Food & Wine Trails — a Sonoma County California wine tour company — has Food & Wine Trails Logo JPEG.JPGannounced a 2012 wine cruise designed to settle the differences between Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon wine-drinkers.

A showdown between these two varietals is planned on a 16-day cruise hosted by Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood Winery and Gustavo Gonzales, the winemaker for Robert Mondavi Winery – two of California’s producers of Zinfandel and Cabernet. The two varietals are two of California’s most sought after red wines, yet they are widely believed to attract opposite kinds of customers.

Zinfandel drinkers are said to be informal and fun loving, enjoying their wine with casual foods like barbeque and pasta. Cabernet drinkers, perhaps due to the varietal’s lineage to Bordeaux, are characterized as more sophisticated and formal, prone to matching their wines with fine French and Continental cuisine.

Next February wine lovers can discover the truth for themselves, and enjoy the best of both varietal-worlds. The cruise is on Oceania Cruises’ Regatta, a 650-passenger cruise ship that departs Feb. 5 from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. On the way, a series of private tastings of each varietal and two winemaker dinners are planned, in addition to the opportunity to visit top wine estates in various ports of call.

The program cost includes airfare from 20 US cities, plus onboard private parties, wine tastings and winery dinners. In addition, optional shore tours are offered to top wine estates.

Dates: February 5 – 21, 2012 Auckland to Sydney; prices start at $5,349 per person including roundtrip air! If you book by May 15, you’ll receive free pre-paid gratuities valued at $432 – $592 per cabin.

For more info or to book a cruise click here.