Well, here’s a super giveaway for wine lovers: The Travel Size Philip Stein Wine Wand effectively aerates red wine in a fraction of the time it usually takes for reds to “breathe.” It’s truly an elegant piece of wine gear, perfect for packing for an upscale culinary vacation.
The great thing about the Philip Stein Wine Wand is that it really works. For true oenophiles, greatly shortening the time oaky red wines need to breathe adds to the overall indulgent feeling of a luxury vacation in Napa Valley, or Tuscany, or any other great wine producing travel destination. The travel size version, which we’re giving to one lucky winner, comes in a crush-proof embossed leather container, and fits nearly anywhere a Sharpie pen does.
The not-so-great thing about the travel size Philip Stein Wine Wand is that it costs $325. It is a true luxury item. This wine wand would make an amazingly extravagant gift, particularly for someone who really appreciates a quality bottle of wine. For your chance to win the travel size Philip Stein Wine Wand, just leave a comment below stating your favorite, or funniest, or most romantic wine-based vacation experience. Please don’t leave more than one comment a day. The winner will be chosen at random, and immediate family members of The 
Vacation Gals may not enter. This giveaway runs until 6:00 PM PST, Tuesday, March 16, and the winner will be announced the following day. Good luck, and have fun with your comments! We’re already looking forward to reading them.
Pick me, pick me, I’m a wino, no I mean oenophile. I gave away our couches to have enough room to move our wine.
Here is one funny discovery: http://bit.ly/9VXM0V
Then there was the trip where we had to wedge the dog between cases of wine to get everything and everyone home. Actually that was a couple of trips, but she is skinny. (I’ll have to post that soon.)
if you’ve never tried to play Balderdash after splitting a couple (or more) bottles of wine, you have experienced crazy!
We went on a car trip to wine country and filled the car with wines- taking clothes out of the suitcase and shoving it under seats to fit the wine in and wrapping clothes around bottles- and even took food out of the cooler to make room for more wine. Not as funny as the dog above but it was a hoot to see bras and underwear wrapped around wine bottles and my thoughts were please do not get stopped, please none of the bottles break along the way and have us get into an accident for noone would know what really happened
Ooo My dad would love this!
When I was, much much younger, I went out for a first date with a fine lookin fella. We had a lovely bottle of wine with dinner but I believe he was very nervous…
He got up, for some reason, and accidentally knocked my full wine glass out of my hand and into my lap!
He was horrified and I just laughed!
thanks
nancyrobster@gmail.com
(in Canada)
husband proposed to my on Burano, Italy — a Venetian island over many bottles of red wine that weekend. Need I say more?
tvollowitz at aol dot com
Several years ago my husband and I traveled to Napa/Sonoma and visited a great little vineyard that set up shop in an old bank – MEEKER. AWESOME wine and the hostess there was phenomenal and did a great job with the pours she offered after a few hours we all left with several bottles and lovely purple teeth.
I live up on the Central Coast – lots of wine!! My sister and I were recently sharing a bottle of red (okay maybe it was our third) and we noticed our teeth had a blue tint to them…thats when you know you have had too much to drink!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Brenna
smilincaligirl at gmail dot com
Favorite wine drinking vacation – no contest — Paris! Why does everything taste better in Paris? Bread, butter, cheese, hot chocolate, chocolate mousse and yes — WINE!!!? If this magic wand can make my wine mentally transport me from snow/slush-ridden NYC to Paris, then I WANT ONE!!! (am i whining? or wining?)
We were in our early twenties on our first trip to California and the wine country. We didn’t realize how just sampling the wine could cause one to back into a flower planter and demolish it.
My best wine memory?
A four-day wine cruise to Sonoma and Napa. The Cruise West ship had an onboard wine expert, wine tastings and wine pairing.
Best of all: visits to picturesque upscale wineries we never would have found on our own. The cruise generated several magazine and newspaper articles.
Viva California!
While living in France a long time ago my then boyfriend and I decided to go to the Loire Valley to find some nice vineyards to check out. We went to a couple but had no idea that you were to SPIT OUT the wine you were tasting. Needless to say the vineyard owners were so happy when we walked out extremely happy with BARRELS of wine because after so many glass of wine everything tasted good.
Sharing a bottle of our wedding wine (we made wine together as a gift for all our family and friends who were part of the ceremony) by the fireplace in a romantic quiet Nova Scotia b&b on our honeymoon. Simple but sweet.
