Wine Tour Weekend Retreat (part 1)

Regions of West Coast & Pacific Northwest

Tuscany gets all the credit for producing great wines, but who needs Tuscany if you can have your own local retreat in your state. That is exactly where I am heading. Great wines come from all over the world in all sort of varieties. So today we are going to explore wines in some of the major wine producing states in the US. Yes, some of people might think that just because you live in US means you know a lot about places that produces wine.

All of the Wineries will offer

• Wine tasting and tours with limos, buses, balloons etc
• Wine pairing and some light cooking classes
• Excellent  lodging accommodations
• Museums and everything related to wines
• Places to buy all sorts of wine accessories

1)    Napa Valley California. This region surely is a spectacular with the wines  they produced  This now is  my ‘Tuscany” of North America. The climate and the valleys in Napa Valley is an ideal place for producing great wines. Here you can have a weekend retreat, go from one wine tasting winery to another. This place provides wine takings tours and wine pairing with food. Some even give you free  wine recipes  pamplet to bring  home with you. By way their wines are found in local supermarkets. Napa Valley serves most of the Hollywood Elites.  The wine tours are also more elaborate than other places. So at times some of the wines tours might be slightly pricey, but there are wines even for types of frugal people. I fall in the latter group.  Just to name a few. A lot of the places offer wine discounts.

Wineries of Napa Valley@ http://www.napavintages.com/

2)    Sonoma Valley California

With its proximity to the coast and the redwood trees, given the fog and the moisture, this kind of climates makes it idea for production of perfect wine. When you visit this Sonoma Valley, you are just going to have lots of fun. Starting with the fantastic wines they produce all the time. You can treat yourself great 3 day weekend in Sonoma Valley and come out fresh  and rich with lots of information about wines from the Sonoma Valley Wineries.  Excellent time to visit the area also is when they have the Sonoma International Wine Festival in the spring.

3)    Washington State. In addition its beauty, Washington States offers wines and excellent foods in the Pacific Northwest.  It’s the 2^nd largest wine producing State and it offers quiet variety to choose from. With the luscious greenery come tasteful wines. Although it is a very rainy state, Washington in recent years has been the perfect locale for wine growers.  According to the States fact information, the numbers of growers getting established in this region is growing. Visit the website and you will receive a lot of information about Washington’s State Wineries.

http://www.washingtonwine.org/washington-wine/

4) British Columbia: You cannot visit the Pacific Northwest without stopping at British Columbia. This area has so much for people looking for weekend getaway.  It offers natural beautiful parks, with breathtaking waterfall, hiking Trails, & river rafting. You will also find excellent lodgings and tasteful food. Talking of food, British Columbia, is also one of the places that produce excellent wines. British Columbia produces high quality wines in all their wineries.  Below are some fact courtesy of British Columbia website.

Facts about basic British Columbia Wine Tasting

·      Herbal aromas and flavors

·      Earth aromas and flavors

·      Tree fruit aromas and flavor

·      Herbal aromas and flavors,

·      Red Fruit aromas and flavors

5)    Oregon. Oregon State is the home of the famous Mt. Hood where every year mountain climber flock to test their athletics on mountain climbing, skiing, hiking,  water rafting, camping and all sorts of  sports. With this majestic mountain, Oregon also  is one of the best wine producing states.

With the perfect weather, rich volcanic soils, the climate here produces many varieties of wines. Oregon ranks as one of the best places where great quality wines are produced. Their wineries are not very large compared to other wineries in the area, but great care  and detail in producing excellent wines is a winning strategy here. The wine areas are divided into:

Willamette Valley: popular wines in this area are Riesling, chardonnay

Eastern Oregon: this area has wines that include sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, merlot

Southern Oregon: wines found are white Riesling, Pinot noir, Tempranillo, and Syray

Columbia Gorge: Some of the wines in the Columbia Gorge will include pinot Gris, Riesling