wine tourism

Copia Goes Up For Sale

It looks like Copia, the the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa Valley, is finally down for the count for good. Its Napa site is being sold by Alvarez & Marsal Real Estate Advisory Services LLC which has been retained by ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. to market and oversee sale of the property. Copia closed last November and filed for bankruptcy. The prime real estate includees 17 acres on the Napa River over three contiguous parcels. It may be sold or leased as a whole or as individual pieces.

The Copia building is a two-story, 78,632-square-foot building that includes a teaching kitchen and rooms for exhibits and the grounds include expansive gardens. The Napa nonprofit was the dream of wine great Robert Mondavi who envisioned it as a centerpiece for the wine tourism industry in Napa Valley. No sale price has been listed and it's not clear if it will be used again as a tourist destination although the size and design of the facility doesn't lend it to many other purposes.

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Tags: bankruptcy, copia, napa valley, NapaValley, wine, wine tourism, WineTourism

The Allison Gives Oregon Wine Lovers A New Place To Stay

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

These days I get excited when a project I wrote about a few years back actually comes to fruition. We first talked about the Allison Inn & Spa back in 2007. It's part of a large development in Oregon's Willamette Valley, an area which is quickly becoming one of the go-to spots for wine tourism. The hotel in Newberg, Oregon has a signature restaurant, 12-treatment-room spa and fitness studio, covered indoor pool and 12,000 square feet of meeting and social gathering space.

The Allison's 85 rooms range in size from nearly 500 to more than 1,500 square feet. Rooms include wet bars, mini refrigerators, Bose sound systems and linen bath robes. There are 20 suites with features like bay window seats, fireplaces and terraces or balconies. Rooms offers pastoral views of oaks and conifers, neighboring vineyards and more than 70,000 recently planted trees, grasses, shrubs and perennials. There is also a one acre chef's garden.

The hotel celebrates the region's famous pinot noir wine with 'pinotherapy' spa treatments. The restaurant, Jory, is named for a soil type that produces Oregon's pinots and boasts 700 wines on its list with 50 available by the glass. Room rates range from $295 to $1,100 and pets may join their owners for a $50 fee per stay.

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Tags: oregon, pinot noir, PinotNoir, the allison, TheAllison, wine tourism, WineTourism

Milliken Creek Inn & Spa

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

A recent article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that wine tourism in Napa Valley is down but that makes it a great time to visit, because it's less crowded. One place to get the complete Napa experience a bit off the beaten path is at the Milliken Creek Inn & Spa. The five-star luxury inn offers a tranquil retreat amidst redwood trees and Japanese maples, quiet courtyards, ponds, lush gardens, and a waterfall terrace. The property is located on the outskirts of Napa Valley and has romantic rooms with canopy beds and offers indlugent treats such as a riverside massage.

The inn serves a complimentary gourmet breakfast with guests' choice of several items prepared on property plus fresh pastries from Bouchon Bakery with coffees from Dean & DeLuca. Picnic lunches are available to eat on the property or take with you on your day's adventures. And best of all there is Magic Hour, a daily wine tasting for guests of the Inn. Wineries from across the valley come each night at sunset to share their latest offerings. Epicurean cheeses, artisan breads, and crudités are also served in the lobby of the Inn. Milliken has a strict "no-kids" policy and staffers can arrange for romantic adventures for couples including a hot air balloon ride.

Guestrooms include a 42" Plasma TV/DVD player, Bose Wave CD player, complimentary sodas and Voss water, king-size bed with down comforters and pillows, double spa therapy tub and gas fireplaces. The Milliken Vintners Vacation Package is named for a private tasting at Vintners Collective, where guests also sample anti pastas and cheeses carefully selected to enhance the flavors of each reserve. Vintners Collective brings together 18 winemakers into one beautiful tasting room in Napa's oldest stone building. The package starts at $320 per night.

Gallery: Milliken Creek Inn & Spa

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Tags: napa, napa valley, NapaValley, wine tourism, wine vacation, WineTourism, WineVacation

Waiheke Island To Get Major Resort

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

New Zealand's Waiheke Island is soon to be the home of a new lavish resort. International chain Langham Hotels and Auckland developer Brent Gibson are creating Langham Place which is said to be the country's first five-star boutique vineyard resort. The 79-room resort will have a Tuscan theme and will capitalize on the growing wine tourism in the region. Hotel amenities will include the Chuan Spa, a gym, tennis courts, fine dining and meeting facilities. The hotel will also have an interactive wine theater and will highlight wine from the region. The resort will be 35 minutes by ferry and 8 minutes by helicopter from the heart of downtown Auckland and is set to open in 2010.

