Author: ashingcon

I was also considering calling this blog the Accidental Wine Trip. Initially we were supposed to be on a sailboat leaving Split. I booked the flights and some accommodations then found out a couple bailed so the economics didn’t work. Apparently, this happens to my buddy often. So still wanting to travel I hit Mr. Google hard and turned our sailing trip into a wine touring trip. It turned out great, but how does it not in this beautiful part of the world.

As always, a map is the best way to orient oneself. Unfortunately, there is no one map that shows where we were since we were in 3 different countries. So, you get 3 maps – the trick is to find Trieste which appears on all 3 maps, then you can orient yourself.

And to start the tour narrative we begin in Split, which isn’t even on one of the maps. Its about 200km south of the Istrian peninsula on the Adriatic coast. Since we were supposed to sail out of Split that is where our flight was booked. We had visited Split previously on a cruise but only for one day. We spent a few days here getting over jetlag. It is so cool to walk through a former Roman Emperor’s palace complete with Sphinx from Egypt. Diocletian was one of the great rulers of Rome. He is one of the few emperors to retire. He built the palace in Split close to his hometown of Salona.

I am now a Roman History nerd, having listened to all 190 episodes of the History of Rome podcast. The first Roman site we visited after the palace was the ruins of the town of Salona. As far as ruins go, they are pretty ruined so unless you are into Roman history you could pass on this.

We didn’t do much else, we were going to go to an island close by but the jetlag got hold of us that day. What we did do is eat and drink. The highlight of our Split leg was Kastel Sikuli; a restaurant in a vineyard half an hour from Split looking across the bay to Split. We had a fabulous 4 course meal with bottomless wine glasses. The food was Michelin style and quality, and the wine was top quality. This was our first taste of Croatia’s signature red wine, Plavec mali. Plavec mali is a cross between Crljenak kaštelanski (better known as Primitivo in Italy and as Zinfandel in the United States) and Dobričić (indigenous grape), a fact only discovered in 1998 through DNA testing. Service was very attentive as there were only 2 other tables. One was a lovely young Ukrainian lady from Lisbon who we got to know over the course of the evening.

From Split we travelled to Pula on the Istrian peninsula. We bused to Zadar then took a ferry the rest of the way. The neat thing about arriving on ferry is landing right in front of the amphitheater. The hotel I booked was next door to the amphitheater and thus a short walk. However despite all this good planning we were foiled by the Hotel gods. Hotel Amfiteatar decided to throw us into some overflow apartment a 30-minute walk away. They called a cab who didn’t have a clue which building we were to go to. Somebody was supposed to meet us but never did. We finally found the building and the apartment was poor, I would have given it a rating of 2/5. There was absolutely nothing around, no restaurants, grocery stores or even a convenience store/tobacco store. DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL.

We only spent the day in Pula, some nice sights with the amphitheatre being the highlight. It’s the 6^th largest Roman arena standing today. It was built at the time of Jesus Christ. We did a short walk around town using our Rick Steves guidebook. There’s a few more roman sites including a nice little mosaic floor. From Pula we went to Rovinj, our Istrian base.

Rovinj is the kind of town I could live in every winter. Coastal Croatia feels like Italy, and for good reason, it was ruled by Italy for much of its history. This is reflected in the many Italian restaurants. Also just strolling down the cobblestone streets transports you to an Italian movie set. Speaking of strolling we were probably 5 minutes from the market. I would need a market if I were to live abroad. This trip is where we discovered figs. I really don’t know why we never ran into them before. So, we asked a fellow in the market about them and he showed us the best type to buy. I don’t think I mentioned how beautiful it is, the town sits on a little peninsula that juts out into the sea.

This town must be great because we have such good memories despite contracting Covid-19 again. Thankfully we had such a wonderful little apartment that was so cozy and close to a drug store. We did get a tour of some other towns in Istria like Motovun and Porec. Motovun was interesting in that you looked down on the forest where they harvest truffles. We did a truffle tasting in town and I picked up a jar. You see truffles on the menu everywhere in Istria. In the evening sunset cruises with dolphin watching are on offer all along the waterfront. We like dolphins and did see some jumping.

