Authenticity&Purpose
So whether you are a true wine aficionado, choose your wines based on how pretty the bottle looks, or fall somewhere in between, anyone can get out and enjoy tasting and learning about wines.
Here are a few places to get you started.
You may not realize this, but New York State is one of the country’s oldest commercial wine regions, and is said to produce the greatest diversity of wine from any one wine region in the world.
Statewide you will find close to 150 wonderful, flavorful and historic wineries, with vines originating from the French, Dutch and English who brought them from Europe when they settled here several hundred years ago.
The New York Wine & Grape Foundation, www.newyorkwines.org
Long Island Wine Council, 631.369.5887, www.liwines.com
New York Wine Cork, 877.302.WINE, 518.632.9260, www.nywinecork.com
Blessed by fertile ground and a long growing season, winemakers have successfully produced exceptional grapes and nationally and internationally recognized wines in the state of Missouri for over 150 years. In fact, by 1870 Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state in the country, and legend has it that at one time “American wine” usually meant Missouri wine
Missouri Weinstrasse, www.moweinstrasse.com
Missouri Winemaking Society, www.mowinemakers.org
Wonderful Wines of Missouri, 800.392.WINE, www.missouriwine.org
California Wine Country
About an hour and a half north of San Francisco is Sonoma County, world-renown for its thriving vineyards that consistently produce quality award-winning wines and Northern California’s first wine producing region. Excellent wineries dot the area, each completely different from the next and offering a divergent experiences and exposures to the many facets of wine and winemaking.
Wine Zone, www.winezone.com
Sonoma County Wineries Association, 707.586.3795, www.sonomawine.com
Most people don’t know that the Texas Hill Country is one of the fastest-growing wine destinations in the country, encompassing three viticulture areas with 14 wineries located in and around the city and county, and offering numerous self-guided and guided wine tours and events year-round.
One way to explore them is along Wine Road 290 Fredericksburg, a 45 mile stretch of US Highway 290 and “the second most visited wine region in the United States second only to Napa Valley according to Orbitz Travel,” or, check out Texas Hill Country Wineries with more than 35 unique and visually stunning wineries throughout the Hill Country and a little further afield.
Texas Hill Country Wineries, 872.216.9463, www.texaswinetrail.com
Wine Road 290 Fredericksburg, 872.216.9463, www.wineroad290.com.
Get to Sippin!
Touring a winery and the grounds is as much a part of the wine tasting experience as tasting the wine itself. But no matter where you travel, be sure to stop and smell the grapes and enjoy all that wine tasting has to offer.
Lysa Allman-Baldwin is the Publisher and Editor of Authenticity&Purpose.For over 25 years she has fed her wanderlust for "everything the world has to offer" by passionately writing feature articles and reviews covering a wide variety of topics including travel and tourism, cuisine/restaurants, events and festivals, just to name a few, for numerous print and online publications.She speaks,facilitates workshops and have authored a new book