Pairing up a great golf course with a great regional wine plays into two acute and equally delicious passions. Whether you’re teeing up at courses located in exceptional wine-producing regions from California’s Sonoma or Napa valleys, Canada’s Okanagan, Eastern Washington or Oregon’s Willamette Valley in the West to the Finger Lakes in New York, one thing’s for sure: Learning about wines is about as complicated as figuring out the golf swing. Tastings help.

Several bottles were lined up on the table. No labels. We were there to blind taste champagnes and sparkling wines. The big surprise? The champagne we all picked as our favorite was the cheapest at about $15 a bottle, a sparkling wine from Sonoma Valley. The truth revealed, the wine distributor admitted this “bargain” was his choice as well.

The question hanging out there: Do you buy wine for your own consumption according to what you like and what you are serving, or are you influenced by reputation and marketing?

Like elite golfers, the number of true wine connoisseurs — those who really know what they are talking about and can spit straight into a bucket — is relatively short. How often have you shown the seemingly endless wine list to someone else at your table and let him (or her) choose what to drink?

Most wineries offer the opportunity for you to sample their wines and, in the process, you can learn a lot. You’ll hear terms like “legs,” “nose” and “finish,” and you’ll likely be asked what you smell and taste. The list of flavors is longer than excuses why you missed that winning putt. Can you detect blackberry, plum, citrus, fig, almond or wedding bouquet? Can you catch a hint of wacky things like eraser or wood? How about rubber boot? Really.

Thriving in California’s Napa Valley, cabernet sauvignon, considered the king of red grape varietals, has been described as having flavors of black currants, blackberry, chocolate, tar and leather.

The big sensation of the 1990s, merlot, a strong product of Washington State and today’s most popular red wine is described as having a cherry fruit flavor.

Still, things get complex when you factor in soils, aging time and the influence of oak. And kind of like your perfect swing, a merlot that’s medium- to full-bodied is described as “velvety smooth.”

In the white camp, the most popular and versatile wine is a chardonnay having pear, apple, tropical or citrus fruit flavors. You can get an inexpensive chardonnay that’s easy to drink, light and has little oak flavor while the more expensive, more complex chardonnays are typically aged in oak and come from areas like the Russian River Valley in Sonoma and the Finger Lakes region — spots where the weather is relatively mild.

Growing in popularity is sauvignon blanc, where styles can vary considerably. It can be crisp and fruity, it can reveal grassiness or it can be aged in oak resulting in a creamier wine with hints of smoke and vanilla. The rieslings produced in the Finger Lakes region are also gaining a strong following, as are pinot grigio or pinot gris — virtually the same grapes, though the latter is generally produced in Oregon. Delicately fragrant and mildly floral with lightly lemon-citrus flavors, pinot gris can be tangy and light, or rich, round and full bodied. It goes well with salads but can stand up well to a heartier main course.

To make things even more confusing, many of the wines we love are carefully balanced blends of two or more grape varieties like Bully Hill Vineyards in Hammondsport, N.Y., where their blends come with goofy names like Meat Market Red and Love my Goat.

The good news is that golf travelers have plenty of chances to work on their palates while working on their games. Here are just two regions — one in the Canadian West, the other in the East — that mix drinking, long driving and short putting perfectly.

In Canada’s Okanagan Valley, you could be sipping a glass of Quails’ Gate Family Reserve pinot noir while the deep blue Okanagan Lake spreads out below the vineyards. Then again, you could be catching great water views from the fairways and greens of the Harvest Golf Club routed through apple and pear orchards. Home to more than 80 vineyards, 15 championship golf courses and a remarkably temperate climate, the Okanagan offers adventure, wine and golf well worth exploring.

Meanwhile, out in the Finger Lakes region of New York, rows of grapes from about 100 vineyards march down the hillsides to the shores of the stunning glacial-cut Finger Lakes, including Seneca, Cayuga, Keuka and Canandaigua. It’s a place where award-winning wines are being produced, green fees are often less than $30 and you can probably get a tee time on weekends without knowing the guy who runs the place. There aren’t huge distances to travel either. Wineries and golf courses are all at most an hour or so from each other, many along or just off Route 20.

TQ Tips

NEW YORK
Bristol’s New York State of Vine

The Bristol Harbour Resort course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, is the place to play and stay for a full-service resort experience. Play a round of golf, then relax on the patio of the Bristol Harbour Lodge sipping a glass of chardonnay or merlot while the white sails of boats glide gracefully across the water below. One-night accommodations in the Adirondacks-style inn and two rounds unlimited golf is priced from $105.
www.bristolharbour.com

A good place to start your wine experience is the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua showcasing wines from across New York, including Long Island. It has a restaurant, tasting rooms, demo kitchen and is but a cork’s throw from the harbor.
www.nywcc.com

CONNECTICUT
Blaze Your Own Trail with a Barrel of Info

Several of the state’s more than 85 public golf courses are within easy driving distance of more than 20 vineyards, most centered around the coastal area in the east and the rolling hills in the northwest. The Connecticut Wine Trail Association has a barrel of information about such wineries as Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington, where locally grown grapes and premium wines from their Napa vineyards are “handcrafted” into exceptional wines, and The Chamard Vineyards in Clinton.
www.ctwine.com

OKANAGAN
Double Dip of Golf and Wine in One Trip

Okanagan Wine Country Tours has paired wine and golf in their Chip and Sip tours giving you golf in the morning at pre-selected courses plus a three-hour afternoon wine tour. Course options include Gallagher’s Canyon punctuated by tall Ponderosa pines, Harvest Golf Club and Okanagan Golf Club’s Quail Course designed by Les Furber in Kelowna, along with the highly rated 27 holes of Predator Ridge in Vernon.
www.okwinetours.com

Play the new Golf Club at The Rise (pictured below), a Fred Couples Signature sitting 1,000 feet above Okanagan Lake affording incredible views of the countryside. Packages available from about $105 for golf and accommodations at the Village Green Hotel in Vernon.
www.therise.ca
www.villagegreenhotel.com

WASHINGTON
Northwest Golf-Wine Packages with Perks

With a year-round desert-like climate, the Tri-Cities region of Eastern Washington (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland), about a three-hour drive from Puget Sound, has close to 160 wineries and 10 golf courses all within easy driving distance. Among others, play Canyon Lakes, Columbia Point, Horn Rapids and Sun Willows. Golf Getaway packages from $189 include golf for two, accommodations and usually breakfast along with other perks.
www.visittri-cities.com