Next onto Italy, Trieste to be exact. Trieste is the capital of the province of Friuli Venezia Giulia (“FVG”), one of Italy’s lesser-known regions but no less wonderful. We spent a day on a hop-on hop-off tour and then walking back to our hotel via the roman ruins (remember I’m a geek) we passed on the bus. Trieste is a grand city with important looking buildings, many from when it was a regional capital of the Hapsburgs. The main reason for the stop here was to connect to the Italian train system for our tour of FVG.

So, stop #2 was Grado, what a little gem. It’s a water town, you get to it via a long bridge over a lagoon, there are boats everywhere. Its small and so easy to stroll everywhere. This was also the start of our Italian wine tasting. We passed through many vineyards on the train. This is where Pinot Grigio comes from; makes sense that a cool climate white would come from the north of Italy. We just ordered whites by the glass, they were fine to accompany the meal but didn’t find anything exceptional here.

I mentioned this is not a well know area. In fact I had difficulty researching this area when I was planning the trip. The only good source I could find was Elbrich Bos’s site https://www.explorefriuli.com/. It was so good that I engaged her online and she was helpful, so I booked her for 2 days. Day 1 was spectacular, we started in Palmanova, a medieval fortified town. I’ve seen town ramparts before but nothing like this. I just wish they offered helicopter rides.

The next stop was the real highlight – Aquilia. I bumped into this on Elbrich’s website, and then the light bulb went on; I had heard about Aquilia on the History of Rome podcast several times. I then looked at the roman roads map on Wikipedia and could see that Aquilia stood on the path that the Romans would take to get to their Eastern Empire. As a result, it was the fourth most important city during the height of Roman power. I thoroughly enjoyed Elbrich’s description of a battle over on the port where a Barbarian usurper unsuccessfully tried to enter the city. But the jewel in the crown was the mosaic in the church. The contemporary picture of the Romans is during the golden age of Julius Caesar, the Coliseum and the movie Gladiator. However, you don’t think of them building churches. In 312AD the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity which became the official state religion, out with Jupiter and in with Jesus. The church in Aquilia was built in 320AD, so I am thinking Constantine, or the bishop of Constantinople commissioned construction. What is so impressive is the 750m2 mosaic floor. The artistry and craftsmanship of the Roman mosaics is stunning. You view the floor from elevated walkways. There are scenes from the bible, especially the story of Jonah and the Whale. I especially like the octopus.

Then it was time to get out into nature and see this waterlogged place. The plan was to cycle over to an estuary and look for birds. However, we were still not feeling well from Covid so looked for an e-bike and found a place in town that only rents them. I love a country that builds bike paths; there was a bike path all the way out to the estuary. By the way Elbrich pointed out people cycling by Aquilia and said there was a long bike path that stretched north and south to Grado. The estuary is in a nature reserve and had a couple of blinds for bird watching. The first place we stopped – no luck. The second place we had success; we saw our first flamingo in the wild, herons, ibis, egrets, etc.

From Grado we went to Cormons in the Colli wine region. To be more precise we were in the Friuli Colli Orientali  DOC which is in the larger FVG region. It’s the red area to the right on the map.

This is where we were going to find the real Pinot Grigio of Italy not the crappy lemon water they export. Wrong – we must have tried over a dozen and could not find one we liked. Yes some were not lemon water but the flavours were weird, with off-putting notes. The other disappointment was we could not visit any wineries since it was harvest and all the producers are small and won’t give tours or tastings when they are busy. That doesn’t mean we didn’t find any wine; we used the old wine bar trick. Enoteca de Cormons was well set-up for tasting wine. They used clothes pins to designate what wine you are tasting; they just clamp the labeled pin onto the stem of the glass. What we didn’t get was any interaction with the staff. The first evening was poor on service since every table was occupied. So, as I mentioned we were unable to find a Pinot Grigio we liked. We weren’t a fan of their indigenous grape Friulano, it didn’t have any acid. Our favorite grape turned out to be Ribolla Gialla also an indigenous grape, but not well known outside of this area. It had some apple and lemon giving it some acid. However, we did have one wine that was probably the best we had at the Wine Festival, it was a blend of Friulano and Sauvignon Blanc, where the Sauv Blanc added some acid that was missing in the Friulano. I know I’m going on and on about acid, but in a white wine the acid gives the wine a brightness and its what makes it such a good companion with food.

