The Myth of the Wine Walk
For a long time, the World Showcase Wine Walk was a myth for me. I’d heard tell of a “pay-20-bucks-and-get-six-glasses-of-wine” type of thing, but I searched the web and found no specifics about this fantastic option in Epcot’s World Showcase.
Then, out of nowhere, the Wine Walk was mentioned in the 2009 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Guide. Finally, I had clarity!
So on my recent trip, I stopped into Italy’s Enoteca Castello shop and asked all about the Wine Walk. And while I wasn’t able to do the walk this trip, I’m really looking forward to getting it on the list for next time.
(If anyone out there has had the opportunity to do the Wine Walk, drop me an email or a comment and let me know what you thought! I’d love to hear reviews, both pro and con.)
Wine Walk Specs and Details
In the meantime, here are the details: $20 = 6 wine samples and a beautiful walk around World Showcase!
To begin, head to one of these three shops: the Weinkeller in Germany (the shop with all the wine)
Germany's Weinkeller
Enoteca Castello in Italy (that’s the shop with all the wine — the masks are in the back)
Masks in Epcot's Italy
or Aux Vins de France in France (there’s a lot of wine in there, too).
Aux Vins de France
Request a Wine Walk Passport at any of these locations. From there, you simply flash your passport in each of the three countries and enjoy your samples! Like other Epcot passports, cast members in each pavilion will give you a stamp for each sample.
The Wines
The wines you get to try are the following:
Germany
- Valekenberg Madonna Spatlese: Since my Food and Wine Festival R.A Pruem wine seminar earlier this year, Spatlese is the word I look for to find a wine I’ll like. Spatlese = sweet and smooth, in my opinion (all it really refers to is the grapes being picked during a late harvest, making the sweetness and flavor a bit more intense). According to Disney, this particular wine will pair well with crustaceans like crab, shrimp, and lobster.
- Valekengerg Madonna Leibframilch, Castello: The passport bills this wine as having a “lush, seductive bouquet” backed by mild acidity. It pairs well with stronger flavored fish and meat dishes, and works well when sipped alone as a pre-dinner drink.
Italy
- Banfi San Angelo Pinot Grigio, Tuscany IGT: This wine will go well with light dishes, and probably will be best as a pre-dinner drink. The clean, fresh taste is touted as being perfect for an aperitif.
- Castello Banfi Rosa Regale, Piedmont DOCG: For those of you who have no idea what DOCG means (like me), it stands for “Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita,” which basically means it’s been quality-control tested by the Italian government. Translation: it’s high-quality. This is a sparkling wine, and word is that this is the wine to eat with chocolate!
France
- Georges Duboeuf Pouilly Fuisse, Macon: A Chardonnay from Burgandy, Disney says try it with cheese…yum.
- Fuisse and Chateau Tour de Segur Bordeaux, Lussac St. Emilion: This rich red is described as “structured” (word-lovers like me just gotta love these words — who would ever think to describe a liquid as “structured?”). The predominant grape is Merlot, and the main aroma is of dark fruits. Do this one with red meat.
The Passport
Here are a couple of photos of the actual passport, so you know what you’re looking for:
Epcot Wine Walk Passport Side 1
Epcot Wine Walk Passport Side 2
Finally, as far as I know, the Wine Walk has always been offered year-round. Its mention in this year’s Food and Wine Festival Guide makes me wonder if it’s been reduced to just an Autumnal experience. Fingers crossed they’ll keep it year-round so that everyone can enjoy this wonderful, and relatively inexpensive, way to sample some of the great wines from the World Showcase!
Salute, Sante, and Prosit!
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I’m really surprised that they don’t advertise this more. This is the first I have heard of anything like this, and I’m upset I haven’t seen it before. I would have tried it!
Your post has made me wonder why the American and Canadian pavillions have not introduced their own wine stores. Especially Canada since they have some empty stores in the upper area. Hmmmmm…..
Walking and drinking wine..could be interesting..but only 6 glasses..
wonder if you could do it twice?
James: Great question! We can always use more wine in the World Showcase. Canada has so many wonderful offerings, and the US could easily highlight California and New York wines.
Chip: I’m sure you could do it twice! You’re not driving, right?
Thanks for this post, AJ! We’re cutting back on some of our usual Food & Wine Fest experiences this year for less expensive alternatives. I think we’ll try this one…be there 11 days.
The wine is offered year-round. I discovered it while we were waiting for our table in Biergarten. We were in the Wienkeller and I saw two women getting their passport stamped and receiving their samples. What impressed me is that the cup is about the same size of a wine glass, so it is a great deal!
Tim: This is PERFECT, then! I think, when I do it, I’m going to pick up a Kimmunicator and help destory a few villains while I’m at it. Great day at the World Showcase.
Betty: Wow — what a great comment. Good to hear that the amount of wine isn’t stingy! Also, fingers are still crossed that they continue to offer this experience year-round. It’s a great, reasonably-priced World Showcase activity for the non-F&WF months.
One great thing about the wine walk is that you don’t need to drink all of the wines in one day or even one trip. I started the wine walk in August and will be finishing it off when we’re there the first week of November. The CM said I just had to bring my receipt along with the passport.
Chris — that’s great news! Thank you for letting us know that you can stretch the wine walk over a couple of trips! Sheesh…I wish I could do that with fastpasses… . Are you enjoying the wine walk so far? Any favorites?
I like the idea of it but I’ve only tried a couple. I can’t remember which ones. I liked that I could get a glass of wine and continue touring. It allowed me to pace my drinking which I couldn’t have done if I had bought the wine flight as say Italy.
That’s a great point, Chris. Thanks for your input. Drop me a line and let me know your favorites when you complete the tour. Have a great trip in November!
My wife and I LOVE the wine walk!
We’ve done it twice now and are very happy it’s offered year round. 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, Dr. NC! Have the wines changed in the two times you’ve done the walk?
We’ve done the wine walk. It has been offered for a while now, I think. It’s really not much different from doing the individual tasting experiences in Germany, Italy, and France, which we have done since our 1990 WDW honeymoon. But the Wine Walk ties it all together and makes for a pleasant WS experience, plus maybe it increases awareness that wine tasting experiences are there.
As far as we can recall, the wines on the Wine Walk have not changed (at least on paper) — that said, I believe we’ve gotten some different wines from France during the last couple of walks.
Oh wow, can’t believe I’ve never heard of this! Will they have Wine Walk this year?
Could you potentially share one sampling between two people?
Ashley, I would expect so!