Experiencing The 2009 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival

This past weekend, we made our annual journey to attend the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. While this experience is not designed for those that have trouble with crowds or despise waiting in long lines, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of many of the wines from around the world we had the good fortune to taste.

There were over 25 different country focused food and wine kiosks located throughout the EPCOT World Showcase. Some of the more interesting and enjoyable wine selections at this year's festival included:

South Africa: Fairview: 2007 Pinotage

New Zealand: Villa Maria Wines: 2008 Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc

Argentina: Bodega Norton: 2007 Reserva Malbec

Chile: Marques De Casa Concha: 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

The most surprising food dish??? The shrimp ceviche covered in popcorn at the Chile kiosk was a delightfully interesting & tasty surprise.

Be sure to pick up the small, portable gift card that you can top up when entering the park. This gift card is attached to a band that you can place around your wrist or belt loop, and is a VERY convenient way to purchase wine and food from the many kiosks. This saves you from having to carry loads of cash (which you will need), or repeatedly use your credit or debit cards over and over again.

The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival continues now through November 8. If you can't make it this year, be sure to make your plans for the Fall of 2010. For more information, visit the official festival web site on the Disney web site by clicking here.

Getting to Know Wine

One way to really get to know which wines you enjoy best, is by tasting different wines. Especially wines from different varietals, regions, and even soils. If you've found a favorite varietal, why not try that grape from a region your not used to. Maybe Cabernet is one you enjoy most, but how often do you purchase Cabs from a totally different region such as South Africa? The ideal way to try many wines is to travel to wine country and taste wines from different vineyards. Not everyone can take a weekend get away to wine country, so in many cases joining a wine club is the next best thing. There are many wine clubs to choose from. However, when first joining a wine club one with the most variety is best. Click here for a very reasonably priced wine club that we recommend.

Valentine weekend wine experience

Looking for that magical wine weekend get away for this Valentine's Day? Look no further, I have listed fantastic ideas for that perfect Valentine weekend experience. One of my favorite wine regions in the country is the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Not only for the picturesque mountain and valley views, but also for producing some of the best Pinot Noirs. When you think of Wine Country most people overlook the Willamette Valley. My suggestion is to stay at one of Oregon's Premier Wine Country Inns, and also a Wine Spectator's favorite location, Youngberg Hill Vineyard and Inn located in McMinnville OR. Click here to book your stay at the Youngberg Hill Vineyard and Inn

Celebrate your romantic weekend with one of Argyle Winery's Vintage Brut Sparkling Wines.   Click here to purchase Argyle Wine  Don't miss Argyle Winery's Valentine's Day Sweethearts and Wine tasting on Saturday February 14th from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. The ultimate in romance, eating chocolate and sipping Oregon wine while listening to soloist guitar player Charles Stein. For more information on Willamette Valley wineries, hotels, activities, and airfare be sure to visit Wine-Hotels.com.

Launch of Wine-Hotels.com

Wine-Hotels.com is a new web site that provides travelers a comprehensive resource to research, plan and book travel arrangements to the top wine country destinations in the US.  

Traveling to wine country is a passion or dream for all wine enthusiasts. There are very few resources on the web that bring together the planning and booking process for travel to wine country.  Wine-Hotels.com has been developed to streamline this process and provide the traveler access to hotel information, photos, rates and reservations.  Wine-Hotels.com also provides detailed information on many top wineries, including links to the winery web sites.  Wine-Hotels.com also provides information on the top restaurants and activities within each of the top wine country regions.  

Wine-Hotels.com presently includes information on the following wine regions:

California Wine Country

Napa Valley

Sonoma County

North Central Coast

South Central Coast

Oregon Wine Country

Willamette Valley

Washington Wine Country

Columbia Valley

Walla Walla Valley

Yakima Valley

Michigan Wine Country

Lake Michigan Shore

Leelanau Peninsula

Old Mission Peninsula

We'll soon be adding several great new features including maps and locations of all hotels and wineries as well as user reviews and ratings.  We also have plans to expand our list of wine regions to include the top wine destinations in Europe.  

We invite you to visit Wine-Hotels.com.  Let us know your feedback on how we're doing, and if there are specific hotels or wineries you would like to see added to the site.