So due to it being harvest we couldn’t visit the wineries but instead we got a Wine Festival. It was not a high-class affair held at the Four Seasons, its more like a small town fair with no rides. It was held throughout the middle of the town and part was right across from the B&B we were staying at. There were food stalls, wine tables and entertainment. At our B&B and also at the festival we had what the locals call gnocchi and its not the little potato dumpling you pour sauce over. I believe it is a mix of Italian and Austrian food traditions. It is a dumpling filled with a plum and cooked in butter sprinkled with brown sugar. It looks much more like a German dumpling than Italian but who cares when it tastes so good. The B&B was run by a very nice lady Irina who fed us well and told us about the festival. Although we enjoyed pretending to be locals, we can’t stay up late like they do. However, in hindsight we should have kept on drinking because we were not getting any sleep, remember the entertainment and us being across the street. Thankfully this party did shut down eventually, we had a trip to Spain where their festival went ALL night. Overall, it was an enjoyable area to visit its just disappointing we didn’t find a killer wine.

So now we join our previously planned tour to Zagreb and Slovenia, I had booked these places to visit after sailing. However, to get to Zagreb we had to overnight in Trieste again and eat their damn Italian food again. We went for our passeggiata (an evening stroll in Italian) along the waterfront to Eataly. Another day another bus. Zagreb is a grand city, meaning its one of those European cities with the grand plaza, statues, big ornate buildings around the square, buskers, etc. A lot of that grandness came from the Austo-Hungarian Habsburgs who ruled this area for centuries. For dinner our first night we strolled through the grand plaza to a wine bar called Cheese Bar. We sat outside and tried a couple of Plavec Mali and some nibbles, a very civilized way to dine.

We like to book a walking tour when in a new city and Zagreb was a good one. There is a hill behind the main square that I’m not sure we would have found on its own, it had some lovely streets and sights. Croatia has an interesting history with the Austro-Hungarians, then the experiment with communism as part of Yugoslavia, the war and now this beautiful peaceful country. Our guide pointed out a few restaurants that we tried later. The next day was museum day, the first being the Tesla Museum. It is an interesting museum with some of Tesla’s creations he used for his experiments and other industrial items like antique cars. I thought the museum might explain more about Tesla’s life and Edison but it only gave glimpses of his life. The second museum was a revelation. Its an art museum like we have never seen before. It is called The Museum of Naïve Art and features the art of untrained painters. It is NOT childish or amateurish, it doesn’t follow the rules or want to be like some great master. It just wants to be beautiful, how naïve. Just take a look at a couple of the paintings and tell me they don’t catch your eye.

So now I get to relay my Croatian Wine Experience. After dinner we are going for our passeggiata, and we see a wine store and start drifting toward it. A fellow is standing in the doorway and asks us if we like wine. We say yes and he says come on in, I’ll buy you a glass of wine. At this point I say, self you are in for a wild or weird ride so buckle up or leave now. The guy was super friendly and I figure if nothing else I’ll have a story so I stayed. Sure enough, he calls over to a lady and asks for a bottle of wine. At this point it registers that he doesn’t work here. We each get a nice glass of white wine (way better than Italy) and chat with our patron. Turns out he was with the group at the only occupied table in the shop, and he bet them he could sell 5 bottles of wine to people off the street. So that was the catch, but little did he know that I wanted to buy a bottle of Plavic Mali. I had my inflatable wine bag (to carry in your luggage) and thought I would get a bottle from Cormons but that never happened so then I turned my sights on Plavic Mali. So, when I said lets go look he got one of his buddies to help me. That guy knew a lot about the Croatian wine industry including the story of Mike Grgich. Grgich became the winemaker and limited partner at Chateau Montelena. His 1973 vintage Chardonnay was selected to compete in the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, where it was ranked the number one white wine. If you have not seen the movie Bottle Shock its all about how the California wine industry got put on the map. Grgich came back to Croatia and has a winery there now, and I liked the story so much I bought the wine. I’ll let you know how it tastes when I pop the cork.

