The wine lover's ultimate wish-list

Of the many hopes and dreams people have shared on the website devoted to such things - bucketlist.org - there's one pertaining to wine. ''Go grape stomping'' is the wish of a fair-haired young lady by the name of Nyssa Bowen.

It's probably not up there with ''paragliding off the Alps'' or ''strapping a rocket to a merry-go-round'' or even ''trying a fried Snickers'' - some of the other big likes on the website - but it shows that the urge to explore the world of wine can fix itself to some of us, becoming the stuff of daydreams.

Tamara Grischy, head of Langton's Wine Auctions, knows the feeling. ''For as long as I have been working in wine,'' she says, ''I have had the wish to visit Giuseppe Rinaldi and Bartolo Mascarello, two of the greatest producers from the alluring Italian region Barolo. This year in July, my husband, Matt, and I are travelling to Italy and I will be able to finally scratch this desire from my wish-list.''

Unless you know someone who knows someone who has a close relative who works at a great wine estate, it's a depressing task trying to organise a personal tasting at a big-name wine producer in France.

It's usually reserved for wine importers or wine writers, people such as Melbourne wine retailer and importer Randall Pollard, who got to scratch the big one off his list in 2007.

''One thing crossed off is a visit to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti in Burgundy, tasting the great 2005 [pinot noir] vintage from barrel and having the great man, co-owner Aubert de Villaine, show us around his DRC vineyards,'' he says. ''It was followed by a small blind tasting of mouldy bottles culminating with a bottle of 1931 La Tache! I almost cried!''

As your bucket list gets smaller, the serious wine lover starts looking to the wine path less travelled. For wine merchant Jenny Polack, it was found in Ukraine in the wine-growing region of Crimea.

''Walking through Massandra's old cellars [Crimea's oldest winery] was unforgettable, solidly built underground, with wines dating back to the 19th century,'' she says. ''These wines survived both the wars and were older than me by far! An amazing glimpse at history.''

Importer Robert Walters has ticked off more bucket-list entries than most but secret longings remain: ''There is one thing that I haven't yet ticked off, though, and that is a visit to the island of Madeira. That's an item I intend to cross off in the next year or two.''

The most dangerous wine terroir on the planet, in Lebanon's war-torn Bekaa Valley, is top of my own bucket list.

During the great wars of 1975, 1982 and 2006, members of the Hochar family dodged bullets and bombs, literally, to tend their vineyards. Their unflinching dedication is remarkable. Even more so is the quality of their Chateau Musar cabernet sauvignon blend, grown at the nose-bleed height of 1000 metres (chateaumusar.com). An extraordinary story. Flak jacket optional.

The wine-lover's bucket list

Live like a local

Chateau de Sours is one of the few wine houses in Bordeaux to offer accommodation amid the vines with an apartment and studio set up within the winery courtyard. Winemaking, art and cooking classes are slated for the future, making an extended stay a delicious possibility (www.chateaudesours.com).

Stomp grapes, pick grapes

The romantic goes all gooey at the thought, but the realist knows that vintage work is hell on the back, the hands, the feet and maybe the liver. Still, many seek out a real, hands-on vintage experience. For France look to apcon.nl.

Spoilt rotten

There are serious bragging rights for undergoing a red-vine bath or a merlot wrap at the ''well-being hotel'' Les Sources de Caudalie, set within the grounds of grand cru Bordeaux vineyard Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte. Its vinotherapie spa brings new meaning to wine indulgence: crushed cabernet scrubs, the winemaker's massage (Bordeaux winemakers are a gifted lot), grape marc exfoliation and pulp-friction massages (en.caudalie.com).

Weird but wonderful

Often compared to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the Loisium is a fanciful aluminium cube that ''floats'', as the architect likes to describe it, above vineyards in the Kamptal region of Austria. Above ground is an extraordinary wine-themed hotel with restaurant and spa. Underneath, there's one kilometre of ancient cellars, 900 years old, to be discovered along with a how-they-make-wine tour. If you speak German, book in for a wine seminar. Gob-smacking visual attack (loisium.at).

Ah, Paris

As the pub is to Ireland, the wine bar is to Paris. A happy life could be had devoted to working through every one of them, starting with Juveniles Wine Bar at 47 Rue de Richelieu, run by expat Englishman Tim Johnston. A fine place to set the parameters for some serious research (+33 1 4297 4649).

And then there's Italy

Italian-wine importer David Ridge shares two off his own list: ''Pulling a group together to celebrate my wife's significant birthday next year at the wonderful Ristorante Bovio in La Morra, Barolo country. Trouble is, their barolo/barbaresco list runs to just 17 pages. Surely we'll need more choice.'' And, of course, there has to be food involved. Ridge recommends a bucket-list fave, the Enoteca La Torre in the old part of Spilimbergo in Friuli, where the sublime, inseparable combo of baccala alla Vicentina and a bottle of friulano awaits.

Alice in pinot Wonderland

Hard to decide between the Cloudy Bay annual ''Pinot at Cloudy Bay'' (cloudybay.co.nz), where makers and lovers work through 18 international pinots, or the less-frequent Pinot NZ marathon in Wellington, looking at Kiwi pinot region by region with a grand finale that is a whole host of burgundies. Next event is due in 2016 (pinotnz.co.nz).

Classic Kiwi picnic

A full day amid the vines and olive groves of pretty Dog Point Vineyard, outside Marlborough, broken by lunch in the barrel room is a rare treat, made even more enticing by the prospect of food by Wellington's own Logan Brown restaurant (dogpoint.co.nz).

What's on your wine bucket list? And what's been ticked off the list already? Share your tips and wish list in the comments below.