Cruise & Cruise Line

Windstar Adds New Wine Experiences to 2024 Sailings

Image: Windstar will offer five wine cruises in 2024 (Photo Credit: Windstar Cruises)

by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 12:40 PM ET, Thu December 28, 2023

Guests traveling aboard select Windstar Cruises itineraries next year will be able to sip rare, small-batch wines while sailing to destinations like Tahiti, Portugal and Iceland.

The small ship line will feature a curated selection of award-winning wines on five cruises in 2024. On those sailings, passengers will have the opportunity to enjoy wines that are typically only available at the wineries and to wine club members.

The cruise line is partnering with several West Coast wineries and a U.S. importer/exporter to offer exclusive onboard wine tasting seminars. Some of the wine cruises also overlap with James Beard Foundation sailings, during which guests can also experience a chef-hosted dinner with wine pairings, cooking demonstrations and a chef-led market tour.

“We’ll be bringing a bit of wine country on board as a special experience for our guests,” says Peter Tobler, Windstar’s director of hotel operations. “These are small production wineries, and our guests will be able to taste wines that aren’t available anywhere else except at the winery where they were produced.”

The 2024 wine cruises are:

James Beard Foundation & Wine Cruise: Cuisines & Cultures of Spain, Portugal and France aboard Star Legend from May 28 to June 6. The featured winery is Denner Vineyards of Paso Robles, California, and the featured chef is Tanya Holland of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wine Cruise: Lands of the Midnight Sun aboard Star Pride from June 10-21. The featured winery is Talbott Vineyards of Carmel-By-The-Sea, California.
James Beard Foundation & Wine Cruise: Adriatic Archipelagos & Greek Goddesses aboard Wind Surf from August 28 to September 5. The featured winery is Louis M. Martini Winery of Napa Valley, California, and the featured chef is Loryn Nalic of St. Louis, Missouri.
Wine Cruise: Sicilian Splendors aboard Wind Surf from September 21 to October 1. This cruise will feature the wines of U.S. importer and exporter Maze Row Wine Merchant
Wine Cruise: Tahiti & the Tuamotu Islands aboard Star Breeze from November 7-18. The featured winery is J Vineyards and Winery of Healdsburg, California.