Now to our last leg, Slovenia. Not Slovakia, Slovakia was the last half of Czechoslovakia. Slovenia borders Croatia to the South and Italy to the West. Slovenia was also part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia is a hidden gem. You might recognize the name as being where Melania Trump is from. Slovenia is nestled in the Julian Alps, these are a smaller mountain range than the Alps. Our first stop was the capital city of Ljubljana. What a quaint beautiful little city it is. The city mascot is a dragon, because of the dragon bridge, built at the beginning of the 20^th century. They also have a very odd bridge set-up off the main square; there are 3 bridges next to each other. Apparently, the original bridge wasn’t big enough, so they added 2 more and now it’s a UNESCO heritage site. Just to the left as you pass over one of the bridges is the Riverside Market. I love markets, there is always something new like the milk dispensing machine. Upon arriving the previous day, we got a light lunch. We found a basic restaurant that had some nice-looking salads on the menu. In Europe, well at least Italy and its neighbours, don’t seem to know what a salad dressing is. What you get is a bottle of oil and a bottle of vinegar. We had to look 2 or 3 times at the tall bottle of black liquid, I then took a taste and it was oil. In fact, it was a very nice oil. So back to the market again we see these bottles of pumpkin seed oil and the liquid is black. The picture on the bottle shows a pumpkin with black seeds. I’m saving our souvenir oil till salad season (in the summer using our garden greens).

Just to add to the charm of this city they put a castle on the hill. It looks great sitting above the town. We took a funicular up to the castle. There wasn’t much history here. What was kind of fun was the puppet museum. The handiwork was impressive. We decided to do Lupper because we had a wine tasting that evening and we wanted to have some food in our bellies. Lupper is the meal between lunch and supper, so say about 3pm. I had a craving for something other than pasta or pizza and a plate of Carolina sausage (local variety and very good) with potatoes and sauerkraut and a beer hit the spot. Brenda was also craving comfort food and ordered a bowl of mushroom soup served in a bread bowl. The restaurant was busy, and the servers wore traditional clothes, all signs of a good authentic restaurant. When Brenda finished her soup she asked our waiter what they did with all the used bread bowls, without skipping a beat he said we take them downstairs, wash them out and re-use them. At 5pm we went for our wine tasting. I was a bit nervous because the brochure had a picture of beautiful people having a good time; this often means party time. We were looking to learn about Slovenian wine and wanted a real curated tasting; thankfully we got it. The young man knew his stuff and the other guests were mature, not old. He had a map on the wall to show us the different regions and he had a good variety of wine styles as well. Our favorite was actually an orange wine made from Pinot Grigio. Our conclusion about Slovenian wine is its world class and better than Italian FVG wines.

We did find the Roman site in Ljubljana. There isn’t much to see, just a few artifacts. I just want to say that I had been in Emona – the Roman name.

Lake Bled is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The main attraction is the little island with a church on it but frame the island with the mountains and the castle in the background and your breath will escape you. We stayed at a B&B right across from the island, the view was spectacular. The main road around the lake went in front of the hotel and was a bit noisy but not bad. We ordered breakfast on our touring days which was tasty and abundant, there was enough left over we made sandwiches for lunch.  For dinner our first night we had to try the famous Bled cake, its phyllo dough with a custard and whipped cream, it was good but a bit overrated. We walked around the lake to catch all the views, and as a bonus we got to see a rowing race; they use the lake as their Olympic training facility for rowing. For dinner we took a stroll off the beaten path and went to a glamping hotel that had a very nice restaurant. It was a fixed price menu with 3 courses, Brenda had trout and I had a lamb shank with a truffle demi-glaze. I mentioned Croatia has truffles in Istria, well so does Slovenia in the small section that extends into the Istrian peninsula. I am a fan of truffles when used sparingly and this was the best truffle dish I have ever had since it added a little flavour kick but didn’t overwhelm the dish, not that I am an expert on the subject.