I really don’t have anything tos fantastical to tell you about…hmmm let’s see…well,one time we were in Northern Mi on a wine tasting tour, we were at the Cicconi Vineyards (Madonnas Fathers place), and our wine expert was an expert in pairing wine with breakfast cereal…I thought this was an amazing gift
! So anyway that’s my story.
still waiting for the dream vacation to Tuscany
My best wine memory was when I was a law student. I lived in a Professors house and I exchanged babysitting for room. I was often hungry and they would feed me from time to time. They had a HUGE wine cellar and lots of wine parties. One day the professor had a friend over and they opened a $400 bottle of wine and asked me to join them for a glass. I did not know a lot about wine and I am sure part of it was just the honor of being asked and the wonderful people I drank the wine with but that was the best glass of wine I have EVER had in my life.
I went to the Wine Country of Califronia for a number of years running by myself to relax before the hectic pace of the holidays would start up at work.
when I met the man who eventually became my husband we went together on a trip for a 2nd anniversary trip. It was just nice to visit wineries and shop and see the coast all in the same trip.
Indiana may not be known for its wines, but does still have quite a few local wineries, many of which make wines from locally grown grapes. There are three wine trails, one in Indianapolis, (the Indy wine trail) one in the south central region (the uplands wine trail) and one near the Ohio river (the Indiana wine trail). I recommend them as nice two or three day jaunts through the countryside.
Anytime I share a glass of wine with a beautiful lady (my wife) is a favorite time. The wine and maybe candles or a fireplace just adds to the moment
One of the funniest happened while driving around the Chianti countryside in Tuscany, looking for Castello Monsanto. The place was not signed and we spoke barely any Italian and of course, the locals spoke no English. We ended up driving in the back way, through the actual vineyard! Hilarious
You can read the whole story here :
http://mymelange.net/mymelange/2007/03/castello-monsanto.html
Cin-Cin!
A few years ago, my husband and I took the train from Omaha Nebraska to San Francisco, and we also took the train trip through the wineries of Napa Valley. We bought some great wine, and had a lovely time. Fabulous!
In the pre-kid years, my husband and I traveled to Catalonia. We spent the night at a truck stop and ate in their restaurant. The truckers all sat on the same side of their tables to face the television. Unfortunately, our table was situated between the other diners and the television. They watched the TV and we watched them. They drank a wine called Pescador, watered down to the drinker’s taste. So we tried what the locals had. It was…thirst-quenching. Without the added water, the wine held up to our olive-based salted cod, so we finished the bottle neat. The travel adventure never ends!
March 2009 was my first ever wine trip to Napa and Sonoma. My boyfriend and I stayed at the Embassy Suites Napa and visited Anderson’s Conn Valley and Ghost Horse Vineyards, Bell Wine Cellars, and Trentadue. Other highlights included lunch at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena and dinner at the Hog Island Oyster Company in Napa.
I recently turned 21 so we haven’t been on a wine vaca, yet. But I am a wine-o!
Thanks!!
Going with my husband to Las Vegas. We drank wine at each of the casinos and had a blast!
The wine tour and tasting we took at Disney’s California Adventure. Thanks for the chance.
mogrill@comcast.net
We did a recent trip to Napa, including a very fun ride on the Napa Valley Wine Train.
But honestly, a romantic dinner at home with a great bottle of wine is pretty hard to compete with!
For one of our early wedding anniversary weekends we stayed on the property of a husband and wife who’d re-done a guest house in Sonoma in high style. The property itself was many acres of rolling farm land, a veritable Eden. We took our now-deceased Border Collie who was so happy to be out of the concrete jungle of Los Angeles and in his element where he could run like a wild man and stare at sheep. Our hosts had a breed of dog we’d never seen called Vizslas, a breed that has almost as much energy as a Border Collie. They were as taken with our doggie as we were with theirs and they offered graciously to let our fella romp with the Vizslas during the day while we wined and dined our way through Sonoma coming back to our bucolic idyll at night. Cut to, years later, our beloved border is no longer with us, but we adopted ourselves a Vizsla puppy who has already learned that the sound of a cork popping makes mom and dad happy and romps accordingly. We can’t wait until she’s a little bit older and we can return to Sonoma and share the magic with the newest furry member of our family.
My favorite wine ‘vacation’ was actually my three day rustic wedding adventure in a volcanic crater at Stoneman Lake. My father, who owned a bar at the time, lugged in a bunch of cases of wine to my wedding! We all stayed in a restored straw-bale, solar lodge together, hiked around the crate lake while inebriated, and danced all night under the very clear stars.
I actually got engaged in Napa Valley last year. It was lovely.
