Finding wine on vacation
Mary and I just returned from a bit of time off, we were fortunate enough to be vacationing in some relatively remote islands. We were joined by friends and family and had all gone together on a condominium rental that afforded us the chance to have some of our meals prepared there. Well, as these things go, tough to have a nice dinner at “home” without some wine to go with it. The trick for all wine consumers though is finding wine when away from our “home base” that we will like and fits within our budgets. Even when travelling domestically you can still face challenges when looking for your favorites.
We lucked out on our trip as a large British chain Bristol’s had an outlet close to where we were staying. While the shop was quite small the company is known for their selection of good wines and knowing a few basic things about our communal tastes helped us find some winners. Here are some pointers we found valuable.
It is always a good idea to ask the locals for which wine shops they consider to be the best in the area. We were fortunate that the van driver that took us from airport to condo was helpful and knew the ropes she made several good suggestions. We have found that taxi drivers and bartenders are some of the best sources for this information. They see so many folks with such diverse tastes they can usually point you in the right direction.
Once you find a wine shop though, how to make your way through the collection to find the things you like and are comfortable choosing somewhat blindly? On this most recent trip the lion’s share of the selections were from Europe. Most of Europe labels by region as opposed to varietal so it is unlikely to find Chardonnay or Cabernet on the label, you need to know what grows in that region to know what grape or grapes are in the bottle. A quick Google search on your smart phone can tell you what grapes come from which region or appellation so you can start to narrow your choices by varietal.
In many smaller wine shops in vacation areas you might find some older bottles hanging around as they don’t sell wine quite as quickly leading to some older vintages being on the shelf. This is not necessarily bad; even some whites will age very well depending on how they are made. It is helpful to know which vintages from the region you are buying are the good versus not so good ones. Again a smart phone can go a long way to helping you know what the good years were. Or a broad guideline on recent vintages is most of Europe had really good years in 2010, 2011 and 2015. The Western US had an iffy and uneven 2010, a really bad 2011, and great to very good years from 2012 through 2016.
When we are away on vacation we are always more willing to give something out of the ordinary a try! We are relaxed in a beautiful place with friends and family, how bad can it be? The key here is to just try one bottle of the unknown wine until you find out if it is to your liking or not. You minimize the investment and if it turns out to be a winner you can always go back and get another.
On the days or nights you dine out for lunch or dinner take the time to look through the wine list. If you find something that you order and like or just see a wine on the list that you have had before ask your server where you might find the wine retail. In smaller more remote locations like where we were staying restaurants and retailers all get their wine from the same sources, so restaurant professionals may know the best place to find the wine you want. There is also a chance that a restaurant will sell you a bottle or two at a retail price to take with you that will be less than their restaurant price.
Over the years we have found ways to get wines we really enjoy even in the most remote locations. We hope our pointers will result in you finding good alternatives during your travels.
If there is a topic you would like to read about or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d’Alene Press.
- • •
George Balling is co-owner (with his wife Mary Lancaster) of the dinner party, a wine and table top décor shop located by Costco in Coeur d’Alene. George worked as a judge in many wine competitions, and his articles are published around the country. You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. Be sure and check out our weekly blog at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com/home/blog-2. You can get all of these articles as well as other great wine tips by friending us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.