Editor's Note: Uncorked is a new series where experts and personalities in wine share tips and trips to enjoying our beloved grapes. We continue with expert traveler Ben Weinberg, in which he shares a common mistake that people make on wine vacations. Be sure to keep an eye out for a Q&A with Wine On The Road's Chief Wine Sherpa coming out soon on GrapeCollective.com.
Ben Weinberg was tired of his old job. So as better halves do, his wife told him to pursue what had become a intense passion of his: wine. A lawyer at the time, Ben put his legal pad in storage and took a job stocking shelves at his local wine shop — the same one that had stocked his personal cellar. But still not satiating his appetite, he looked towards starting his own business, one that would take him to the regions he loved. And thus began the journey of Wine On The Road, offering "luxurious behind-the-scenes tours of wine country."
[Editor Jameson Fink's Top Ten Wine Destinations In The World]
I caught up with him and asked for a little expert advice for when planning my next trip.
Michael Woodsmall: What are the biggest mistakes people make on wine vacations?
Ben Weinberg: You can schedule every minute of every day — but then it becomes a death march, or a press trip where you have to spend every minute doing something related to your topic. I don't think that's necessarily what consumers want. I know that they want to do what they think we do for a living, but I'm not sure they really want to do what we actually do for a living. So you have to pepper it with some time off, a couple of three-hour blocks or full afternoons during the course of the trip.
There is one other thing as well. The tendency is to go to big names at first. And you do have to go to those big names. But in a couple of days, the real focus inevitably turns to the small family farms, and the intimate experiences that they offer; the personalities of these farmers are very appealing. Those are the experiences that become memories.
