Wine country honeymoon

Rustic landscapes, age-old traditions, and the very taste of romance come together when you honeymoon in wine country.

While the traditional tour of the vineyard and wine cellar is still a staple of wine tourism, many wineries are expanding the range of experiences available to visitors. Bonaventure Balloon Company offers balloon rides over the wine country of northern California, for instance (see video, below). Or type “wine and cooking tours” into your favorite search engine to browse the wide variety of epiculinary tours offered in the world’s major wine regions. Napa Valley’s Meadowood resort (one of an increasing number of wine country luxury resorts) offers personalized wine classes from its master sommilier, golf, swimming, and wedding planning. Other wineries offer an ecotourism tie-in: Saturna Island Family Estate Winery in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands promotes opportunities for whale watching, kayaking, and diving.

The best way to start planning a wine country honeymoon is to choose a wine region. Once you find l0cal accommodations (perhaps a bed and breakfast, or a spa resort?), your hosts or the local tourism center can direct you to the best wineries to tour.

Napa Valley, California

Napa Valley is one of the most popular attractions in California, with some five million people visiting more than two hundred wineries each year. The peak tourist season occurs during the summer months and the harvest “crush” during September and October. The area is also home to the Culinary Institute of America at you’ll find lots of fine dining opportunities in the area.

Sonoma County, California

Neighboring Napa Valley is Sonoma County, a venerable wine region in its own right with more than 300 wineries . . . but without the Napa Valley crowds. The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau has led a concerted effort to promote its wine region as a wedding and honeymoon destination, offering an Adventure Program in which visitors can take self-guided vineyard tours at four wineries without prior reservations. After the walks, participants can taste wines from the vineyards. The tourism bureau also offers free wedding assistance, as well as $250 toward your hotel bill when more than 10 rooms are booked (see the “Suite Deals” section of their website).

Italy

Wine tourism is highly evolved in Italy, and many producers offer other services as well. Of particular importance is the agriturismo system of providing accommodation for tourists at the estate, making it easy to explore the surrounding region. Cantine Aperte on the last Sunday of May is a good opportunity for anyone interested in Italian wine. This is the day many wine producers throughout Italy open their doors for a free tasting of their wines.

Although wine is produced virtually everywhere in the country, the two regions where the best wine is produced are Piedmont (particularly Langhe) and Tuscany (particularly Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano).

Mutěnice wine region, Czech Republic

The four villages of the Mutěnice wine region (Mutěnice, Dubňany, Ratíškovice and Milotice) are renown throughout the Czech Republic for their production of wine. Most of the area’s vineyards are owned by locals who enjoy producing wine as a hobby, and are usually quite willing to share the fruit of their labor with visitors.

The region is far off the beaten track, so be prepared to practice a bit of your Czech; you most likely will only encounter Czech tourists during your visit, as foreign tourists are practically unknown.

British Columbia wine country

Canada has its own thriving wine country, especially along the temperate west coast of British Columbia. The 124-mile-long Okanagan Valley has become particularly prominent in recent years; more than one hundred wineries are set against a backdrop of mountain ranges and crystalline lakes.

Useful resources for your wine country honeymoon

Wine tourism
At Wikitravel.com.  Learn more about wine tourism and various wine regions to visit.

Sonoma County Wine Country at TripAdvisor
The top-rated vineyards, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and other attractions in Sonoma County, California, all reviewed by recent visitors.

Tuscany attractions at TripAdvisor
Tuscany offers much more than just wine tours. You’ll find visitor reviews of the top vineyards here, along with a variety of other attractions.

WineCountry.com
A website focusing on the Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and Virginia wine countries.

SonomaCounty.com
The official tourism website for Sonoma County: see especially their weddings page; click on the “Suite Deals” link for information about their $250 offer for couples booking more than 10 hotel rooms.

Finger Lakes Wine Country
Information on wineries in the Finger Lakes area of New York.

“Okanagan Valley” in Wine Spectator
“British Columbia’s emerging Okanagan Valley has the makings of a serious wine region,” according to this article in Wine Spectator.

Slideshow: Wine Country

Video: Hot air ballooning over wine country

Portions of this article were adapted from the following Wikitravel articles under a Creative Commons 3.0 license: | Wine tourism | Napa Valley, California | Mutěnice wine region |