VIP Winery Vacations

VIP Winery Vacations Award-Winning Chef-led experiences built on 20+ years of relationships with w**emakers and artisans.

Private access, small groups, and experiences you can’t book on your own. This isn’t tourism, it’s insider access to the real world of w**e and food.

09/03/2026

One of Burgundy’s great dishes begins with something incredibly simple: an egg. 🇫🇷🍷

Oeufs en meurette is a classic Burgundian dish featuring poached eggs served in a deeply flavored red-w**e sauce, traditionally prepared with ingredients such as mushrooms, onions, and bacon.

Cut into the egg and the soft yolk blends into the w**e sauce, transforming simple ingredients into something rich and luxurious.

This is why I travel as a chef. Regional food shows you how people cook with what grows and is produced around them. In Burgundy, w**e doesn’t only belong in the glass—it belongs in the sauce.

Would you order this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

09/01/2026

A tasting at López de Heredia is a lesson in patience. 🍷🇪🇸

In a w**e world constantly chasing the next trend, this historic Haro producer continues to show us what traditional Rioja can be—long aging, old cellars, patient w**emaking, and w**es released when they are truly ready.

Watching Viña Tondonia being poured at the w**ery was a reminder that great w**e cannot be rushed.

Jamie and I have always said, “We visit who we buy from.” Once you visit the w**ery, meet the people, and taste the w**e at its source, the label never looks the same again.

Have you ever tasted Viña Tondonia?

08/29/2026

Not every unforgettable moment in Sicily happens around a table. 🇮🇹

As we headed up the hillside, the magnificent Temple of Segesta came into view, surrounded by Sicily’s wild, open landscape.

Food and w**e show us what a destination tastes like. Places like Segesta help us understand the history and culture that shaped it.

That is why Jamie and I create trips that go beyond w**eries, tastings, and restaurants. We want our guests to walk the land, hear its stories, and genuinely experience the destination—not simply stop long enough to take a photograph.

Would you make this walk to see Segesta?

08/29/2026

This is what VIP Winery Vacations is all about. 🍷🇫🇷

Our group didn’t simply visit a w**ery in southern France.

We were welcomed into an experience.

Franck-Lin Dalle, the owner, took incredible care of us from the moment we arrived. We walked the vineyards, tasted w**es, watched the sunset over the vines, and then sat down for a beautiful dinner prepared by his sister.

That’s not a standard w**e tasting.

That’s hospitality.

And when the evening was over, we stayed right there on the estate, surrounded by vineyards in a place that felt like a castle.

Anyone can book a tasting.

But being welcomed like family is something completely different.

This is the kind of access and personal experience we look for when planning our small-group journeys.

Would you spend the night at a vineyard in southern France?

08/28/2026

Sitges is famous for its beaches—but some of its best stories are written into its buildings. 🇪🇸

As we walked through town, we passed ornate homes built by Sitges residents who traveled to the Americas, became successful, and eventually returned home. Known as the “Americanos,” they helped reshape Sitges with impressive neoclassical and Catalan Modernista architecture.

This is what walking through a destination allows you to discover. You notice the balconies, windows, stonework, and details you would completely miss from a tour bus.

Jamie and I don’t want our guests to simply see Sitges. We want them to understand what made the town what it is today.

Would you explore the historic streets first or head directly to the beach?

08/27/2026

Breakfast in Italy is not something we rush through. 🇮🇹☕

Fresh fruit, eggs, vegetables, breads, cakes, preserves, and coffee served in real cups. Nothing overly complicated—just real food prepared with care.

These quiet mornings are part of the travel experience. Before the w**ery visits, cultural tours, and long lunches, Jamie and I sit with our group, talk about the day ahead, and allow everyone to begin at a human pace.

Not every memorable meal needs to be an elaborate dinner. Sometimes it is simply a great breakfast shared with good people.

Are you choosing a sweet or savory breakfast?

TUSCANY OR PIEDMONT?The real question is not which Italian w**e region is better.It is what kind of traveler you are.Cho...
08/26/2026

TUSCANY OR PIEDMONT?

The real question is not which Italian w**e region is better.

It is what kind of traveler you are.

Choose Tuscany if this is your first w**e trip to Italy and you want Florence, Siena, villas, art, hill towns and w**e country woven together. Tuscany gives you breadth.

Choose Piedmont if you plan dinner before the museum.

Piedmont is for travelers who want Barolo, Barbaresco, long lunches, egg pasta, truffles and small family cellars where the person pouring your w**e may have been working in the vineyard that morning.

One of my favorite experiences happened at Picollo Ernesto in Gavi. There was no polished visitor center or rehearsed tasting presentation. A family member cooked while the grandmother made pasta. The table filled with local cheeses, cured meats, olives and focaccia.

We were not being processed as tourists.

We were being welcomed as guests.

That is the difference we look for when Jamie and I build our journeys. The best w**e trips are not built around collecting famous bottles or racing through the greatest number of w**eries.

They are built around people who make you care about where the bottle came from.

My honest answer?

Tuscany gives first-time visitors more range.

Piedmont gives serious food-and-w**e travelers more depth, intimacy and connection.

Which one describes you?

I put the full Tuscany vs. Piedmont comparison in the first comment.

🍷 **W**E TRAVEL WEDNESDAY: Valle de Guadalupe**Most people are surprised when I tell them that some of the most exciting...
08/26/2026

🍷 **W**E TRAVEL WEDNESDAY: Valle de Guadalupe**

Most people are surprised when I tell them that some of the most exciting w**e experiences I’ve had aren’t in France, Italy or California.

They’re in **Baja California, Mexico.**

Valle de Guadalupe has become Mexico’s most important w**e region, but what makes it interesting to me isn’t simply that they make good w**e.

It’s the diversity.

You can taste **Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc** and plenty of blends—sometimes within a few miles of each other.

And then you start meeting the w**emakers.

Small producers. Family projects. People farming in a challenging, dry climate and figuring out what works on their particular piece of land.

That’s where w**e travel gets interesting.

Don’t just visit a region to drink w**e.

**Learn why the w**e tastes the way it does where it grows.**

That changes the entire experience.

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165 Canal Street
Ellenville, NY
12428

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