Winemaker Kristina van Loben Sels

Q: How did you become involved in the wine business? A: I love this story because our Chardonnay vineyard started as beautiful landscaping of a large area at the entrance of our house in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We knew that great wine has been made from vineyards close by for over 100 years. One thing led to another and now we have landscaping we can drink. Q: What were some of the hurdles? A: Just being more educated. When you invest in anything--gardening, landscaping, grapes or whatever--you want to educate yourself and see if your resources are well spent and interesting. We've found our vineyards to be a lot more fun than just having an apple orchard because after you tell people you grow Chardonnay grapes, they have a lot more questions and interest. So we really just slowly started educating ourselves on what this was all about and how we could grow the best grapes possible on our property and still make it look beautiful. Q: What do you love most about your job? A: I like drinking our wine (laughs). I enjoy just tasting the variety of all the wines that are out there and now being able to appreciate them more. We certainly like California wine, but enjoy learning about wine made in other states and other countries. Q: What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do? A: Educate yourself first--talk to a lot of people who have gone through it with similar sized vineyards and just pick their brain as to what's involved. If you want to make it into a business, you must get deeper into asking advice before the first steps. It's not as easy or romantic as it may appear. Q: How are women changing the wine industry? A: I think we are leading new marketing approaches to the wine business and making great wine too. Seeing the big picture of what we can do other than just putting our name on the bottle. Women are using their wineries to help with charitable causes too. Q: What are some of the misconceptions about women and wine? A: That we don't get our hands dirty! That we just sit back and take the pretty pictures of holding the glass, but women in wine do get their hands dirty and their feet as well! But it's fun being a farmer, and helping craft excellent wine is like a major and ever-changing cooking project. Q: Which of your own wines is your favorite and which wines do you generally prefer? A: Well it depends on my mood! You can have all different wines with so many different foods these days. It's like picking your favorite child--we're very proud of all of our wines. We are proud of our brand and image and do a lot of work to keep things right. Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery, located at the Historic Novitiate Winery, 300-A College Avenue Los Gatos, Calif. 95030, 408/358-4949,flemingjenkinswinery.com.

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What's the most thrilling thing you did on a trip? Tell us by April 15, 2007. We'll pick the story we think is the coolest and award the winner a Sony Reader. The $350 device stores up to 80 books at a time and has a glare-free screen. If your submission is the best one we receive between now and April 15, 2007, you'll win a Sony Reader. Prize has an estimated retail value of $350. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. The prize is nontransferable, nonnegotiable. No purchase necessary. Open to residents of the 50 United States and its territories, except Arizona. And this contest is otherwise void where prohibited. Only one prize will be awarded, and your chances of winning depend on how may entries we receive, and whether yours is the best. Write your entry like you were telling it at a party. That is, keep it brief and lively. We regret that we may not be able to include everything we receive, and we reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. And once you send it in to us, it becomes our property--intellectual and otherwise. (And that includes the photo if you mail one.) If you or a relative of yours works at Budget Travel, you're ineligible. And speaking of Budget Travel, if you win, you are going to have to sign an affidavit of eligibility and release--sorry, but we (Budget Travel, that is) are the Sponsor of this Contest and we say that you have to do it if you want the prize. You can send in photos with your written story, but try not to go crazy. Edit them down so we only get the good ones. If you're sending digital pictures, shoot them at 300 dpi at 3" by 5", and send them as a JPEG, TIFF, or EPS file. If you're sending prints or slides, don't send originals; we will not be returning them. If you do send in photos please tell us who (and what) is in the photo. And we need to be able to get in touch with you, if need be, so include your daytime phone number and home address. Unfortunately, we won't be able to pay you. WHERE TO SEND IT E-mail: Letters@BudgetTravelOnline.com with the subject line "My Thrill." Mail: Budget Travel, 530 Seventh Ave., 2nd floor, New York, NY 10018. Sorry, we can't return your photographs, but we promise you that we read every last submission.

For the past four years, we've gone on a cruise. We've had as many as 225 women in our group. It's called Chicks Ahoy. Sheila Cohen, Columbia, Md. We're The Margarita Girls, because we always make a toast to our friendship with margaritas. Nancy Sounart, Clarkston, Mich. We call it our BIBS trip--for "Because I'm Beautiful and Sexy." Alison Britt, Birmingham, Ala. Everyone contributes to Gurlz' Weekend by menu-planning, music-supplying, game-organizing, food-preparing, or other "ings." Amy Hockett, Charlotte, N.C. My girlfriends embark on our Estrogen Festival, or Est Fest, each February. We've spent many a weekend only eating deep-fried food. Susan Nguyen, Portland, Ore. My book group, WINONO (Women in Need of a Night Out), goes away once or twice a year to a romantic location that our husbands--or exes--would never take us to. Carol Tucker, Providence, R.I. Our nickname is BAWOE, after Becoming a Woman of Excellence, a book that the eight of us once studied together. Beckie Hudson, Concord, N.C. We write Bad Girls Weekend on our pajamas in puffy paint and then we run around like dorks to get ice at 4 A.M. Jillian Clemmons, Seattle, Wash. Although the point of Detox Week is to relax and detoxify, we're sure to include partying on the agenda. Hey, parties are a terrific way to unwind, right? Elli Karagiorgas, San Francisco, Calif. My girlfriends and I decided to take our monthly Wine Night on the road once a year for Wine Night Road Trip. Wine Night Girlies rock! Donna DeKeyrel, Roseville, Calif. We call our getaway Geishas Gone Wild. Lorraine Fullerton, Salem, Ore. When the four of us went to Miami in our senior year of college, we didn't know we'd be starting a tradition of Fun Fearless Female Vacations. Kelly Reed, St. Louis, Mo. In the Bahamas, the locals kept calling us "pretty lady"--"Pretty lady, come look at this necklace" or "Pretty lady, like a drink?" So we began to call ourselves The Pretty Ladies. Sonia Landin, New York, N.Y. We call ourselves the Old Bats Club--in our 40s and 50s with a lot of life to live. Rebecca Stiebeling, Leo, Ind.