It seems that the only problem with this wand might be that my four year old may mistake it as a Cinderella wand. Note to self – keep this out of reach!! Seriously, though, it’s difficult to pinpoint the best wine vacation, since ANY vacation that involves wine is wonderful!
One wine stop on a great family trip to Tuscany had us not only tasting wines but also learning to drink wines. I still can hear Pierre Luigi in San Gimignano, telling us not to stick our noses into the wine glass like elephants, but to bring the glass to our noses for the first note of a wonderful bouquet. On that day we tasted 12 different wines over the course of several hours eating a bit of food along the way. Needless to say, we were toasted and purchased some of the finest wines to be shipped home to enjoy. Best memory of family time on vacation with great wines tasted.
Another great wine vacation experience: I was traveling in Las Vegas with my friends from BellaOnline. We went into the Venetian, found a fun little japanese sushi place by the indoor ‘river’ and tried some very classy flavored cold sake. I’d always had the chep sake that you have to heat. These were very special, delicious fruit sakes. Yum!
On a wine day in Sonoma, I found one vineyard that really looked like a castle, high up over the hills, commanding views of vines, picnic tables, and serfs toiling in the fields of their fiefdom.
We felt like Lords and Ladies as we sipped in the sunlit courtyard.
We took a long weekend and stayed in Bed and Breakfast in California wine country.
Great giveaway! I love drinking wine with my fiance. We’ve had some pretty fun moments drinking wine; we drank wine on our sailboat ride in St. Thomas out of styrofoam cups when he proposed this past October. It was an experience! lol
Seasidesmitten@aol.com
In all honesty I never really drink, but my sister does and would love this for her. She is always going on cruises and trips with her friends which she usually ends up having wine.
The homemade house wine in a small restaurant in Florence, poured from a pitcher into jelly jar-like drinking glasses – the best red wine we’d ever had!
Recently I stayed in my RV in southern CA. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Temecula, but there are about two dozen wineries in that lovely area. Among my favorites are Callaway and Wilson Creek.
My favorite romantic wine spot is Tuscany, Italy. Last November my husband and I rented a house & car to stay the week. We bought wine at local wineries and opened a different bottle each night to eat with our farmer’s market dinner!
My husband and I have taken some wonderful wine vacations, but the winner was certainly on our honeymoon in South Africa. They are producing fabulous (but still very reasonably priced) wines, and they are thankfully getting away from pinotage (which I still think tastes like dirt!). We spent three days in the wine region, and barely scratched the surface of the wineries. One of our faves was Waterford (you can find their wines easily in the US), where their specialty is a wine and chocolate tasting. Another did a wine and biltong tasting that wasn’t as successful – biltong is like jerky, but using game meats…didn’t quite work with the wine, but still fun!
I’ve had the opportunity to travel in many countries, and have been very blessed to have had some wonderful times around the world. But I have to say my fave vacation was a girlfriend getaway to Napa Wine country in 2008 with my best friend.. We stayed at the incredible Villagio Inn and Spa, and took cooking lessons at the Culinary Institute of America, and tours through the wine country.( and tastings!)Wine Country California is so incredibly beautiful any time of year!…we would love to go back yearly… it is our dream trip!…(and winning this wine tool would be perfect to take with us!!!)
And a great wine?? I had the opportunity to try PATZ & HALL wines for the first time… Defnitely worth every penny!
cathy b
projecthope7 at gmail dot com
My husband has issues drinking red wine, which of course is his preferred. Two years ago we purchased a home to use as a time share with other couples. The first night in our new place we had some folding chairs and an air matress because we were just starting to furnish. To celebrate we bought a nice bottle of red and picked up a pizza. I warned him to be careful. First sip out of his glass and the folding chair did just that. Folded. Half of his glass ended up on the carpet. Luckily I had a box of cooking staples and threw salt on it.
We went to a wine fest in Norfolk, VA and my poor mother got so drunk that she had to hug a tree so she wouldn’t fall down while we gathered our chairs and things. She was pitiful but it’s actually quite funny in retrospect.
One of the most romantic vacations, was a business trip to Austria …many, many years ago. My colleague brought me to one of the oldest standing restaurants in the world…in an old part of Austria… When we walked in, the maitre’d greeted him by name to my surprise…. the place was almost ethereally beautiful. We were escorted to a table, and as I walked I noticed the restaurant was empty…. and then was told he had done that for me…. bought the entire restaurant for the evening for us to enjoy the food and ambience without interruption… I was in shock… it was as if in a dream…. the sommelier arrived at our table… and from there several courses of food each accompanied by its own wine. And, Oh, did I forget to mention, that roses were individually brought throughout the evening to me, and strolling violinists stood by the table or near it throughout the evening… yes, you are reading right… as if in a movie…but it was very real!
