When I need great kitchen gadgets and gear, I think Williams-Sonoma. Who knew they also have a Wine Club!? They’ve partnered with “five of America’s most distinguished sommeliers and chefs as the Wine Club’s Advisory Board. Drawing from a wealth of experience, they guide us as we seek out the finest varietals from the world’s most celebrated wine regions.”

The Wine Club features collections you can chose from to be delivered directly to your door every one, two or three months.

• The Explorer: a journey of discovery with 4 red wines and 2 white wines, now on sale for $49.95 (a pretty good deal!)
• The Entertainer: fine wine from small productions with 4 red wines and 2 white wines, now $99.95
• The Connoisseur: reserve wines of either 6 bottles, now $199.95, or 3 bottles, $180

Each collection features hand-selected wine, sommelier tasting notes and recipes to compliment each wine.

Not interested in the Club? They also have a great Gift section featuring Great Winter Whites (3 bottles from France, Austria and Germany for $50) and The Celebration Collection (2 whites, 6 reds from Europe, U.S. and Australia for $100) which is perfect for a dinner party. Visit their Recipe section for what to serve at the dinner party.

Lastly you can visit their Wine Shop for some interesting wine to purchase either in 3 or 6 bottle sets.

Worth checking out for a gift or for your own 2011 wine exploring!

I’m not a big ‘cruise ship’ fan but this is something that could get me onto a ship … specialty wine cruises. The trend is growing bigger each year with cruise companies adding more itineraries and wineries joining as experts or setting up their own.

Costco Travel has partnered with Celebrity Cruises to offer a series of member-exclusive winemaker cruises on their Solstice ship sailing through wine regions of the Mediterranean. They have four itineraries, each one partnered with a different U.S. winery – Wente Vineyards, Caymus Vineyards, Chateau Ste. Michelle and Grgich Hill Estates.

The six- to 12-night wine cruises will visit various wine regions… Barcelona (home to Spanish wines of Cava, Penedes and Priorat), Provence, Tuscany, Sicily, Croatia (origin of the first Zinfanel grape), Venice (region where Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Recioto are produced), Montenegro (where the Vranac grape is used) and/or Greece destinations (Santorinia, Mykonos, Athens and Ephesus). The member program gives you a meet and greet winemaker reception, three-course wine-pairing luncheon, two private customized tasting events, two behind-the-scenes private tours (including a champagne tour of their 1,800 bottle two story glass wine tower). Solstice offers the Cellarmasters wine bar featuring the cruise industry’s first enomatic wine tasting and preservation system AND it has a 10,000 bottle wine collection to enjoy.

Check out Food and Wine Trails or Luxury Cruise Counselors for their offerings. There’s even a West Coast tour on Celebrity Cruise‘s Millennium that visits California, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver wineries.

If you aren’t into ‘mega cruise ships,’ check out some of the European river cruises like the ones with Uniworld. These smaller boats can tackle the rivers of Europe and get you up close and personal to more wineries than the big boats can.

That’s what I was wondering about this massage chain. As a spa lover, I thought it was about time I tried Massage Envy and must admit I was pleasantly surprised!

Massage Envy, for those of you who don’t know, is a chain of 624 locations in 42 states started in Scottsdale Arizona by businessman John Leonesio. Formerly an owner of full service fitness centers with massage, he had the idea of offering inexpensive massage services in an upscale setting on a membership basis like a gym. In 2002 he opened his first location hoping to sell 400 massages per month. The first month they signed up 1,400 members. And in 2003 started to franchise into the nationwide chain.

I was vaguely familiar with their concept … kept getting flyers for it in Valu-pak offering an introductory one hour massage for $49… so I scheduled an appointment. I showed up 10 minutes early, checked in at reception and was escorted back to the waiting area. Very nice room with rather comfy chairs, soothing purple color (their signature color) and subtle art on the walls. My masseuse came to take me back to the room. She was lovely! The room, again very nice painted in the soothing purple, had a standard massage bed with sheets, a fuzzy blanket and the perfect heating pad on it. And my one hour massage was fantastic … great pressure, relaxing, just what I needed!

The place was very busy as my masseuse escorted me out to reception for my check out. Unfortunately this is where my calm state was interrupted. While the woman who checked me out was very nice, she put on the HARD sell for their membership.  After a 10 minute back and forth, I finally convinced the woman I was not interested in the membership program. They hook you with their introductory massage, a one time deal, then after your massage, they pitch you on their membership program… the base of their business.

Massage Envy’s goal is to provide massages to more people by being available more hours and charging less. And they’ve used the membership approach to make it available to everyone. Their membership program is actually a nice deal … $59 monthly fee gives you one massage per month and additional massages/friends & family massages at discounted rates at any of their locations nationwide. They have great hours, are open seven days a week and offer everything from swedish to reflexology to cranial sacral massage. Many locations have also started offering facials. But without membership, your next massage will cost $98.

What I love about spas is trying out new places and treatments. While I do like going back to favorites, I can’t see going to the same place every month unless I really needed it or had no options. I’d definitely go back for the masseuse, but for $98, I could go to a much nicer spa!

Overall my recommendation …nice for a try but not a monthly desire.