We’re leaving for a vacation to visit my wife’s family in South Carolina on Saturday morning.  To me, the hardest part of any trip is picking wines to take.  I travel a fair amount for work, and unless I have a lengthy layover at a hot airport, in the middle of the day, there’s wine in my luggage.

 

This trip is a little easier since we’ll be driving.  I figure we’ll need seven bottles, one per day.  To be safe, I’ll probably just fill up a mixed case with a couple of whites, a few rosés, and the rest reds.  Since there’s always the possibility of hot weather during the drive, I usually take good, but relatively inexpensive bottles.  I usually slip in at least one better bottle and put it in the passenger section of the car instead of the trunk.

 

How can I know on Wednesday what we’ll want on Sunday?  How about next Friday?  This is another reason, I don’t take the good stuff.  Do I really want a bottle of Saxum in the trunk for 1,000 miles, spend a week in a warm house, then endure another 1,000 miles in the trunk only to end up back in the cool wine cellar.  That has to do more harm than good to the wine.

 

When you travel, do you take wine with you?  If so, how do you choose what to take?

 

The wines I’m taking?  The list isn’t done yet, but so far these will get a free, all expenses paid trip from Wisconsin to South Carolina:

2011 Bedrock Wine Co. Mourvedre Ode to Lulu Rosé
2011 One Time Spaceman MCA Rosé (Paso Robles GSM blend)

2008 Stanley Lambert Chardonnay Pristine (unoaked from Barossa)
2009 Clayhouse Vineyard Cuvée Blanc Red Cedar Vineyard (Paso Robles, white Rhone blend)

2007 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Prologue
2008 Schild Estate Shiraz
2008 Tamarack Cellars Firehouse Red (Washington red blend)

 

Cheers!