More exercise was the plan for the next day, so we booked a tour of the Vingtar gorge. If you like seeing the power of rushing water then you will love this hike. The natural beauty of this place is stunning. After a rest the sun poked its head out so we ran across the street to where the boats are moored. The boat is called a Pletna, It’s rowed by a guy that stands in the back not unlike a gondolier in Venice. Apparently, an Empress (Austo-Hungarian) commissioned some locals to build the boats and ferry pilgrims to the church, thus proving them jobs for generations. The views that day from the boat are burnt into my memory now. More meat and potatoes for dinner and a better dessert called Grmada – a walnut cake with rum and whipped cream. Our waiter was very good and personable. We told him we love his country – the natural beauty, the man-made sights, the great food and wine, and the friendly people. If this sounds good to you go ahead and book a flight to Slovenia, then zip down to the Istrian peninsula, you will not be disappointed.

We had one last food adventure on this trip. Getting out of Ljubljana airport isn’t that difficult, just tricky to do it in one day. Our flight home was out of Gatwick, so we stayed the night in a little hotel in Horley. I can’t say I know what Horely looks like since we just walked over to a local pub called Ye Old Six Bells. The best part of the walk was the path beside the church and its graveyard grounds. What a lovely little pub, it was better than I had hoped for. We ordered Fish and Chips and Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. Yes, yes, yes, the perfect English pub dinner. The fish was fresh, the chips crunchy, the pudding was divine and the beer warm (can’t win them all). And the cherry on top was the service. It was very competent and polite during the meal and after the meal on our way home the waiter chased me down to return my hat that I left behind.

Sicily is a fascinating place. I really love Roman history and Sicily has a ton of history; surprisingly most of it is Greek, with one spectacular Roman site. The wine also surprised me but we finally found some great stuff.

The best place to start is with the lay of the land and a picture is worth a thousand words ergo the map.

There are 2 airports in Sicily, Palermo and Catania, we flew into Palermo. We toured the whole island plus another small island. We did a counterclockwise route.  One important note on the wine front, this was an Extravaganza Wine Trip; that means we did the trip with our friend Dale, who is the biggest wine geek (geek meaning very knowledgeable and very keen) I know . So what makes it an extravaganza? The trip was designed around wine tasting, meaning we didn’t stay in a place that wasn’t wine based except for Palermo and typically we would spend a day sight seeing then a day wine touring and wine for dinner every night.

Palermo is a gritty city. That doesn’t mean dirty or unsafe, just not as pretty as the Eastern part of the Island. The western part of ancient Sicily was controlled by the Carthaginians who didn’t seem to build monuments like the Greeks in the East, therefore no major ancient historical sites. Our primary aim was to get over jetlag in Palermo but we did do some touring and wine drinking. We did a street food tour to get a feel for the place. We primarily went to the 2 markets in town. If you like the frenetic energy of a busy marketplace then you will love the Vucciria market. We got to try the famous spleen sandwich; it tasted as bad as it looks. We find offal awful. We were able to start our wine adventure early by visiting the wine bar Bottega Monteleone, this is a great trick when you are in a city but don’t have time to get out to a winery. We got introduced to Grillo, one of the three great white wines of Sicily. Another delicacy of Sicily we ended up loving was the cannolo (cannoli is the plural form of cannolo). Here’s a few cannoli tips:

• Never buy a pre-filled cannolo, they can get soggy. Go where there are empty tubes and they will fill them on order.
• Don’t get the really sweet filling, only sweetened ricotta. Ask if you aren’t sure. All the restaurants we went to served the ricotta filling.
• Don’t be afraid of a deconstructed cannolo, they simply take broken cookie tubes and scatter them over the ricotta. Same flavor but easier to share.

