How to Plan the Ultimate Valentine’s Date for a Treasure Valley Wine Lover

Forgive me if I brag for just a minute, but I aced Valentine's Day four years ago and this date was such a hit that it's now an annual tradition. 

When you first meet my husband he may come off as a sarcastic jerk who thinks that women belong in the kitchen making him a "sammich." Spend a little more time with him and you'll realize he's actually a hopeless romantic and a sweetheart. (And for the record, he knows my place isn't in the kitchen. He does 90% of the cooking at our place.) That's why I knew I had to nail our first Valentine's Day together all those years ago.

He's lived in Idaho longer than me and loves wine, so I was super surprised that he had never been to any of the wineries on the Sunnyslope Wine Trail near Caldwell.  Thanks to the now defunct Idaho Wine Run, I'd have plenty of opportunities to fall in love with the area and our phenomenal selection of local wines! I made the executive decision to surprise him with a visit to wine country! Here's how it came together:

Gather Your Supplies

I went to Gordman's and bought a cheap set of wine glasses.  I filled each of them with gold crushed glass, purple glass pebbles and put a piece of rolled up green paper inside each of them.  Each of those papers had the address of a winery or restaurant on the Sunnyslope.  I loaded each glass into a picnic basket loaded with snack meat and cheeses.

Execute

Nate had NO idea what was going on when he started unrolling the papers.  I told him to just get in the car and drive to that address.  When we got in the car I loaded up a Valentine's Day playlist on my phone of songs that we both really loved.

SURPRISE!

That year our day took us to samplings at three wineries that weekend.  I picked Bitner, Koenig and Ste. Chapelle but there are over a dozen wineries on the Sunnyslope.  We enjoyed tastings at all three and an awesome chocolate fountain at Ste. Chapelle.  The last address in the basket was Orchard House, a few miles down the road.  We enjoyed a dinner at the cute, country restaurant before heading home.

The number of tasting rooms on the Sunnyslope is overwhelming in a good way! That's why we've added some new favorites into our rotation every year like Zhoo Zhoo, Hells Canyon and Fujishin.  In fact the selection of wineries open to the public has started to migrate closer to Downtown Boise. In 2018, we started the day in Garden City at Cinder Winery.  The vibe there is so cool that we will absolutely be back!

If you're planning to do the EXACT same date that we did, you're in luck! The weekend before Valentine's Day (February 8-10) is Wine and Chocolate weekend on the Sunnyslope and most of the wineries have something special planned for the occasion. You can check out all the wineries on the Sunnyslope HERE so you can map out your perfect Valentine's Wine Day route and see what each winery is doing for the holiday!