Everything You Need for a Wine Tour Survival Kit
Share
If you are like me, you are ready to start getting out of the house and living life again. And what better way than to be outside in amazing weather, day drinking with friends, while someone else is watching your children!
So when I saw that the 29th Annual New Vintage Wine and Gallery Trail was scheduled for April 10th this year, I was beyond excited. I started taking steps to plan out the perfect day for my friends and I to hit the 7 wineries and 6 galleries participating in Historic Grapevine, Texas along Main Street.
I had recently gotten some great tips from Holly Donnelly, who is the owner of Grapevine Food Tours, about how to taste wines and the importance of staying hydrated when you do a wine tasting. I did some online research and found well written guide sourced from Terricinia St. Clair, who is the owner of the Tipsy Sommelier, a wine and travel event company in Richmond, VA.
To help share my new found knowledge, I made a postcard for myself and my friends with 6 Foolproof Wine Tasting Tips.
Next, I thought about what else would come in handy on a wine tour that we could easily take to go. I included…
- 8 oz water bottles
- Babybel Cheese
- Kind Bars
- Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares
- Oyster Crackers (to cleanse the palate)
- Tide To Go Wipes
- Wine Wipes
- Tums
- Advil
So what did we actually use?
Most of the items legitimately came in handy. The water was very much needed. We were all happy we took the Advil and had the Tums. The chocolate and cheese were nice with the wine and the Kind Bars were needed. By winery 4 or 5, we did have a party foul, and did break out the Tide To Go wipes and saved a t shirt or two.
We did not really use the oyster crackers or the wine wipes. Maybe if we were wine pros we would have, but us amateur day drinkers in it for a good time left those items unused.
What did we wish we had added?
Next time, I will definitely be adding a Wine Glass “WineYoke” Lanyard Hands Free Holders. I actually think maybe they used to give these out to attendees of the event, because I remember seeing everyone attending with these in previous years. These would have been really nice to have with the glass we were given for the wine tastings for the event. We definitely had a few times where we had to go back for a glass that got left behind and had one glass in the group that didn’t make it to the end.
Which wineries and wines did you like the most?
All the wine was good – but there were a couple wineries I would come back to for sure from the bunch (just my preference – no shade to the others).
Bingham Family Vineyards – I tried a white blend called Cloudburst, a Rose called High Plains and a red blend called Dirt Farmer and I liked all three. A bunch of people from the group also tried a sweet white called Malvasia Bianca that they liked as well.
https://binghamfamilyvineyards.com/
Landon Winery – this winery probably had the most options to choose from for the tasting event with 15 wines total to pick from, which was awesome. My friends all raved about their Chocolate Finale wine. I really liked their Sparkling and Viognier. My husband enjoyed the Tempranillo. This winery was also very welcoming and we felt very at home while we were there, so I am sure we will be back again soon.
https://www.landonwinery.com/
Messina Hof – This is a winery I know already. I have been to the one in Fredericksburg, I have hosted an event at this location in Grapevine, I enjoy their wines. But I’ll be honest, this winery was towards the end of the wine trail and I know I liked whatever I had, but I don’t remember specifics of what they were giving that day. I do know it was a good time as always and their event manager Garrett was there keeping everyone happy. As far as wines I would recommend in general, you can’t go wrong with their Rose canned wine, Sparkling Almond Wine and Sangria.
https://www.messinahof.com/grapevine/
What if I don’t live in Grapevine and need a place to stay?
They just opened the most amazing hotel in Downtown Grapevine called Hotel Vin. If I wasn’t from Grapevine and was coming to visit the wineries or coming for an event, that is where I would want to stay. It is a stunning hotel and walkable to all the action in downtown, plus it is right next to Harvest Hall so you will have lots of awesome food options as well.
