Review of Villa Maria Chardonnay

Advantages: Excellent value. Retails at around $10.00
Disadvantages: None. Well made product

...Villa Maria Chardonnay is a very well made New Zealand chardonnay. It matches well with many foods including chicken, swordfish, and red snapper. It has a lovely bouquet of lemon and honey with light traces of oak barrel ageing. It is full bodied and velvety in texture and the finish is very lasting. It has less tropical fruit aspects and less oak than chardonnay from California. At it's current retail price of less than $15.00 per bottle I feel that it represents real value to the consumer. This is a well-structured wine that is compatible with many foods including goat cheese.I have enjoyed the Villa Maria Chardonnay on many occasions as well as their Sauvignon Blanc. The wine shows a consistency in style in each vintage and is very dependable. Consumers could pay more for chardonnays from France and California, but Villa Maria...

cgjazaz 26.02.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Villa Maria Chardonnay, Marlborough

James Villa Holidays

Advantages: Great properties, unique experiences, wonderful holidays.
Disadvantages: None - although might not be suitable for all travelers

...were very accurate. Our second James Villas holiday was to the delightful villa of La Font, just outside of Pollença in Mallorca. It is a little bit out of the way (around 2 kilometres from the nearest shop and 4 kilometres from the old town), but the secluded location makes for a tranquil and peaceful experience. The property owners, Maria and Antonio, live on the site but in a smaller villa that is more or less hidden from the main villa. They are an amazingly friendly couple and go out of their way to make guests feel welcome. They don?t speak a huge amount of English (I am fluent in Spanish) but are among the most friendly people you will ever meet. Indeed, on our second visit, we arrived just after torrential rains, and the swimming pool was slightly cloudy. Antonio immediately apologised and let us know that the pool man would be...

maganda1980 08.05.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of James Villas

Hotel Villa Patrizi, Rome

Advantages: Good location, good value for money, polite staff
Disadvantages: Small rooms

...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why we chose the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My boyfriend and I decided to take a weekend city break in Rome, we were joined by his parents who travelled seperately. We looked on Expedia for a good deal and we found one with reasonable BA flights and 3 nights stay at Hotel Villa Patrizi. We looked at the information and pictures of the hotel on the internet and it looked good so we decided to book it. Now we have been to the hotel, and looking back at the pictures, they are true to life and do not decieve you in anyway that the hotel looks different to what it does. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ About the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Villa Patrizi is a brand new 4 star hotel located in Rome. As you walk into the hotel there is a pretty sitting area full of beautiful, lively and colourful flowers. If the weather was nicer...

lilyellowfish 04.02.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Villa Patrizi, Rome

A taste of Italy with James Villas

Advantages: wonderful property
Disadvantages: terrifying access road

...James Villas had a strong advertising campaign over the last 2 years and, after a very happy holiday with them to Mallorca in 2004, we decided to book a week in Tuscany for the end of August 2008. The website is very informative and we decided on our accommodation - Villa Podere Il Renaio in Legoli. A helpful section of the website allows you to check availability and prices for the week you want and weeks either side and so we were sorted. Actually, no! I know flights from Newcastle to Pisa were available with Jet2 (I had checked the prices on Jet2 website) but the James Villas website insisted I could only fly from Manchester, so I had no choice but to make a phone booking. Phoning to book the holiday was easy. There was no queue, I got straight through to a very friendly operator who assured me that she could book Jet2...

travelnovice 18.05.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of James Villas

Villa Mallorca - Cala D'or - James Villas

Advantages: package holiday
Disadvantages: Low value for money and bad customer relations

...Initially we wanted to book our package via the internet. However the flights on the site were either extremely unsociable hours (departure 5am etc) or you missed both ends because you arrived past midnight and left the villa around 6am the last day. Finally we rung an agent who seemed to have access to many more flights than we did and got a suitable time. Because this was not an internet option we had to go through him. This started our first problem because on the internet the default option includes the welcome package. As we were arriving at midnight with 3 young children this was necessary. The price he quoted was slightly higher than what we were looking at on the net but there were some differences such as we changed hire car to transfer and different flight times. All that taken together it was reasonable to understand...

tmk1906 10.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of James Villas

"Tia Maria Playse"

Advantages: It's gorgeous, it'a alcoholic, it's a sweet, luxurious liqueur..
Disadvantages: Too expensive!

