How To Take Your Wine Tasting Club To The Next Level

​You and your friends have organized a successful wine tasting club.  You’ve done everything right for each monthly meeting:

• Decided on a formal or informal format
• Created a theme such as “Wines of Chile,”  “The Best of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,” or “Favorite Holiday Wines”
• Secured appropriate wine tasting supplies and accessories such as glasses, rinse pitchers, dump buckets, drinking water, bland bread or crackers, and a tasting evaluation form for each member
• Allocated time for enrichment from research shared by members or an outside presenter such as a wine merchant or local winery vintner
• Focused on food and wine pairing with the meeting theme
• Mailed a newsletter or sent an enewsletter with the next meeting’s location, agenda, theme, and other details as well as a review of the last meeting’s tastings, upcoming community wine-related events, etc. 

You’ve done well. Membership has grown and your group of like-minded individuals are now the best of friends.  Where can you go from here? Plan a tour for your group to a wine region! Start with a domestic trip, perhaps a cruise in Napa Valley.   After one or two successful wine holidays, plan more extensive travel to wine regions of France, Germany, or Portugal on a wine-themed river cruise. 

​Here's a suggestion: Small-ship cruise line, American Cruise Lines has launched a river cruise in California with sailings throughout March, November, and December 2023—the first of its kind since the 1940s. The company’s “San Francisco Bay Cruise” will cover chic destinations in Northern California, allowing passengers to gain knowledge of the area’s Gold Rush past, sip, savor, and sample regional flavors of the cabernet sauvignons of Napa, and hike among the legendary giant redwoods.

“San Francisco Bay Cruise”

​Cruising within California is a rarity because droughts and heavy rains affect water levels. The seven-night sailing gets underway from San Francisco, sailing past Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Treasure Island before turning inland on the San Joaquin River spending a day in Stockton. Delight in local flavors at an award-winning olive ranch, deep within the San Joaquin Valley, and visit the celebrated Haggin Museum, highlighting renowned works of art and absorbing history exhibits. Next, the 180-passenger ship American Jazz will sail the Sacramento River (once called “the Nile of the West” due to its size), edged by the Klamath Mountains and the northern slopes of the snowcapped Sierra Nevada range, all the way to Sacramento. Once in the capital city, passengers can and take part in family-owned farm-to-table experiences., explore California State Park, or learn why Sacramento is nicknamed the “City of Trees” on an urban hike. The subsequent two days are enjoyed on the Napa River, where wineries are in store for tasting the finest varietals of the region, before coming back to San Francisco for the remaining two days.

American Jazz

American Jazz was inaugurated in 2020 with 99 all-balcony cabins. Amenities include locally sourced and regionally inspired cuisine, prepared by master chefs, daily entertainment with musicians, historians, and naturalists, and spacious private balconies offering panoramic river views from every angle.

​Prices begin at $5390 per person. Appealing?  Want to plan a California river cruise for 2023?  I would love to make this happen for you. Tap the button to let us know.

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