Where Wine Meets Story

Wine Travel, Classes, & Consulting

Wine Experiences

  • Two dark glass bottles with cork stoppers placed on a wooden barrel outdoors, with green foliage and a cloudy sky in the background.

    Travel

    I design intimate, small-group wine travel experiences rooted in place, culture, and history. While current offerings are based in Italy, future journeys will expand to regions such as Sicily and the Balkans.

    These are not traditional tours, but immersive, thoughtfully designed experiences. We walk vineyards, share meals with producers, and explore the layered histories of each landscape—from ancient sites to working cellars.

    Each experience is intentionally flexible. You can simply enjoy beautiful settings and exceptional wine, or engage more deeply with vineyard and cellar life. Either way, you leave with a richer understanding of wine and a lasting connection to place.

    Explore Travel Experiences
  • Four glasses of different colored wine on a wooden barrel, from left to right: white, rosé, red, and black.

    Tastings & Classes

    I offer private tastings and curated wine experiences for individuals, small groups, and businesses, both in Chicago and virtually.

    Each session is designed to be engaging, approachable, and grounded in place. We explore wine through story—connecting what’s in the glass to landscape, history, and culture—while building confidence and deepening understanding.

    Experiences can be tailored to your setting, from intimate gatherings to larger events, with guidance on pairings, themes, and overall flow.

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A woman with shoulder-length wavy brown hair, smiling, wearing a tan jacket over a white shirt, standing outdoors with blurred green foliage background.

Story behind the glass

Wine is more than what is in the glass. It is history, landscape, and the enduring relationship between people and place.

I founded Fieldnotes Wine to offer meaningful ways to learn about wine through culture, archaeology, and regional food. With a PhD in Archaeology from Stanford and years spent living and researching across Europe, from heritage landscapes in Albania to vineyards in Italy and France, I approach wine as a living expression of history.

Today, I offer private tastings, group classes, and small-group wine travel experiences based in Italy. These experiences are intentionally intimate and flexible. Guests can relax in beautiful settings, share meals with producers, and explore historic sites, or, for those who wish, step more fully into vineyard and cellar life and experience the rhythms of wine firsthand.

Each experience is designed to deepen wine knowledge while creating a lasting connection to place.

Fieldnotes Wine is about traveling thoughtfully and experiencing wine with meaning.

— Dana Phelps, Founder

Join the Fieldnotes Travel & Wine Circle

Receive occasional notes on wine, regional food, and archaeology (mostly in Italy and the Balkans) — along with early access to small-group journeys and private experiences.

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