Plan your next Napa Valley wine country vacation with WineTravel.com, your travel guide for hotels, restaurants and wineries in Sonoma Valley and the North ...

Wine Country: Wine, Wine Tasting, Food, Travel, Spas, Events, Who better than us to tell you the basic ins and outs of visiting Wine Country. Best time to visit, never make a left turn on Highway 29 in Napa Valley, and much more. Tips locals know and savvy Wine Country visitors can use. Consider it our gift to you, and happy travels! Insider Travel Tips | Download Full Guide Every year, on the third Sunday of June, fathers all around the country start bracing for The Father's Day Gift. They know that on Father's Day, their children want to show their love and appreciation for all the baseball games, fishing trips and steak and Cabernet dinners. But a macaroni necklace is no longer an acceptable gift and well, another tie? Dad deserves better! Shop Now | Wine Pairings for Father's Day Meal The online auction for Auction Napa Valley is officially open! Wine lovers around the globe can peruse and bid on over 150 exclusive collections featuring rare and one-of-a-kind bottles and collections of Napa Valley wine, private events, and weekend stays. Don't delay, the E-auction closes June 5th. Start Bidding | Last Minute Tickets to Auction Napa Valley! This popular dish has been a staple on our dinner menu since it appeared on the cover of Wine Spectator in 2009. The rich favors in this dish go perfectly with the MacRostie 2008 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, a balanced wine with lively notes of fresh citrus, ripe apple, tropical fruit and layers of spice and integrated French oak. RECIPE | Fresh Strawberry Salad | MORE RECIPES The image of the wine country visitor sidling confidently up to the wine bar, her swirling technique down pat, is an iconic one. But the reality is, it's not always clear what to do, and - perhaps more critically - what not to do once you've arrived at the tasting room. Herein, tips on how to ace this vinous activity. TASTING GUIDE

A complete guide to wine travel with information on different wine regions in Europe and the United States, vineyard search tool, and wine travel tours.

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Wine Tours - Private Wine Tour - France, Tuscany, Rioja - Wine Travel Guides LOGIN E-mail Password Forgotten your password? Please wait while my tweets load If you can't wait - check out what I've been twittering Follow me on Twitter       You love wine and you love travel. With the detailed information provided by Wine Travel Guides, you can plan your own private wine tours. Explore beautiful vineyard landscapes and fascinating cellars; meet the people behind the labels and taste their wines in the wine regions.     To view our guides: click on your chosen Country from the menu on the left and select regions from there. Each guide includes: We have no sponsorship - all recommended wineries, places to stay, eat and shop are independently chosen by our experienced wine and travel writers. To get the most from a wine tour, you need to plan well. Wine Travel Guides give you the authoritative insider information you need, presented clearly and accurately. Researched and written by passionate, regional experts, the Guides are entirely independent. Find out more about our wine travel guides that make your wine tours special. Join as a member now to download the most recent version of our 50 travel guides as printable PDFs any time. Or simply buy the single PDF guide you need. Our 52 guides to the most important wine regions in Europe are ready to view or to download as PDF guides. Each travel guide is dedicated to planning your wine tours in a different wine micro-region in France, Italy and Spain. Just select a wine region from the drop-down list above to find the micro-region Guide you need. Then, pack your bag, taste buds and appetite and let us guide you through a delightful wine travel experience. Our blog brings you news and views on wine and travel from around the world. You can keep up with our updates to the guides and new guides published by following us on Twitter. Become a fan of our Facebook Page to join lively discussions about visiting wine regions or planning a wine tour. Register now to view and download a sample PDF wine travel guide.   COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERThis information is provided free of charge, however it is strictly the copyright of Wine Travel Guides and its contributors. We try to do our best in keeping our guides and information up-to-date and accurate, but if you notice any mistakes, please contact us. Note that we take no responsibility for any inaccuracies. Thanks for your respect and understanding. For full details see our Terms and Conditions.

