Which wineries should I visit on my vacation?

Hi Wine Friends,

Welcome back to another week of wine-inspired wanderlust! Last week we discussed selecting your ideal destination, and now, let's embark on the adventure of choosing the perfect wineries to visit. The first question I recommend asking yourself is…

What sort of experience am I looking for? 

Are you drawn to the grandeur of luxurious estates, where every corner exudes opulence? Or does the allure of intimate, family-run cellars nestled in rustic settings sound more appealing? Both offer distinct experiences and neither is right or wrong, so take a moment to reflect on what resonates most with you and your travel partners.

A particular trip I took to Napa and Sonoma with restaurant coworkers stands out as a good example of this. We visited three producers that really spanned the spectrum of winery experiences. Two of them - Harlan and Diamond Creek - were about as bougie as it gets. Being highly exclusive cult producers, both were located on magnificent grounds, where every vine and shrub were groomed to perfection. (Harlan is literally a castle built into the side of the mountain!). At both wineries, we were greeted with Champagne, toured through their historic grounds and cellars, and served expensive wine in hushed stately halls. (At Diamond Creek we were only poured one cuvée. Apparently the wines are just too precious to open–even for industry professionals). The visits were undeniably special but also very... formal. 

  (Harlan’s grand hall)

Our visit to Wing Canyon could not have been more different. A tiny husband-and-wife operation, Wing Canyon is tucked into the woods of Mt. Veeder and produces exceptional Cabernet from a lovingly-tended vineyard. Their driveway was so rural and rutted that we parked and trudged through the mud on foot. Once there, we were greeted warmly by Bill and Nancy and their five energetic dogs. We explored their vibrant vineyard and small adobe winery before crowding into their cozy living room (adorned with Nancy’s colorful paintings) to taste through what felt like every wine they’d ever made. We left Wing Canyon with our bellies stretched from wine and laughter, our clothes dotted with dog hair and our faces creased with smiles.

Which experience is better? You tell me. It depends on what you're looking for!

 (Winery pups of Wing Canyon)

The Big vs. The Boutique

Large, luxurious wineries offer elegance and convenience - they usually have robust websites with instructions on how to book visits and can probably ship purchased wines home for you.  They can generally communicate (and lead tastings) in English, if that’s a concern. They are probably the ones that will show up when you search ‘Best wineries to visit in ______’ and might be brands you see frequently on wine lists. The drawback is that the wines may sometimes (not always) be lower in quality or higher in price and that the visits might lack an intimate, personal touch.

Conversely, boutique producers promise authenticity and exceptional wines but may require a bit more effort to discover and access. To find these hole-in-the-wall producers, I would recommend asking! Ask a fellow wine lover (who has similar taste) or a restaurant sommelier or the proprietor of your favorite wine shop or someone like me. Even if we haven’t been to that region ourselves, we can easily give you the names of 5 of our favorite producers from that place. And if these smaller producers don’t have a website (which is rare these days), you can reach out to them via Instagram. 

Pro tip: If you don’t speak the local language well enough to discuss wine in a tasting, I recommend reaching out to the wineries in English. If the response you get back isn’t in English, it’s a sign that the tasting probably won’t be either!

The Michelin Method: How Many Wine Stars Is This Trip?

The original meaning of the Michelin star rating was this: 1 Star meant a very good restaurant in its city, 2 Stars meant a restaurant worth a detour and 3 Stars meant a restaurant worth a journey. I like to use this framework to decide how big of a role wine is going to play in my trip. 

Maybe I’m taking a 3 wine star vacation, where the whole trip is planned around wine. This means I’ll probably decide on the wineries I want to visit before I even look for accommodations, since the wine is the whole reason for the journey. Or maybe this is a 2 wine star trip, where wine isn’t the main focus but I’m willing to go on a detour from my primary plans and devote a day or two to visiting some great producers. Or maybe time is tight or I’m on a strict itinerary so this will be a 1 wine star trip; I won’t be journeying out to wine country but I’ll still try to sample local styles from wherever I am.

Confer with your travel partners ahead of time and decide how many wine stars this trip will be. Make sure to factor in whether or not you’ll have a rental car, as that’s often required for 2 or 3 star journeys since you’ll be driving to the wineries themselves. 

Pro-tip: If you won’t have access to a car, research wine bars in whatever town or city you’ll be in, since those are a great way to try lots of different local wines in one place!

(Amazing wine bar menu in France!)

To Put it All Together… 

1. Determine the type of experience you desire: the grandeur of a large-scale estate or the intimacy of a boutique cellar.
2. Compile a list of 5-10 wineries based on your chosen category, recommended by the internet, friends or wine professionals.
3. Assign a star level to this particular trip based on how much time you have and how far you’re willing to travel for wine.
4. Research the wineries on your list based on location and accessibility. Narrow the list down to 3-5.
5. Reach out to these wineries to inquire about visits, expressing your enthusiasm warmly and clearly stating which dates you’re available to taste. 

Tune in next week for my recommendations on how to maximize the visits themselves - what to expect, what’s the etiquette, what sorts of questions should you ask and lots more - as well as how to get wine home with you!

For a guided, in-depth discussion with yours truly, sign up for my free virtual seminar on TRAVELING WITH WINE on March 26th. If you can’t make it live, sign up anyway and I’ll send you the replay. And please share the link with anyone you know who loves travel or who’s planning an upcoming trip.

Until next week… cheers!

Kelsey

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