This study explores the importance of non-economic, personal and family lifestyle goals in the establishment of rural wine tourism operations and how these lifestyle goals influence the decisions and actions of owners as they relate to seasonality management.It also explores the ways in which lifestyle-oriented operations may be deemed -problematic‖ at the destination level in relation to managing for seasonality. The wine and tourism industries provide a particularly useful forum to explore entrepreneurial lifestyle motivations and how these play out in efforts to manage seasonality. Both the wine and tourism industries rely on cooperation for regional initiatives such as managing for seasonality or regional marketing, particularly when the businesses are small-scale and located in peripheral areas. However, if the lifestyle or personal goals of some owners are at odds with the profit maximisation goals of other owners, then developing a cohesive strategy can be a problem. This may reflect a general trend as to the challenges faced by the wine and tourism industries in rural areas that attract a diversity of business owners, including lifestyle-oriented business owners.