Wine passports are a great way to explore a wine region, and have more money to purchase your new fav wines. Learn more about what to look for, to make an educated purchase!
When you show up at a winery, they’re going to want evidence that you in fact have purchased a wine passport in which they participate. What’s your “proof of purchase?” That depends on the pass sponsor (the company which has aggregated the offers and is marketing the pass). There are two general types of passports – physical and electronic.
A physical passport is either picked up at or after purchase at a designated place, or mailed to you. These passports vary based on the program. There’s no formal designation for the the many types of passes available, so I’ve arbitrarily separated them into two category types: limited use or open-ended.
In my definition, limited use passports usually specify how many times the purchaser can use the pass — for instance, there might be 20 wineries participating, but the pass is only good for 5 uses. These passes generally use some type of token, ticket or stamp. (In some programs, the wineries receive partial reimbursement from the pass sponsor based on the tokens or tickets they turn in.)
Again, this is my definition – there are passports that don’t limit the number of participating wineries you can visit, and these I refer to as “open-ended.” They are typically identification cards or booklets. (Some passes, however, will limit the number of times you can use the pass at a participating winery – these passports will typically have a place for the wine host to mark, to indicate the winery’s offer has been redeemed).
We’ve never run across any limited use digital passports, so we’ll just briefly here touch upon digital passports. These programs generally use a digital image of a personalized card (which is your “proof of purchase”), or, are a smartphone app which lists the participating wineries and offers.
Whew! A lot of detail, but that’s the devilish part, right? I hope after reading this you’ll have more confidence in choosing your first (or next!) wine passport. (Tip: if you read the “What’s a Wine Passport?” post and do the math, you may find owning multiple passes works for you!) We always travel with Priority Wine Pass (and are an affiliate with them) because:
Now that you’re becoming smart about wine tasting and are familiar with the wine passports available, what are you waiting for? Buy a pass and go look for your new favorite wine!
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