HinsdaleCellars.com, the online source for premium wine collection services, has entered into a promotional agreement with luxury vacation homes management agency BeautifulPlaces. The alliance encourages Hinsdale Cellars’ connoisseur clients to choose from among 35 premier wine country villas and chateaus when planning travel itineraries across the major winemaking regions of northern California and France. A 10% discount on weekly published rates is extended to referral clients who secure a reservation with BeautifulPlaces using promotional code HCELLARS.

“Serious collectors of premium wine maintain very high standards when making plans to visit and become fully immersed in the world’s leading wine regions,” said Hinsdale Cellars co-founder Steve Woodward. “We know that any luxury property selected from the BeautifulPlaces roster will meet or exceed our customers’ standards every time.” Former brand marketing executive Patrick Smith created BeautifulPlaces: Vacation Homes of Distinction in 2003. The homes, principally in Sonoma County wine country, are not simply “rentals” in which typical tourists sleep off a day of overindulgence.

Peter Work is, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating people we’ve met in the wine industry since we launched HinsdaleCellars.com. When you listen to the Princeton-educated native of Denmark and former corporate technology consultant talk about his vision for his Ampelos Pinot Noir you quickly sense he is not in this for kicks.

With wife Rebecca (above) and son Don, the Work family literally has learned the art of winemaking from square one in less than a decade. While living in Los Angeles where he was an executive with a sizzling hot human resources outsourcing company (Exult), they acquired 82 vineyard acres, planting at first 15 acres and later 10 more in Santa Barbara County in 1999, in an area that in 2001 became known as Santa Rita Hills. They chose well, buying their vineyard in a “neighborhood” surrounded by the likes of Fiddlestix Estate, Sea Smoke, Melville et al.

Marketing executive Patrick Smith recognizes luxury travel, if it is truly that, is a total experience, not merely a destination or a physical property. With an extensive background in brand positioning and marketing — as well as 25 years of international travel — as a foundation, Smith in 2003 created BeautifulPlaces: Vacation Homes of Distinction. The homes, principally in Sonoma County wine country, are not simply “rentals” in which typical tourists sleep off a day of overindulgence.

“We combine the services and amenities of a small luxury hotel with the comfort, splendor and privacy of magnificent Wine Country homes to create a truly unique and memorable vacation or business meeting experience,” Smith explains.