...This has got to be my favourite drink in the world. And to use an American expression that I think rather fitting....Period. It's fantastic, I could rave on about it using all sorts of adjectives. but that's not going to get me a high rating, nor particularly inform you guys. :P As described on the rather lovely packaging, this drink is 'uniquely dark and intriguing' and I've got to agree. Tia Maria is a dark rum and while it looks like it could be quite dry, it's got a deliciously sweet coffee/vanilla taste to it that is so moreish. Pour it into a glass and you'll see a thick, dark coloured, wonderful-smelling liquid come out. Put the glass to your lips and inhale the vanilla/coffee smell. Sip it slowly and taste the luxurious pleasure that is Tia Maria. I can't describe the taste, I wouldn't do it justice. It's26.5% volume...

Trixie_Firecracker 18.05.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tia Maria

Summer delight!

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...I I really enjoy drinking rose wine in the summer. There is nothing nicer in my book than to sit outside and watch the sun set with good company and a glass of chilled rosé. I am always on the look out for wines on offer and when I spotted Villa Maria rose in my local Tesco for £5.99 a bottle I was keen to give it a try. Villa Maria usually sells for £7.99 so at that price I hoped it would be good! The wine is a lovely deep pink colour and just shouts summer evenings to me! Villa Maria is from the Hawkes bay region in New Zealand, a region where you can expect warm days and cool nights, perfect for grapes. Villa Maria Rose is made from a mix of grapes including 65% merlot, 15% malbec, 10% syrah and 4% pinotage. The result, for me is near perfect! On opening the screw top bottle and pouring a glass I could immediately detect...

anwar 24.07.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Villa Maria Rosé-Hawkes Bay

James Villas

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Unfortunately most things.

...Have been reading other reviews with interest. Wow. We must have been unlucky. The reviews are so good and in so much detail that they almost could have been written by James Villa holidays (joke) My wife, 3 children and mother and father in law and myself of course took a 2 week holiday to Majorca in August last year. The list of problems we had was unbelievable. James Villas holidays were not prepared to fix our problems. Even though we had spent £3,648.27 (this was without flights). We telephoned them for the 1st three days complaining. We even sent them a solicitors letter on the 3rd day and they still refused to accept that there were problems. When we did complain we even telephoned head office in the Uk in Maidstone in Kent. The staff were rude and sarcastic. They told us to complain when we get back home. Not much good...

durston 09.05.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of James Villas

SHOULDN'T THAT BE COFFIA MARIA.

Advantages: It's alcoholic. It tastes lovely. It's alcoholic.
Disadvantages: Price.

...I?m beginning to think I have the alcoholic appreciation of a ten year old. Let me explain further. Occasionally I will drink beer or lager. But, I?ve never really grown to like the taste that much. On rare occasions, I will actually want to drink beer or lager in the same way, that on rare occasions I will want to drink tea. More usually however, I remain as I was as a ten year old, desperately wanting to like beer, lager or tea, but far more inclined to coffee, fizzy pop and sweet drinks. The popularity of alco-pops convinces me that I?m not alone! This is where Tia Maria comes in for me. Now I?ve grown up, (or so it?s sometimes rumoured), I want alcohol. But the ten year old in me still wants sweet drinks. This gorgeous drink fits the bill perfectly, (as do many liqueurs). This one is special though, in that I never tire of it. It...

alma 29.04.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tia Maria

Villa Olivo, Bardolino

Advantages: Can't think of any.
Disadvantages: The Owners

...Date of holiday 1st - 15th July 2006 Let me first explain what type of holiday my family and I like, then I will explain the accommodation and lastly I will tell you of our experience of the Villa Olivo in Bardolino Italy (Lake Garda) We are a family of 2 adults and three boys aged 9, 12 and 14. Our holidays are very simple, we go to an apartment, relax, enjoy the food, swim in the pool and soak up the sun, and that is it. (Sounds boring, but after a long hard working year it is just what the doctor ordered). That is what we wanted from this holiday as well. The Villa Olivo consists of two types of accommodation: self-catering and a hotel which offers bed and breakfast. Those in the apartments could avail of the breakfast at a cost of 8 euros per person. (But after seeing what was being bought in the local Lidl for breakfast...

mark1961 24.07.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Villa Olivo, Bardolino