Next stop is the sea-side town of Trapani. Before you get too excited about the sea side part I need to tell you this is more of a working port city than a beach town. The best part of Trapani was eating out, especially the Busiatta pasta with swordfish (I found the recipe online and its now a part of our meal repertoire).

The reason we stayed in Trapani was for a couple of day trips.

Day 1 – Salt Flats and Erice

The salt flats are large shallow ponds where salt is extracted from the sea water. If you want to see the operation in full swing you have to visit end of August or early September the hottest part of the year; however you would really have to be able to tolerate the heat. It was interesting to visit the little museum to see the history of the flats and the working conditions. In order to get more exercise I bought a couple of pounds of salt to add to my luggage at the beginning of the trip.

Erice is a quaint little town perched on a hill, so great views. It’s so high up you are best to take the cable car up and down. Great place for views, lunch and souvenir shopping.

Day 2 – Wine Touring

Our first day of wine touring was a disappointment. We went to Marsala of fortified wine fame.

The first winery was Florio, a Marsala wine producer. It was an enjoyable tour. The guide was very good and gave us lots of interesting history of the winery. This type of sweet wine is lovely if you are making a veal dish, but I would never drink it straight.

The second winery was Donnafugata, a still wine producer. None of us were fans of their wine, we simply didn’t care for the taste. The dessert wine from Pantelleria was yummy but I have 10 bottles of dessert wine in my cellar and don’t need more.

Our typically modus operandi was to hit a winery or sight as we drove to our next accommodation. On our next leg of the journey we did both. Heading east from Trapani we first hit Selinunte; the only temple in Sicily that you can walk into.

Our winery stop was Mandrarossa near Menfi. By the way all winery visits were pre-booked from Canada before we left. This was a lovely tasting of six wines and a thoughtful food pairing. Didn’t find the wine that blows me away yet. We never get tired of the sight of the Mediterranean sea, which provided a backdrop to both these visits.

Agrigento is home to the Valley of the Temples. There are 4 major temples at this former major Greek settlement as well as interesting city walls. In addition to the temples there is a museum telling the story of the Carthaginians, Greeks and Romans who inhabited this area.

We had a lovely dinner at La Terrazza di Pollon in San Leone; it’s a bit upscale however the associated rooftop bar is more casual and a great place to have a spritz, look at the sea and watch the beautiful people. Our wine tasting day here was a bust. The wine bar I had contacted was closed due to it being a holiday in Italy. The winery I had booked didn’t have a clue who we were and only had sfuzo (the Italian word for fresh wine – this is wine made in the style of a nonno backyard wine) which is only good for cleaning paint brushes.

The next archeological site was the highlight of our sightseeing. Villa Romana del Casale was the villa of a rich Roman who was thought to supply exotic animals for the games in the various amphitheaters throughout the Roman empire. What makes this the highlight is the amazing mosaics. Up until now the largest mosaic we had seen was one pattern on one floor, here there were many rooms as well as hallways covered in them. The artistry and craftsmanship from 2000 years ago blows my mind.

Our next homebase was Ragusa, which is now in the Greek zone (the Greeks colonized the Eastern part of Sicily). The architecture and thus the whole town vibe was pretty. It’s a hillside town, we stayed in the lower part but the upper part has great views back down. We had the best dish of the trip at Manaki; ravioli in a pork ragu and it was spectacular.

We had a full day of tasting planned but no one showed up for our tasting appointment at Vigni de Pettineo. The next winery, Locanda Gulfi, was so good that I bought a bottle of DOCG Cerasualo de Vittoria, 70% Nero D’Avola and 30% Frappato.

On our drive to Siracusa we stopped in at COS winery. Although this wasn’t our favorite winery we did like the vermouth they had and Brenda bought it. I must say I could come addicted to that stuff, the orange with the slight bitterness is the perfect end to a meal.

