{"id":2634,"date":"2024-04-29T19:11:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T19:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2634"},"modified":"2024-06-29T17:31:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T17:31:27","slug":"choosing-where-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2634","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Where to Go"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sometimes your destination for wine tasting is chosen for you.&nbsp; If you have a business trip to San Francisco, you may want to add on a day or two of visiting wineries.&nbsp; You\u2019re most likely to decide to go to Napa Valley or Sonoma County, if only because they are the closest.&nbsp; Similarly, if you are just looking for a pleasant day in the country \u2013 with wine of course \u2013 you\u2019ll drive to the winemaking area nearest your home.&nbsp; So, for example, we New Yorkers head out to Long Island\u2019s North Fork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But sometimes, your objective is to take a wine tasting trip, without a particular destination in mind.&nbsp; How do you select the region of Wine Country to visit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_3009-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Tuscany in September.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Is wine tasting the only objective?<\/strong> &nbsp;If it is, then you want to go to an area that has many vineyards open to the public, where the quality is well known and accommodations are easy to find.&nbsp; Once again, NapaNoma suggests itself, but so does Bordeaux or Tuscany or the Rioja.&nbsp; That\u2019s different than a Paris vacation with a day out in Champagne or the Loire Valley.&nbsp; If everyone in your party loves wine, the first option makes some sense.&nbsp; But if you have teetotalers or teenagers with you, maybe you should only inflict wine on them for a day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Would you prefer a new experience or would you like to re-visit favorite places?<\/strong>\u00a0 We can never get too much of wineries in some of our favorite valleys, Napa and the Southern Rh\u00f4ne.\u00a0 We go back as often as we can, given available time and budget.\u00a0 But California\u2019s Central Coast or the Northern Rh\u00f4ne, where we have not travelled to as frequently, also have their allure.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve not yet tasted wine in Switzerland\u2019s D\u00f4le or Austria\u2019s Burgenland.\u00a0 Maybe this upcoming trip is when <em>someday<\/em> becomes <em>now<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/IMG_2384-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Carneros, on the Napa County side.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What kind of wine would you like to try for several days in a row?<\/strong>&nbsp; We appreciate a cold glass of Gew\u00fcrztraminer on a hot summer day, but we\u2019re not up for a week of it.&nbsp; So while we have tasted wines in Alsace, it was only briefly.&nbsp; At the other extreme, maybe the 16% alcoholic wines of Paso Robles are too much for you this time around.&nbsp; Ah, yes, Pinot Noir would be perfect!&nbsp; Now you only have to choose among Burgundy, Carneros, Los Olivos and Santa Barbara, to name a few possibilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When do you want to go?<\/strong>\u00a0 Power Tasting has long recommended that you avoid the most popular destinations on weekends.\u00a0 But some of the best wineries in certain regions are only open Thursdays through Sundays.\u00a0 For instance, we have experienced this in Paso Robles and the Santa Rita Hills.\u00a0 Time of year also matters.\u00a0 If all you\u2019re interested in is the wines, then there\u2019s no problem making a trip in the depths of winter.\u00a0 Many California wineries release their wines in <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=855\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"855\">February<\/a>, so that might attract you.\u00a0 But if you want to see the vines with dense coverage, you need to go in the summer.\u00a0 And if you want to see the harvest, you have to be in Wine Country between August and October.\u00a0 (Unless you want to go to the southern hemisphere, when February through April is the right time for you.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes your destination for wine tasting is chosen for you.&nbsp; If you have a business trip to San Francisco, you may want to add on a day or two of visiting wineries.&nbsp; You\u2019re most likely to decide to go to Napa Valley or Sonoma County, if only because they are the closest.&nbsp; Similarly, if you &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2634\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Choosing Where to Go<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2634"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2641,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2634\/revisions\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}