedmont, you’ll pass through the vineyards of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato. This world-class wine region produces incredible wines like Barolo, Barbaresco and Asti Spumante – its history and value recognised by its UNESCO World Heritage status.
Barolo is a wine renowned for its rich full-bodiedness, lively acidity, and strong tannins which develop during its long aging process. The wine is celebrated for its complex and powerful flavours and aromas of rose, strawberry, earth, tar and spices. It complements braised meats and game meats such as venison. It equally pairs well with rich pasta, truffle and mushroom dishes, which is perfect for your visit to Piedmont where you’ll stay in Alba – a town famed for its white truffles.
Cycling holidays in Piedmont
Lamb and Brunello or Carménère
Lamb is a popular choice throughout the festive season, it needs little done to it to taste amazing and pairs well with many different intense reds. On our Italian trips we often select Brunello di Montalcino, to compliment remarkably simple but well-cooked roast meats that appear on the Tuscan table. Brunello can evoke the flavours of sage and black pepper, often used as a seasoning for lamb, so they work particularly well together.
Montalcino is situated in Tuscany, it lies at about forty kilometres south of Siena in a hilly area listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Brunello di Montalcino DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, the highest level of Italian wine appellations) is produced here, from nothing but 100% Sangiovese Grosso grapes.
Tuscany has an immense cycling history, its classic landscapes, rolling hills, cypress trees and medieval hilltop towns attract bike riders from all around the world. For an easy-paced road cycling holiday, with plenty of chance to explore and enjoy the regions wine heritage turn to the Giro della Toscana. For an off-road experience, taking in the famous white gravel roads of the region, Strade Bianche Explorer is perfect for gravel riding enthusiasts. Or why not hop on a mountain bike and explore the trails hidden in the woodlands, hills and valleys on the Sacred Routes Tuscany. During your stay in an Agriturisomo, a guest house on a farm, you can take a plunge in the infinity pool overlooking vineyards to begin your immersion into a landscape, perfect for wine and cycling.
Cycling holidays in Tuscany
Carménère is another great choice to accompany your lamb. As Chile‘s signature red grape, carménère makes intense anddark red wines with a distinctive flavours of subtle blackberry and green peppercorn notes. This grape found its way from France to Chile in the 19th Century but for a long time was wrongly identified as merlot. After pylloxera destroyed the carménère vineyards of Bordeaux, it was an exciting discovery that Chile was growing such a vast quantity of this delicious grape! A medium-bodied wine, carménère makes an excellent everyday food pairing wine so it’s a great one to have on hand throughout the festive season.
Cycling holidays in Chile
Salmon en Croûte and Chenin Blanc
Salmon en Croûte is a French classic and a popular main dish served at Christmas. This rich and creamy pastry dish is best enjoyed with rich whites like Chenin Blanc or crisp whites like Sauvignon Blanc. You can sample both wines on your next cycling holiday exploring the gorgeous Loire Valley. The mostly flat landscapes of the Loire Valley are perfect for a relaxing ride and alongside the picturesque vineyards, you can admire the spectacular châteaux, for which the region is famed.
If you prefer your landscapes a little more undulating for cycling, then you might head to the Dordogne or perhaps the big mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees. Wherever you go in France, you’ll be greeted warmly in this country that truly celebrates le velo and hosts the world’s most famous cycling race, Le Tour de France. For your very own grand tour of France why not complete our legendary route from St Malo to Nice?
Cycling holidays in France
Nut Roast and Rioja
Nut roast has become the modern tradition for vegan or vegetarian dinners, its robust, rich flavours put it on a par with roast meats for flavour and because of that, it pairs fantastically with Rioja and other reds.
Rioja is one of the most well-known and most widely drunk Spanish wines. Despite wine being grown in the region since Roman times, the Rioja we drink now is a relatively young style of wine – only 150 years old and strongly influenced by French winemakers. La Rioja region is divided into three zones, two Spanish and one Basque with their own unique soils and environments.
La Rioja region spreads itself out along the fertile Ebro valley, hemmed in by the dramatic Cordillera Cantabrica (we cross it on our Basque Country to Andalucia iconic journey too) and the lofty peaks of the Sierra de La Demanda threaded by sinuous roads, perfect for exploration by bike. If you want to explore the patchwork of low-growing vines, coloured soils and whitewashed buildings then our Riojan road cycling tour Ruta del Vino or leisure cycling holiday Taste of La Rioja are the ones for you. Explore an area boasting more than 500 wineries and meet the people who live, breathe and probably even dream wine! As well as wine there is also some of the finest food in Spain, choose from hearty mountain stews and fantastic tasty local meats and game, foods that naturally complement the wines of the region. For more riding options in the north of Spain, we recommend our leisure cycling journey from Bilbao to San Sebastian, where you’re not too far from La Rioja region and will get an opportunity to experience the fantastic food and wine this part of Spain is famous for.
Cycling holidays in Spain
Christmas Pudding and Sherry
If, like Santa, you enjoy a glass of Sherry to unwind at the end of a busy day over the festive period, then you’ll love exploring The Sherry Triangle.
This region is in the province of Cádiz in Andalucia in southern Spain, and it is known for its sherry production. The triangle is made up of the magnificent cities of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María. You can pedal through the heart of the Sherry Triangle and explore the gorgeous coastline on our tours of the Costa de la Luz and Ancient Cadiz and gravel riding the Costa de la Luz and Cadiz Discoverer.
