About Wine Trails USA and FAQ’s
Jim and Laura Hofman are avid travelers who enjoy exploring and writing about various wineries and wine regions in the United States.
In the last 20 years, Jim and Laura have discovered many “under the radar” wine growing regions and developed a passion to let as many wine lovers as possible know about these largely undiscovered wine travel destinations.
The Hofmans are strong advocates for local specialties, whether it’s wine, cuisine, or sightseeing destinations.
The love of travel and the desire to share their wine travel discoveries with others led to this website, Wine Trails USA, in 2007.
Wine Trails USA is lovingly dedicated to our dear dog friend Daisy Hofman and all the great wine dogs we’ve met along the trail. As a traveling partner, gifted comic, and personal trainer, Daisy brought us much love and joy.
Daisy especially enjoyed joining us on our many wine trail expeditions, bounding from the car at each stop to savor the many sights, scents, and sounds of a vineyard or winery. We miss her dearly but she will always be with us in spirit, wherever the trail may lead.
We encourage you to bring your special canine companion along on a family picnic or winery visit. Your warm memories will last a lifetime.
Frequently Asked Questions …
Why doesn’t WineTrailsUSA.com have a complete list of wineries in each state? Good question … Wine Trails USA is more of an informational travelogue site rather than a strictly informational site. There are over 5000 wineries in the U.S. and the number changes constantly due to openings and closings. It would literally be a full time job to keep track. The best bet for finding complete, up to date listings of all the wineries per state is to check with the state’s wine website or state tourism board.
Are all wine trails listed in the Wine Trails List? We strive to update the list to be as comprehensive as possible. Even with our own best efforts, we are notified fairly often that a new wine trail has been designated. Usually the notification comes from the wine trail itself, or someone in state tourism. Recently, designations of “official” wine trails has become looser. By that we mean states are combining various aspects of agritourism into one trail that can be easily traveled by tourists who may have varied interests beyond wine. Good examples are the increased number of “wine and fruit” trails and “wine and cheese” trails. Typically this denotes a trail with wineries, fruit orchards, cheese manufacturers etc. all on one trail. We’ll list these trails because they’re wine based and we don’t want to be too purist about things. If it helps promote the state’s wine industry, we’re all for it!
Do wine trails pay you anything to be included on Wine Trails USA? No. We’re happy to list all the wine trails we’re aware of. We don’t charge anything to be listed here. We do accept advertising, but typically it’s advertising for wine related products or services.
How would one advertise on WineTrailsUSA.com? Simply drop us a line on our Contact Us page and we’ll be happy to work with you.
Why do some states list travelogues while others do not? If our travels take us to a wine trail, we write up our experiences in a travelogue. Otherwise, the overview is more general in nature and focuses on the state’s wine industry. Since 2007, we’ve been to many state’s wine trails, including (but not limited to) Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, New York, Pennsyslvania, New Mexico, Washington, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana. We hope to add to this list in the near future!
Can readers contribute travelogues about their own wine trail travels? Yes! We haven’t published anyone else’s travelogues yet, but we’d be happy to. If the general tone and style of your travelogue generally matches those that are already on the site, we’d be happy to publish yours and give you credit. We do not provide compensation but we’d be happy to link to your website, as long as it’s for the most part focused on wine, travel, or both.
