I have a complicated relationship with wine country. First, I should clarify that I love it: wandering vine-striped hills, learning from empassioned-if-sleep-deprived winemakers, popping the occasional grape in my mouth when no one is looking, tasting wines in the exact places they were made. It does, however, make me tired. Whether exploring California’s sprawling Central Coast or the storied villages of the Loire Valley, by rental car or exorbitantly priced driver, I used to pack my wine trips with days of tastings and tours from morning to night, until what was left of me was a dehydrated husk of a person
As I’ve grown older, fought illness, and adapted to a new, more fatigued normal, I can no longer so easily spend a day flitting from winery to winery without so much as a glass of water (or serving of vegetables.) Nor am I so thrilled about the idea of paying for a driver or, worse, navigating a strange little rental car through winding foreign roads.
Like so many others, I’m drinking less wine than I used to, but that doesn’t mean I’m less interested in luxuriating in wine country. Enter: Winery hotels.
Globally, wine tourism is expected to grow 13% by 2034. While hotels that make their own wine are nothing new, the wine tourism boom has fueled the growing category of accommodations that let guests play winemaker and student all at once, in some of the world’s most prestigious wine regions. According to research from Future Market Research, the desire for personalized and immersive wine experiences are fueling wine tourism’s expansion.
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