[via Stuff]

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Tags: new zealand, NewZealand, resort, waiheke island, WaihekeIsland, wine tourism, WineTourism

Monterey Wine Country's 11th Annual Great Wine Escape Weekend

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Wine, Events

Who doesn't like their wine experience with a side order of gorgeous scenery? Monterey Wine Country's 11th Annual Great Wine Escape Weekend on November 9-11 offers a wide variety of wine adventures including wine and food integration seminars, open houses at the wineries, guided wine country tours, winemaker dinners and the Grand Finale at Quail Lodge. There are over 20 winemaker dinners which offer a chance to meet the faces behind the labels and taste vintages paired with food by local chefs. The winemaker dinners are $95. There is also a shuttled dinner in Carmel that starts at the Cima Collina tasting room, in Carmel then heads to Grasing's Coastal Cuisine for appetizers, salad and wines from Michaud Vineyard followed by a main course and dessert at the Carmel Chop House paired with wines from Pessagno Winery. The dinner is on Nov 9 and costs $165. The Wine Enthusiast's Signature Dinner is on Nov 10 and takes place in the Marinus Restaurant at Bernardus Lodge. Chefs Cal Stamenov of Marinus Restaurant and Annie Somerville of Greens Restaurant. The dinner will be accompanied by Monterey Country wines which are all rated 90+ points by Wine Enthusiast's Magazine) Monterey County wines. This dinner costs $250. The Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa offers a package that includes three nights accommodations (double occupancy) in an Ocean View Room, plus Palate Pleasers, Winemaker Dinner on Friday or Saturday, Monterey Wine Country Tour with Boutique and Hidden Gems Wine Tasting and the Grand Finale for $1,556.

[via Avenue Vine]

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Tags: california, monterey, wine, wine events, wine tourism

Springbrook, Oregon's New Development Breaks Ground

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Wineries are popping up all over Oregon, and now the influx of wine tourism and real estate development is on the rise. This week saw a groundbreaking ceremony for Springbrook, a new development in the the Willamette Valley's Pinot Noir wine region that will include an inn, spa, restaurant and conference center. Future plans include 1,200 homes and a retail village which will be built over the next decade.

At the groundbreaking, businesswoman Joan Austin, her daughter, Loni Austin Parrish, son Ken Austin III and daughter-in-law Celia Austin turned a few shovels full of earth to signify the beginning of construction on the 450-acre Springbrook Properties site, which is one of the largest new developments in the state. The development will have 50 acres of green spaces that includes a small vineyard and recreation spaces.

The inn will be called The Allison, named after the 300-square-mile lake that briefly covered the entire Willamette Valley during the last ice age. Lake Allison was named for the late Ira Allison, an Oregon State University geologist whose work helped prove the existence of the lake. The inn will have a rustic and homey feel centered by a great room with a two-sided stone fireplace and an adjoining 15-seat bar. The 85 guest rooms will range in size from 500 to 600 square feet, to three 900- square-foot suites and one two-bedroom, ultra-deluxe suite with 1,600 square feet. The hotel will open in late spring 2009. A bigger picture of the development plans can be found in the gallery below.

Gallery: Springbrook

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Tags: newberg, oregon, springbrook, wine, wine tourism

Wine Tourism Center Breaks Ground In Washington

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Wine tourism in Washington state is a thriving business and it's set to get a lot bigger. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer covered the groundbreaking of the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, a $9.2 million center which will be both a destination for tourist and a place for winemakers to gather. The new center is located in Prosser in the fertile Yakima Valley wine region. The center will have a 17,500 square-foot building, vineyards, organic gardens and a public park. The main building will have a restaurant, exhibition galleries, a theater, a demonstration kitchen, wine bar and a retail shop. The center is named for Walter Clore, the father of Washington wine. Washington is the second largest producer of premium wine in the United States. The center should open in May 2007 and is expected to draw more wine tourism to the region.

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Tags: walter clore, washington wine, wine, wine center, wine tourism

Zin Alley

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

If you like Zinfandel then you should know about Zin Alley, a small winery in Templeton, California. They specialize in Red Zinfandel and Zinfandel port. They do not ship to stores and their wine is only available in restaurants in the Paso Robles area. They are happy to sell to individuals and people who have made the trek to the winery rave about the experience. The Red Zinfandel sells for $42 and the Port costs $40.

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Tags: paso robles, port, wine, wine tourism, winery, zin alley, zinfandel