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International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association -- Home Soak in the authentic Southern flavor of a charming beach destination on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Trip participants will savor a range of restaurants and dining experiences from beachside dives to white-linen establishments in addition to a few special treats for taste buds (and readers). The coastal communities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach showcase a diverse selection of family-orientated attractions and activities, including several eco-tourism opportunities, and most importantly for this trip, an appetizing palate of dining options. read more…

Wine-Knows Travel WINE-KNOWS TRAVEL, INC. Spain & Portugal May 30 - June11, 2011 Sold Out with a Waiting List California's Central Coast October 9 - 15, 2011 Australia Harvest March 26 - April 6, 2012 Bordeaux Harvest September 10 - 20, 2012 Italy: Barolo,Truffles, & the Italian Riviera October 6 - 20, 2012   Travel to Italy, France, Australia or California's Central Coast for a Food and Wine Tour Wine, food and travel are our passion.  We are dedicated to arranging & leading  exceptional food and wine related tours.  Having traveled extensively within wine regions of Europe, South America and Australia for over 35 years, our personal touch, one-of-a-kind tours are designed to provide high value at a reasonable cost for wine and food experts and novices alike.  We secure accommodations in very unique properties, have access to the top wineries, reserve in the best eating establishments, and visit the prominent food producers of each region.  Wine-Knows Travel?s primary mission is to create superb holiday experiences that are fun and truly memorable.  TOUR DIRECTORS: June Forkner-Dunn, PhD,  has been guiding groups to Europe since 1978, specializing in tours to France, Italy and Spain.   She has taught classes on wine at the University of London & at the American Embassy in Paris.  June currently teaches classes in the San Diego Area.  A member of the Society of Wine Educators for  20 years, June has published numerous articles on wine.  She has a Diploma for proficiency in Italian Wines, a Certificate of Merit on French Wines from Le Comite National Des Vins de France, and has attended the German Wine Academy.  She is a member of the American Institute of Wine and Food, has studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, as well as participated in numerous other international cooking programs.    Toby Dunn, MBA, also a member of the Society of Wine Educators and the American Institute of Wine and Food, is an avid wine collector and a lover of wine.  He has visited Australia, Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhone, Champagne, Alsace, the Rioja,  Ribera del Duero, along with the vineyards of Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Southern Italy, Greece, Chile & Argentina.  Toby has attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris, in addition to a variety of cooking classes on cuisines from around the globe.  WINE-KNOWS TRAVEL, INC.   State of California Seller of Travel # 2091232-40

Traveling with Wine by Donald Burger, Houston, TX One result of the ever-expanding police state is that air travel has ceased to be a pleasure. And now, with the 3-1-1 Rules of the TSA, it is almost impossible to travel with wine. In the good old days, one could buy a bottle or two (or more) of fine wine and tote it home in one's carry-on luggage. No longer. Wine has joined nail clippers with emery blades and toothpaste as alleged terror weapons of the skies. The TSA, flexing its power to tell the traveling public what they can and cannot do, has decided that there will be no more wine bottles in carry-on luggage. In fact, no liquids in containers of more than three ounce can accompany you onto the plane, assuming you had the foresight to pack all those three ounce containers in a single one quart clear zip lock bag. Those traveling to wine country now face a government-mandated crisis: How to get their precious cargo home. Several solutions have surfaced. In my opinion, it is always wise to have the winery ship the wine to you. The Post Office simply refuses to ship wine. UPS and FedEx are reluctant to ship wine from private individuals. Their concerns are probably over broken bottles. However, they will let approved wine merchants ship the wine. I am sure this is due to the fact that the wine merchants must properly pack the wine to prevent breakage. Wineries who get the reputation for bad shipping practices are probably dropped from the list of those who can ship wine with these shippers. This is good for the shippers and good for you, the wine consumer. Letting the winery pack and ship your wine almost ensures that it will reach you in an unbroken condition. Just ask about wine shipping charges before making your purchases, and figure that expense into the per bottle cost of the wine. I have also read stories on the web of shoppers taking some bottles to a wine shop, buying enough bottles to make up a dozen, and having the wine shop ship the entire group to the buyer. This technique, however, depends on finding the right wine shop--something on which one cannot always depend. Which brings us to shipping wine as part of one's checked luggage. Don't even think about slipping a couple of bottles into your suitcase. Airlines will often let you ship a box of wine, if the packaging meets their guidelines. Each airline has its own policy on shipping liquids, including wine. Sometimes these policies are simple; sometimes they are complicated. If you are going to try this, I recommend you go the the website of the airline and carefully read and follow their policy. And then, hope you get someone who knows the policy. I also recommend you print out the policy in case a dispute arises. I have read horror stories on the web about situations where the left hand does not know the policy of the right hand. You can easily get caught in a situation where your wine is left behind. Still, for those who want to play Russian Roulette, below are the wine shipping policies of several airlines. Good luck, and happy drinking! American Airlines Restricted Items Policy Continental Airlines Fragile and Perishable Items Policy Delta Airlines Fragile and Bulky Items Policy Southwest Airlines Alcoholic Beverages Policy United Airlines Alcoholic Beverages Policy mail comments to burger@burger.com [Go Back to My Wine Page] [Go Back to My Home Page]

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