Travel and Wine…a Beautiful Pairing!
05/22/2025
Lisa C. Rutt, DipWSET, CSW, WSET Certified Educator
Travel and Wine…a Beautiful Pairing!
Travel and wine go hand in hand. A quote from one of my favorite wine movies, “SOMM: Into the Bottle”, is “Wine is only grown in beautiful places.”
As a flight attendant I learned about wine through my first love…travel. Wine is grown in the most beautiful places around the world. And what better to do on vacation than to sit in a lovely vineyard and sip an amazing glass of wine?
There are no ugly places where grapes grow, or if there are, I haven’t found them yet! Grapes and vineyards are a beautiful part of nature. There is no better place to sit and enjoy a glass of wine, than in a vineyard. Many wineries around the world offer charcuterie or light meals or even lunch at the winery. Before your vacation do a few hours of research and find the wineries that offer an experience! It will be one of the best days of your vacation.
Wine and food go together; when you visit a wine region, there are always good restaurants, nearby. I have eaten at great restaurants, all over the world. On occasion, I’ve splurged for Michelin starred restaurants, but honestly, I’ve enjoyed the tiny family-owned restaurants far more than top rated restaurants. Sometimes, the fanciest restaurants are worth it for the view, but they do not always serve the best food! My advice is to visit the fancy places for lunch or even for just a drink, and then go to a highly rated, small family owned, restaurant for dinner.
Some of my most memorable days on vacation were spent sitting and enjoying the moment, watching the scene in front of me! Consider planning some down time into your vacation. There’s nothing worse than coming home from a vacation and returning to work exhausted, because your vacation wasn’t relaxing! So, my number one vacation tip is to not over plan and to build in some relaxation time!
Before you plan a wine centric vacations, you should take a WSET Level 1, but preferably a WSET Level 2 class. WSET Level 1 is a great, introductory class to wine. In a WSET Level 2 class, you will learn all about the grapes and the wine regions you visit, before you go.
You will get more out of your travels, once you understand what happens in the vineyard and the winery. You will look at a vineyard differently when you know the purpose and the reason that the vineyard workers do the things they do. In a winery, you understand the processes that it takes to make wine smell and taste the way it does.
WSET is a worldwide recognized certification in wine. You will find that most winery workers will typically have a certification in WSET Level 2 or Level 3. When you tell guides that you have a WSET certification, they know exactly what you know! They know that they don’t need to spend time explaining the basics to you, because you already know the basics!
If you are in the Lancaster, York or Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area check out our upcoming classes page. If you live anywhere else in the world, and are interested in an attending a WSET certification in Wine class, WSETglobal.com can help you find a class near you, or you can take an online class. Invest in yourself with your time and your money! I’ve learned that one thing in life that you will never regret, is an education!
A winery