When you think about touring the vineyards on the west coast, you probably think about spending sunny, warm days wandering the vineyard property and sampling wines. While spring and summer are popular times for these tours, winter is actually one of the most under-appreciated periods for these visits. Here are a few of the benefits that you will likely enjoy if you choose to visit a vineyard for a wine tour before winter is up.
More Personal Experience
Since winter is essentially the off-season for these tours, there will naturally be fewer people attending each of the tours. That works to your advantage when it comes to your own personal experience. Not only will you not have to deal with the crowds, you will also get more personalized attention by your tour guide and those you interact with during the tasting. This gives you the opportunity to ask more questions and get more details about the crops, the wines, and the process used to produce them.
Unique View Of The Fields
One of the things that you miss out on when you only visit the wineries in the warm season is the mustard flower blooms. Many of the vineyards use mustard flowers as a cover crop, and they bloom in the middle of the winter. It's a unique, beautiful yellow sprawl across all of the fields. Not only are they a pretty sight to see, they also make pretty pictures.
More Affordable
It's a common business practice to charge for your services based on demand. That means that, during spring and summer, the cost of tours will be higher. That's because the crowds are bigger, giving more opportunity for profit. In contrast, when business is slower, such as during the off-season, companies are more likely to offer discounts and deals in order to increase business and reduce their seasonal earnings losses.
Exclusive Product Tasting
Sometimes, there are wines available in the winter season that you cannot get access to during the rest of the year. That means that a winter wine tour may be the perfect opportunity to try a wine that you wouldn't get to taste during the summer. For true wine aficionados, that alone can be enough of a reason to plan a winter visit to your favorite winery for a tour and a seasonal-specific experience.
These are just a few of the reasons why visiting a winery is a great option during the winter. Don't fall into the cold-weather trap of believing that you need to skip the plans until the spring.
