I have to say I was more excited by what I saw in Charlotte’s restaurant scene than many larger markets. There’s a palpable energy evident, with a real sense of possibility and adventure. And wine options? For us the PGA at Quail Hollow spells Pretty Good Anytime.

The Swig Coach makes his first visit to Philly with the 2025 Truist Championship. The wine scene boasts a lot more excitement than the City’s general reputation for cheese steaks and hoagies would suggest.

As diehard Giant fans we find it difficult to say anything nice about Dallas, but there’s plenty to like about the wine scene if not that execrable football team and its equally obnoxious owner (he who should not be named).

The Zurich Classic is the only event on the PGA Tour played in two-man teams, where partners “ham and egg” their way to victory. Speaking of getting your grub on, New Orleans needs no introduction on the food front, but the wine scene is a little less visible.

I haven’t been to Hilton Head in over 20 years so this is a shot in the dark. If you want to offer a strong wine program in a destination with significant seasonal peaks you need the financial strength to “weather” the off-season, hopefully through a dedicated core of locals.

I spent about two hours researching the wine scene in and around Augusta National for Masters Week. While I’ve heard that the Club itself has a fabulous wine program that I hope to profile one day (got about as much chance of that as I do playing there), the rest of the area seems to be devoid of good wine with two noteworthy exceptions.

San Antonio finds itself at the center of the sporting universe this weekend, hosting both The Final Four and The Valero Texas Open. We know a lot of alcohol will be consumed but “steer” yourself to our selections if you care about wine.

I wouldn’t have necessarily guessed but turns out Houston has the best restaurant wine scene of anyplace in the entire South. But it’s Texas after all, so first you gotta wade through the herd of national and regional steakhouse chains.

You can paint the town red, white, and rose at the Valspar with these recommendations.

The 17th gets all the love on the golf course, but the 19th at Sawgrass is pretty, pretty good as well…

Wine is not the first thing that springs to mind when considering a trip to Orlando. A recent article I read suggested it’s the home of “fighting varietals:” inexpensive wines prominently labeled cab or chardonnay. Our own research came to a similar conclusion.

With a few exceptions, the big name restaurants in the Palm Beach area tend not to post their wine lists online. The glittering exception is La Sirena, so kudos to them…

San Diego is a fabulous destination for wine as is the case with just about everything else you can do there. Within a half-hour of Torrey Pines, not accounting for any tournament-related traffic, you have an overload of great-sounding options.

It feels somewhat sacrilegious to be writing about wine at the WM Phoenix Open, the PGA Tour’s homage to Oktoberfest. After all, I never see anyone showering the pros on 16 with pinot grigio.

After writing about wine lists in 40+ cities near PGA Tour stops, I’ve stumbled into Wine Nirvana, namely the compact area between Carmel and Monterey.

San Diego is a fabulous destination for wine as is the case with just about everything else you can do there. Within a half-hour of Torrey Pines, not accounting for any tournament-related traffic, you have an overload of great-sounding options.

Like a desert mirage a lot of high end restaurants in the Palm Springs area don’t post their lists online. So we went looking under the desert rocks to see what we could find for you.

After just covering Maui for the Sentry TOC I reset my expectations to the upside for Oahu and the Sony Open in Honolulu.

The 2025 Sentry takes place in a sobered climate a year-and-a-half after the devastating and heartbreaking Lahaina wildfires. It’s no longer the Tournament of Champions, but there’s still a clear wine champion in Maui at Merriman’s. How do they do it?

Here’s an idea. Let’s get the PGA and LPGA tours together and play 3 days of goofy golf in Naples, FL, then maybe drink some good wine.