The Art of Road Tripping
As I got older, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable being stuck in a busy airport—breathing recycled air, dealing with delays and cancellations, surrounded by grumpy travelers—not to mention being confined to a seat in an overcrowded metal container, rattling at 30,000 feet above the Earth! Nowadays, I gladly avoid flying in small airplanes whenever possible. Plus, I've always been a fan of road trips of any kind and length, so my current living situation, from where I can reach most of Europe's wine regions by car, suits me perfectly.
Remember the quote "it's not the destination, it's the journey"? Well, I couldn't agree more. In fact, on more than one occasion, I've found the journey to be far prettier than the destination itself. To make each road trip even more memorable, I began to keep a list of rest stops with the best food, coolest design, prettiest views, highest comfort, and most convenient locations along every route. Among them, Marché Neuenkirch Ost, Gunzgen Süd, and Gotthard Raststätte Fahrtrichtung Süd (I know, this last one is a mouthful) are excellent options if you ever find yourself on the highway between the Swiss cities of Luzern and Basel!
From where I live, in northern Italy, every trip to other European wine regions requires crossing the Alps. If you haven't had the chance to do it yet, I can guarantee that this fact alone adds a mythological spin to the whole traveling experience. It's quite a sudden change when I leave the flat, bare Padana plain behind and the road begins to snake through the Alpine region. The temperature on the car thermometer drops, farmland is quickly replaced by thick forests of pines and firs, and ghostly villages pop up in lieu of farmhouses. The landscape of craggy peaks and deep valleys is so breathtakingly beautiful that keeping my eyes on the road is nearly impossible.
One of the most epic itineraries of all time takes me to Burgundy's famed Côte-d'Or. Past the town of Carema—the last Piemontese outpost and source of great Nebbiolo—the autostrada proceeds through Val d'Aosta, Italy's smallest region, amidst an Alpine scenery of rare beauty. However, the seminal moment of the trip lies 53 miles ahead, when the jarring south face of Mont Blanc—Europe's highest peak—suddenly appears to block the horizon. A few switchbacks past the village of Courmayeur lead to the Mont Blanc road tunnel, which in a mere 7 miles takes me straight through the belly of the granitic giant into France. On the other side, the road to the ritzy resort town of Chamonix, where I always stop for café et croissant, brushes the jaw-dropping Bossons Glacier before diving deeper into the valley and reaching the clump of fancy boutiques, high-end hotels, and opulent restaurants.
Continuing northwest toward Geneva, the road gradually descends to flatter terrain as the massive profile of the Alps blurs in the rearview mirror. Past the outskirts of the Swiss city, the autoroute begins to climb again, rounding the mountains of Haute-Savoie before plunging toward the Saône River valley and reaching the sleepy villages of Burgundy. On clear days, the unmistakable profile of Mont Blanc is visible from the slopes of the Côte d'Or, despite being over 100 miles to the southeast. It's hard to believe that the same catastrophic events responsible for forming the Alps sent shockwaves across the rest of the European continent, ultimately exposing the gentle slopes that would eventually become home to the most sought-after vineyard land on the planet, and a source of endless fascination for generations of wine lovers worldwide. The direct correlation between Burgundy's fabled vineyard sites and the serrated profile of the Mont Blanc massif is real, and if you flew over instead of driving through it, you might just have missed it. Luckily, if you, like me, are happy to spend some time behind the steering wheel, cruising along these roads provides a front-row seat to Europe's ever-changing, stunning natural features that have shaped not only the land but also the culture, offering a constant source of amazement and thirst for knowledge.