To relax or invest, vineyards worth a look

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Take a beating in the stock market this year? There’s nothing quite like a dose of financial abuse to make you want to disappear to wine country for a week or two. While you’re out there, though, it may pay to turn your head back to investing, if only briefly. Lease or buy a vineyard-or just hide in a villa for a weeks-with a bit of help from BeautifulPlaces.

Sorry for the reality check, but this form of therapy isn’t cheap. The BeautifulPlaces properties are upscale, and the amenities are focused on the high net worth crowd. The Napa and Sonoma Valley properties range from Tuscan estates to Provencal cottages, from Carneros to Dry Creek Valley, CA. As these lavish settings would suggest, guests typically take advantage of the certified nannies, professional photographers and in-villa spa treatments that BeautifulPlaces can arrange. If you’re inclined, get a unique tour of the night sky with the help of an astronomer.

No, I’m not joking.

Of course, if you’re hitting Napa or Sonoma, wine is on your mind. Tours, tastings and custom wine blending experiences can be arranged. Even people like me have access to these activities, though. If you’re looking for something unique, spend some time with Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein. President and wine guru of Full Circle Wine Solutions, he’ll walk you through an intricate tasting day. This “day” may start months in advance, when Goldstein talks to you about your preferences-food and wine-as well as whether you collect (or, like me, just gulp right from the box glass). When you hit the ground, Goldstein will create wine and meal pairings you won’t soon forget, especially when you’re “cooking” meals in the microwave at home.

If all this isn’t enough, and you just have to buy a vineyard, BeautifulPlaces will put you in touch with Premier Pacific Vineyards. These guys invest in and develop vineyards along the west coast. For serious financial types, this is a great way to get a foot in the door.

Head out to California wine country, but be ready to drop a few bucks along the way. It’s probably worth it. After the way the markets have treated us this year, even the rich deserve a break.

Winery Tours: From the Not so Cheap to the Cheap to the Cheaper

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a mini companion to my earlier post on cheap beer via brewery tours. While brewery tours make me want to take up accordion playing or something, winery tours make me think of fine art. There is a sensuous quality about wineries–an elegance if you will. Like brewery tours, winery tours are a great way to imbibe without spending a lot of money.

When a friend of mine lived near San Francisco we made a trip to Napa Valley on one of my visits. We hit one winery after another. I love the buffet quality of a counter with wine bottles lined up and a server at the ready to take you on a tour ranging from sweetness to musky dry.

Winery tours and tasting fees vary, but so does the extent of what money will buy you as well. For example, the Benziger Family Winery has a Biodynamic Vineyard Wine Tour for $10. Quite a deal of you think about how a tour is a lesson in sustainable agriculture.

Other wineries may charge you for a wine glass that you get to keep like Twomey Wine Cellars. At this winery, for $5 you get a glass and tastes of several wines.

Because the wineries vary in what they charge for tasting and the how to book a tour protocol, check beforehand. The Web site Napa Valley Vintners has a page that lists the wineries with tours and tasting, plus links to each winery’s Web site. There’s also a map of Napa Valley to help you plan your tour.

I’ve also wine tasted in Upstate New York and at a winery near Sag Harbor on Long Island. Whenever you see a winery sign, chances are you can have an impromptu wine tasting. My impromptu tastings have been free, except I always buy a bottle to take home.

Box o’ Wine

by Erik Olsen on

I’ll confess that I enjoy a good bottle of wine now and again. Maybe even a little more often than “now and again”. Hey, what can I say? I must have a bit of the Roman bacchanalian in me. One thing living in New york, though, is that wine is damn expensive. Even the cheap good stuff runs over $12 a bottle. Which is probably a good thing as the cost of dropping $24 a week or so can get expensive.

You know that whole stop your Starbucks drinking thing for would-be millionaires? Well it’s twice that bad for wine. Which has always made me wonder: how much of the cost of the wine we buy is due to bottles and all that fancy packaging? I mean, what if they put the stuff in boxes….the good stuff, I mean? Couldn’t you knock off a few bucks? I know, the snobs out there are like “Oh, a box of wine, that is so low rent.” Well, maybe, but we live in an increasingly sensible society (OK, big assumption). I guess what I mean to say is, there seems like there’d be a demand for good wine in a box or a bag or wherever so that it’s cheaper. Screw what the snobs have to say. Wine is wine. It’s the stuff you drink that’s important, not the thing it comes in.

Well, I’ve pondered this time and again and have long expected some entrepreneur to come up with a good boxed wine Looks like my waiting is over. This piece over at Slate talks about a company in No Cal that is doing just that. A brand called Three Thieves is run by Napa Valley wine maker Joel Gott and venture capitalist (of course) and vineyard owner Roger Scommegna, and Charles Bieler, a New Yorker whose family used to own Chateau Routas, in Provence.

The Thieves made its debut in 2003 (in a jug, actually) and started to sell really well. And now others from this company and some in Australia are giving the drinking public what it wants. The article here discusses many of the new box/jug/tube wines and gives a nice little review of them. It’s good to see the marketplace at work. Now drink up!