This month WineCountry Media, home of NapaValley.com, WineCountry. com, Sonoma.com and WineCountryShop.com, are introducing an expanded wine-tasting ticket called Covet Pass.
Besides complimentary tastings at over 40 premium Napa Valley and Sonoma Country wineries, Covet Pass provides access to other perks.
After five years of working in the wine country, Mill Valley resident and WineCountry Media principal Michael Cann wanted to give consumers a new way to discover premium wineries at a good value. He put his team to work creating a program for visitors and residents in neighboring regions like Marin.
The $150 pass entitles you to visit as many winery partners as you want within a year — which at, say, about $30 a tasting, pays for itself after a few uses — and offers discounts on lodging, shopping, activities and transportation, plus online tools for researching and planning visits.
The pass will roll out first in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, but there are plans to rapidly extend it to Central and Southern California, Oregon, Washington, New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy, South Africa and other wine-producing areas near and far.
Now that her oldest daughter is driving, executive editor Mimi Towle can spend more of her spare time “researching” for the next big story on hiking, stand up paddleboarding or sampling any and all of the culinary gems around the county. Mimi has spent the last two decades editing and writing for various magazines and websites. While her daughters were babies she wrote a book, Bilingual Babycare, published by theKnot.com. Born and raised in Hawaii, her fondness for the islands has on occasion made its way into the pages of the magazine. If you want more, she’s created a website, www.HawaiiIslander.com.