We were invited to an elegant restaurant by a pretentious couple and when the wine steward poured a sip of wine for the host’s approval, he said in a haughty voice, “You can fill it up” without so much as a sniff or sip.
Years ago, before kids, we vacationed in California, staying in the Russian River valley and working our way south, through vineyards and geysers and more. I was playing St. Dominic’s Preview by Van Morrison and realized that the lyrics could easily have been written about the land and cities we were driving through. We felt connected. One favorite part was spending an hour at a small winery with the owner – no one else stopped in when we were there. We learned a lot, and enjoyed the wine.
We decided to bring the wine to a holiday celebration at my dad’s new girlfriend’s house. We selected 2 good bottles of Pinot Noir and went on our way. It was absolute torture all night because she didn’t own a bottle opener. She thought we were bringing screw-top wine.
Hi – thanks for the post. I never know what I will come across when I scroll these blogs. But just wanted to let you know I really liked yours. Keep it up.
Jaqueline
I was expecting guests, so my sister and I went to the liquor store across the street to buy 12 pack of beer. When we got there, there was a huge sign announcing ‘RED WINE SALE’. An hour later, it us 2 trips to carry our purchases home. And we forgot the beer. Thanks.
There is a lovely little wine region here in the Verde Valley in AZ. It seems almost no press, which is too bad, since the setting is absolutely lovely. I have been introducing people to the wineries in the area.
My most romantic wine event was the first time I had wine with my boyfriend in Austria. It was a good day
We went to Padre Island off the coast of Texas for a weekend at the beach. While we were there we bought some wine for the balcony…would have been great if one of us wouldn’t have knocked it off the railing…three stories high…thank God it was late and there weren’t any pedestrians about.
Funny?
I was young (my excuse) invited to dinner by a college friend in New Jersey who was staying with her very wealthy family. Wanting to be gracious I brought a bottle of wine that cost about $12 (very expensive by my standards and my budget.)
Her father was very polite and gracious and was going to serve the wine with dinner (ha!) He took out this gorgeous gold corkscrew – so beautiful I had to ask about it. After learning it’s illustrious history, he twisted it in to the cork in MY bottle. The cork wouldn’t come out and the corkscrew broke in half. I felt like the world’s biggest jerk/idiot!Q
My favorite wine-based vacation experience was : Napa Valley.
The last time we went on a family vacation, we could not get away from the group. Finally we decided to go to the casino, evne though neither of us really gambles, just because we knew no one would tag along. We spent our only night alone for 2 weeks in the lounge having a few too many glasses of free box wine.
My first trip to California was supposed to include one day in the Napa Valley – one day turned into three as I explored the vinyards and spoke to winemakers who were eager to share their knowledge and their wine. I didn’t get to see much of the rest of California, but it didn’t matter. It was an experience I’ll always remember.
Spent a night at an elegant inn with my significant other and ordered my wine and dinner. Dinner arrived(lamb chops) and I went to put the fork in the chop and it literally jumped off the plate and came down on my elegant frock, leaving a trail of grease all over me! Was I embarrassed…I just kept drinking that red wine!!
My favorite wine vacation was to Napa Valley.
My husband frequently requests either chicken marsala or prociutto wrapped chicken with a wine reduction for dinner. In fact I’m thawing the chicken right now for the second dish I mentioned. I have never seen anyone enjoy it as much as he does. It makes me so happy.
I haven’t had a wine-based vacation but I have a nice memory of drinking wine while on a trip with my true love
My husband and I had traveled to Florida to go to golf school. After a few nights at the club dining room, we took an adventure to a restaurant outside the complex. I had the most delicious ice wine in the world, I declare. My husband took note of all my yammering, and got me a bottle for our next anniversary.
We went to Europe and went to the Rhine and visited a shop that makes their own ice wine. They let us taste the wines and the liqueurs and we ended up buying quite a bit to bring home. While waiting for them to wrap it and pay I was looking at their Christmas decorations and I picked up a wooden Pinochhio and dropped it. The neck ring flew off and I was so mortified. One of the employees saw what happened and I was so so embarrased that I had my hubby pick it up and put it back. I know it is awful but I just couldn’t say anything. Horrible, yes………
My favorite wine-based vacation experience is trying Syrah for the first time while on a winery tour.
I would love to tour wine country in California.