How to Find Wineries to Visit
by
Terry Sullivan
So you decided to plan a trip to visit a wine region and now you need to decide which wineries to visit. You can start by conducting an Internet search for wineries in the region you are planning to visit. For example if you decided to search for “wineries in Virginia,” Google will display hundreds of sites. At the top of the list is Virginia Wine a site that provides plenty of information about Virginia wineries. Not all states, countries and wine regions have sites that list wineries. Another search option is to search for grape growers associations. A search for Ohio grape growers association brings a long list of possibilities. Near the top of the list is a link to Taste Ohio Wines, a site with a map showing where Ohio wineries are located.
Some wineries throughout the world organize as a group. They may form a wine trail. Searching for wine trails is another tactic. In Maryland, the MarylandWine.com website lists seven wine trails (pictured below). Each trail has information about the member wineries including location, opening times and a link to the winery website.
Another practice used to locate wineries is to use Google maps or other mapping tools. For instance, if one is planning a trip to San Diego, California, type “wineries near San Diego, CA” in the search box. Google maps then displays a map with potential sites (pictured below). You can zoom in and out of an area. Click on the red marker or red dot for information about the marker or dot. Google does use the term “wineries” rather liberally. Not every marker or dot on the map will be a winery. It will also include wine bars and wine stores. If one uses “vineyard” as a search term, Google will also give the locations of churches that have “vineyard” in their name. Someone who is a visual map kind-of-person will find this a valuable tool to locate wineries in an area of this country as well as countries throughout the world.
A further option is to search for sites that review wineries in states, countries or regions. The Wine Trail Traveler site has over one thousand two hundred winery reviews for wineries we have visited throughout the world.
Once a potential list of wineries in an area is established, find out if the wineries are open during the time frame of a visit. Some wineries are open daily throughout the year, while others may only be open to the public on weekends. There are those wineries that close during the winter and those that open only during the summer. It is best to check ahead of time to see if the winery tasting room will be open during the time of your visit. You can often find opening hours on a winery’s website. If not listed, call the winery.
With thousands of wineries in the United States and over tens of thousands throughout the world to choose from, selecting which winery to visit will take some research. In the United States, every state has wineries. If you are traveling out of the country there are even more wineries to explore. Taking the time to research and prepare an itinerary will help ensure an enjoyable journey.
Article rewritten in February 2016
