Getting the flavor of ... The wines of Kiwi country, and more

The wines of Kiwi country

New Zealand is a “grape escape,” said Rosemary McClure in the Los Angeles Times. The “misty dreamland” boasts more than 540 wineries across its countless miles of scenic landscape. In recent years, the country has become a “first-class wine destination,” offering visitors a chance to taste its internationally known wines year-round. Start your tasting tour in Auckland, the North Island city where three of the country’s largest vintners—Nobilo, Montana, and Villa Maria—are based. Don’t miss the chance to cruise over to Waiheke, the “island of wine” just off the coast of Auckland, to visit one of the more than 20 vineyards there. Then head south to Hawke’s Bay for its Syrah and other full-bodied reds. Finally, it’s onward to the Marlborough region on the South Island, known for its Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. Seated on a hilltop with “landscaped terraces,” the West Brook winery “wins my award for the prettiest grounds.” Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the stunning view, but as I sipped one glass after the next, taking in the scenery, I became “happier by the hour.”

Contact: Tourism.net.nz/wineries-new-zealand.html

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Naoshima: Japan’s arty isle

Though just a speck of land in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, Naoshima is “one of the world’s leading centers of modern art,” said Glenn Kessler in The Washington Post. In 1992, the Fukutake family began building a creative camp—a nature retreat “integrated with the sea and the sky.” The Benesse House was the first to be built. Part museum, part hotel, the “strikingly modern” space, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, houses works by Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, and many other renowned artists. Another Ando creation, the Oval, is an open-air, egg-shaped structure atop one of the island’s tallest hills. Guests get the experience of actually living inside the art. The Chichu Art Museum, home to five of Claude Monet’s late Water Lilies paintings, is built on a hill that’s decorated with trees and flowers modeled on those in Monet’s garden in Giverny, France. Artworks are also scattered along the coast of Naoshima—from Yayoi Kusama’s 6-foot-tall fiberglass pumpkin “plopped on the edge of a pier” to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Go’o Shrine, a temple with glass stairs leading down into the earth.

Contact: www.Naoshima-is.co.jp