If you are planning on taking off on your own wine tasting trip this summer, there are some steps you can take to make sure that your winery adventure meets your expectations. The following suggestions will help make it an experience to remember.

There are several great resources on the internet where you can find information on wineries in many areas. Your best bet is to choose one winery that you definitely want to visit - then build from there. Insert the city of the winery you chose into a search engine's yellow pages. (MSN is my favorite...it has a nice distance search). Search for wineries in a specific radius from this city...around 50 miles usually works. Unless you have chosen a very remote winery, this search will usually yield many more wineries to choose from and add to your agenda.

If you are lucky, most of the wineries you have found will have an informative website where you can check exact locations, operating hours, types of wine they produce, special events and more. Choose no more than five total wineries to visit in one day. Be sure to call any wineries that do not have a website, especially if you are not traveling during the summer months. Some of the smaller wineries do not keep regular business hours, so it's best to verify operating hours before you finalize your plans.

After you know exactly which wineries you will be visiting...and in what order...try to book accommodations very close to the last winery. Using a search engine's yellow pages distance search (like you did when searching for wineries) is also great for this. Book as early as possible. Many times the closest accommodations are small inns or bed and breakfasts and they tend to book-up quickly.

While on your journey, please taste responsibly.

About the Author

A wine enthusiast and frequent wine traveler, Sharon Alexander, is owner of Winery Adventures.com. The Winery Adventures web site features winery reviews and tips for wine travelers. The site also features monthly wine recommendations, articles, wine classifieds and a free monthly newsletter.

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