Christmas pudding is sweet with intense fruit flavours, so it requires a carefully selected dessert wine. Pedro Ximénez Sherry is a sweet and syrupy wine with flavours of figs, coffee and dark chocolate. Serve alongside your pudding or pour over it. Delicious!
Cycling holidays in Andalucia
Of course, not everyone is a fan of a traditional Christmas pudding. For a Spanish alternative you could bake a burnt Basque cheesecake. This incredible crustless caramelised cheesecake hails from San Sebastian in northern Spain and tastes sublime drizzled with syrupy sherry.
Panettone and Asti or Prosecco
Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti are sparkling wines from Piedmont. Both are a sweet and lower-alcohol wine that are great for enjoying with desserts. The slightly drier Moscato d’Asti is lightly sparkling with less fizz than Asti Spumante and is also lower in alcohol (around 5.5%). Asti wines make the perfect accompaniment to Panettone. In fact, it’s a classic Italian Christmas pairing!
Like Barolo, Asti wines hail from the UNESCO World Heritage wine region of northwest Piedmont. More specifically, the town of Asti is nestled in the lush rolling Langhe hills. The landscapes are a winemakers’ paradise and a dream to explore by bike. Made entirely from Moscato grapes, Asti wines are fragrant, light and refreshing. The perfect way to celebrate the end of a day of cycling and sunshine!
Another perfect Italian pairing at any point in your celebrations, Prosecco is now a ubiquitous crowd pleaser at every party. From the north-east of Italy, sales of Prosecco have gone through the roof in the last few decades, to the extent that the production area of Prosecco was enlarged in 2008 to encompass nine whole provinces.
The primary Prosecco region is north of Treviso in Veneto but you can enjoy this popular sparkling wine on any of our cycling holidays in Veneto or Italy for that matter!
Cycling holidays in Italy
Irish Cream
If you’ve absolutely no room for pudding or panettone, then you can’t beat a glass of Irish Cream as a sweet treat to round off your meal. The famous Irish liquor has become synonymous with the festive season and can be enjoyed neat or as a tasty twist on classic cocktails like the White Russian or Espresso Martini. Baileys is the most famous brand of Irish Cream, but did you know that it’s easy to whip up your own version with a few simple ingredients? Blend a cup of heavy cream with a can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 tbs of chocolate syrup, 1 tsp of coffee granules, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 400ml of Irish whiskey. Pour into sterilised bottles and your Irish Cream will keep in the fridge for up to two months.
Ireland is a beautiful place to explore on two wheels. Choose between our self-guided circular tour- Highlights of Kerry and our more adventurous holiday from Kerry to Cork, riding sections of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Cheese and Port
You can’t beat a little bit of cheese and Port to round off a meal, even if you thought you couldn’t squeeze in another mouthful! Port is made by adding brandy to red wine, which not only preserves more of the natural sugars from the grapes but increases its alcohol content and its sweetness. Whilst Ruby Port remains the most popular, there are many different types including red, white, rosé, vintage ports and an aged style called Tawny Port. As a refreshing change to the traditional rich sweet red ports, white port is becoming an increasingly popular cocktail base.
Port is made from grapes grown in the Douro region of Portugal. It is in some ways one of the most inhospitable places to make wine, but the Douro river is flanked by improbably steep-sided terraced vineyards, with very little soil and incredibly high temperatures in summer. In its favour, it is stunningly beautiful!
The vineyard terraces act as visible contour lines, hugging the hillsides to clearly reveal the gradients and shapes of this hilly landscape. It is also where you can find the N222, long-held to be the most beautiful road in the world. It travels in parallel with the sinuous movement of the Douro river. Exploring this UNESCO World Heritage Site by bike on our Vineyards of the Douro Valley tour or Iconic Journey from Barcelona to Porto and sampling some Port and other wines in the quintas (vineyards), is a relaxing way to get to know more about this extraordinary area. Our well-loved Azure Ocean Ride also begins in Porto, well known for being the home of Port wine (it’s in the name!) – so we’ll be sure to have a glass to salute the journey ahead and ride along the Douro River on our first day.
Cycling holidays in Portgual
Late-night by the Fire and Whisky
As Christmas night draws to a close, and you clutch your heavy food-laden stomach, there is room for just one more drink and it has to be a whisky. Rolling its smoky, peaty scent around the glass as you stare deep into the embers of the fire takes you away to wild, windy hillsides, dramatic views and the stunning scenery of the Highlands in Scotland.
We love the experience of cycling in the Scottish Highlands and whisky is a big part of that. On our Highlands Coast to Coast or Caledonia Way you can trace your journey across the country in the single malts of each distillery we go past!
A little west of Inverness, the start and finish point for our Tour d’Ecosse, you can find the Glen Ord distillery, one of a growing number of single malt scotch whisky distilleries on the Black Isle. Head south to Perthshire and you’ll find the Aberfeldy distillery where you can enjoy a ‘golden dram’ as you ride through on your gravel tour of the Trossachs and Tayside Trails.
Of course, Scotland isn’t the only whisky-producing country. You might like to try some from Northumberland’s impressive new Ad Gefrin distillery in Wooler on your journey along the Sandstone Way. Or head across to the other side of the world and sample some of Japan’s finest whiskies on your next cycling holiday.
Cycling holidays in Scotland
Feeling inspired? Check out our full range of cycling holidays to find your next adventure guaranteed to be filled with flavour.