It’s time to get excited! Livermore’s Harvest Wine Celebration is just around the corner. This event brings together many of the wineries in the Livermore Valley, with unique tasting flights, live music and special events. But like most major events, a bit of advanced planning can take the experience to a whole new level!
The 35th Annual Harvest Wine Celebration involves all of these wineries: 3 Steves Winery, Big White House Winery, BoaVentura de Caires Winery, Caddis Winery, Cedar Mountain Winery & Port Works, Charles R Vineyards, Concannon Vineyards, Crooked Vine Winery, Cuda Ridge Wines, Dante Robere Vineyards, Darcie Kent Vineyards, Eagle Ridge Vineyard, Eckert Estate Winery, Ehrenberg Cellars, el Sol Winery, Fenestra Winery, John Evan Cellars, Las Positas Vineyards, Longevity Wines, Murrieta’s Well, Nottingham Cellars, Occasio Winery, Pat Paulsen Winery, Reztalff Vineyards and Estate Winery, Rios Reserve Estate, Rodrigue Molyneaux,The Singing Winemaker, Stony Ridge Winery, The Steven Kent Winery, The Winemakers Studio at Wente Vineyards, Vasco Urbano Wine Company, and Wente Vineyards Estate Winery & Tasting Room. Whew! That’s a lot of wineries to visit. Thanks to the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association for putting this together!
Wine tasting trips are always worth planning in advance. Agreeing on a tour route (paying attention to hours of operation), packing water bottles and snacks, and selecting a designated driver are all important steps to success. For special events like the Harvest Festival, more planning equals more fun! Many of the wineries are adding live music and food, especially on Sunday, so we’re planning for a two-day experience.
Probably the most important, and most difficult, step in this plan is selecting a list of wineries to visit. So many choices! Deciding on your mode of transportation can help make the winery choices easier. Designated driver? Livermore Wine Trolley? Black Tie Transportation? Extraordinary Tour Services? Each option has advantages, and your choice will affect the number of wineries that can be enjoyed in your day. Regardless of your choice of transportation, four to six wineries are probably the limit for each day, assuming you want to remember your experience.
What is the best way to make your winery choices? Wine Tasting Bliss is here to help. We’ve put together a personal tour planner, perfect for planning and enjoying your celebration. Based on information that we could glean beforehand, we’ve added icons for food, live music, and trolley accessibility. Make your choices, mark your planner and set off! Keep the planner handy, though, to record your favorite wines and other thoughts. You may think that you will remember every moment of your celebration in the coming days, but our experience does not support that. Good notes are key! Remember to take a lot of pictures, too, so you can join the fun on Twitter and Facebook!
So plan ahead, don’t forget the water, and have a great Harvest Wine Celebration!
About the Author: John grills a mean steak and is always in the market for another wine fridge. Believes that if a winery has more than 10 employees, it's probably too big. Buys wine faster than he drinks it, but who cares?
