Wine Country Trips: Tips for Choosing a Destination

Have you heard of wine country before?  If you have, you may want to plan a trip to wine country. 

Even if you have never heard of wine country before, there is a good chance that you will want to visit it after you take the time to familiarize yourself with wine country.

Speaking of wine country, there are many individuals who wonder exactly where it is.  In all honesty, you will find that it depends.  Wine country is a phrase that is commonly used to describe areas that have a large number of wineries and vineyards, as well as areas that are well known for their production and distribution of fine wines.  Although you will find some variances, the phrase “wine country,” is commonly used to describe California.

As stated above, wine country is commonly used to describe California.  For that reason, when you research wine country online, like when looking for guided wine tours or information on local wineries, you will likely be presented with information for those located in Northern California, the Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley to be exact.  With that said, it is also important to remember that others areas of the United States are also commonly known as and referred to as wine country.  For example, Washington, New York, Texas, and Virginia all have areas that are known as wine country, most often by locals.

Since you do have a number of options to choose from, when looking to take a wine country trip, there are a number of important factors that you will first want to take into consideration.  One of those factors is distance.  The farther you have to travel to visit a wine country, the more you will likely spend in travel costs.  If you are on a budget or if you have a limited timeframe, you may be better off visiting a wine country area that is local.  For example, if you live in Pennsylvania, you may be better off traveling to the Finger Lakes Region of New York, and so forth.  With that in mind, it is important to remember that California wine country is more than worth the extra travel costs.

Speaking of travel costs, it is important to price compare.  In fact, you may want to compare your options and their prices before you officially make a decision.  In keeping with the example sited above of living in Pennsylvania, you may assume that it is too expensive to travel to California.  Yes, it may be, but did you know that you can find great travel deals online?  In fact, many hotels and resorts in the area offer moneysaving vacation packages.  For that reason, you may want to refrain from making assumptions, in terms of cost, until you do the proper amount of research first.

Your intended dates of travel, as well as the weather should also be taken into consideration, when looking to choose a wine country area to visit.  For all year round visiting, California wine country comes highly rated and recommended, as the weather is always typically sunny and pleasant.  As for other wine country areas, such as those located in New York, Washington, and Virginia, the weather may limit the number of wine themed activities you are able to participate in. With that said, many wineries still have a number of activities for you to choose from, including wine tasting, in the middle of winter.