Meet Me in Wine Country

How would you like a glass of wine at your next meeting? How about an entire vineyard?  Meeting spaces don’t just have to be confined to hotels and conference spaces anymore – vineyards all across the country have opened their vines to meetings and events. 

California’s Livermore Valley, located about 45 miles southeast of San Francisco, and is home to over 50 wineries, numerous wine shops, and the Palm Event Center.  The Palm Event Center has 20,000 square feet of event space surrounded by the vineyards of the area.  Close by, at Ruby Hill Winery, the Casa Real has many elegant meeting rooms for smaller groups.  Home to over 400 wineries, the famous Napa Valley also boasts over 150 properties that can offer almost 5,000 and 200,000 square feet of meeting space throughout. 

Further south in California, the Four Seasons Resort Biltmore Santa Barbara, located in Montecito, has over 200 guest rooms and 15,000 square feet of meeting space. The upscale Hotel Corque in Solvang has 122 guest rooms along with 7,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.  While you may feel as though you are at the beach in Santa Barbara, the area is actually one of California’s largest wine regions.

To travel off the beaten vineyard path, you can also expand your meetings to areas in Washington, Oregon, New York, and even Virginia.  The Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, VA hosted a Wine Bloggers Conference last July, surrounded by over 30 wineries.  On Long Island in New York, there are over 60 wineries and wonderful meeting venues including The Paramount, a restored1920’s concert hall that can hold up to 1,600 guests.

So when you are looking at destinations for your next meeting, think outside of the glass and take a trip to one of our country’s celebrated wine regions!

For more information, please refer to Smart Meeting Magazine, March 2012- Pop the Cork- The Best Wine Regions in North America by Jennie Nunn.