Favorite European Wine Towns

The recent topics about favorite large, medium and small European cities got me thinking about a separate category for wine towns. Here is my top five of the ones I have visited:

1. St. Emilion.
Charming and picturesque hill town in the heart of Bordeaux's Right Bank. The Route de Chateau on the Left Bank that goes through the Medoc is like the Hall of Fame of the wine world, but there are no real towns there. We explored the Bordeaux area this past April.

2. Montepulciano
One of my favorite Tuscan hill towns. The wineries and vineyards are in the countryside outside of town, but many of them have sales and tasting facilities in town. You enter a building near the top of the hill and the cellars and facilities are underground, carved into the limestone hill. The great wine here is Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

3. Montalcino
My other favorite Tuscan hill town. Home of Brunello wine. To show you how seriously they take their wine, there is an enoteca inside the town's ancient fort.

4. Reims
The heart of the Champagne region. It is an easy day trip from Paris by high-speed train. You can tour the Champagne houses and visit the beautiful and historic cathedral. We were surprised to see so few vineyards because most of the grapes are crown outside of town.

5. Greve
The heart of Chianti Classico country. Home to Enoteca Falorni which may be my favorite wine store anywhere.