Cast Away
Fly-Fishing at Ram’s Gate Winery

Dating rule #1,083: Wine alone isn’t enough.

You’ll need a nice bucolic setting. Some cheese. A few oysters, perhaps.

Oh, and one more thing: fishing lessons...

Presenting Fly-Fishing at Ram’s Gate Winery, your chance to go all A River Runs Through It in wine country, available by appointment now.

Let’s say your date is the type who’s always up for anything. First off, congratulations. Second, you’ll want to call up the Ram’s Gate concierge and book a pondside lesson at the base of their chardonnay vines. They’ve partnered with the guys at Leland’s fly-fishing school, so you’ll be in the hands of trained anglers. (Nothing’s worse than an untrained angler.)

Here’s how it’ll go down: you’ll meet your instructor at the pond’s edge. You can skip the waders, since the lessons are fairly light. (Though, hey, no one’s stopping you.) They’ll run you through proper grip and arm position, and the seven steps of casting—things like catching the J, the horizontal hover and the stop-and-drop. (You’ll figure it out as you go.)

All of this happens on dry land, but then you’ll get to cast into the pond, stocked with bass and bluegill. Which brings us to the bad news: there are no hooks involved, but you can always work with the Leland guys and find a time to do this for real.

Otherwise known as going full Brad Pitt.