We found the best wine shop I have ever been to in the world, EVOE in Siracusa. What makes it so top shelf is the owner/manager. This man knows his wine and is passionate about it. He is well stocked in local wines including the best wine we tasted in Sicily, a wine that uses dried grapes to boost the flavour. They also serve simple meals like salad and charcuterie. If you are on a tour of Sicily and can’t get out to the wineries, just visit this place and you will get an overview of what Sicilian wines can offer.

Siracusa has a great Archeological Park dating from the 5^th century BC. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t get a good look at the theater because they were setting up for a performance.  However the stone quarries on site were fascinating.

Next on to Noto. First though was our winery stop, this one was at Zisola and was OK. Noto is a beautiful little town with the highly decorative Baroque style. White Lotus fans will want to get a picture where Daphne and Harper were walking down the steps of a church. I just told you about the best wine shop, now I will tell you about the worst. Any wine bar/store who serves a tainted wine deserves the title of worst. The person working poured us a Hauner wine that was oxidized, as in left on the counter for a week. We know that it was not the wineries fault because we visited that winery and it was one of the best of our trip. However if you like gelato, Café Sicilia is fantastic with some delicious different flavours like mandarin orange.

Now we start the Etna phase of our trip. Our homebase was Castiglione, a cute little town that had a little religious celebration going on. Since volcanic soils are relatively rare this is an area we, especially Dale, wanted to explore. The red wine from Etna is made from primarily Nerello Mascalese (“NM”)with Nerello Capuccio (“NC”) blended in sometimes. The White wine of Etna is Caricante. Due to the focus on this area I will present them in table form.

Winery	Key Feature	Tasting	Comments
Baron di VillaGrande	Views of Mediterranean	Rose, 2 white, 2 red with snacks – VG
Gambino Vini	Food pairing was good	Big commercial tasting
Cottenera	Great caricante	4 wines
Terrazze dell Etna	Confusing location	VG – 4 wines	Brenda liked the rosso (80% NM & 20%NC) enough to buy it
Filippo Grasso	Family Winery so you can talk to the owners	4 wines with local nibbles	Its neat to do tastings in someone’s kitchen
Camperi Tenute	What a feast – so much delicious Sicilian food	4 wines	The winery is on the Etna Wine railroad.

A few pro tips. Do not trust google maps in this part of the world – we went down a few cow paths. Castiglione is a hilly town so get an automatic car if your hillside clutch skills are wanting. The best tip however is the gelato shop in the centre of town. We love pistachio gelato and have probably eaten a dozen gallons of the stuff over the years. The best pistachio gelato is made from a local Sicilian variety of pistachios from the Bronte area. They also add in some pieces of nuts in their pistachio and hazelnut gelato for an extra flavour and texture hit.

Next we headed over to Taormina for our White Lotus fix. On the way we visited the Alcantara Gorge. If you are a nature lover who loves waterfalls then you need to see the amazing lava formations that this gorge is carved from.

Taormina is a beautiful town, even prettier than you see on White Lotus. For one thing the Greek Theater is right in town, a 10min walk away from our Airbnb. If you don’t like towns where 90% of the people out at night are visitors and the stores are loaded with fridge magnets then you may want to just pop in to see the theatre then leave.

We took a tour of Mount Etna with Rosario of Sicily Legend. Our primary reason was to avoid driving there, however I strongly recommend you book a tour. Rosario took us to a couple of sites before we started hiking; a lava flow that stopped feet before a town and a lava tube. He is able to explain the type of volcano that Etna is, what happens when it erupts and the bizarre moonscape that is Etna. If you have any interest in volcanos I highly recommend this or another tour.

We took a very interesting detour to Salina one of the Aeolian islands North of Sicily. It was a bit of an adventure getting there and back but we had our most authentic experiences there, so I would say it is worth the effort if you have the time and money. Here is another pro tip, leave the car on Sicily and take the faster catamaran boat instead of the car ferry like we did. Once we got to our place we never used the car. The roads are narrow and windy with a steep fall into the Mediterranean. We figured out the bus schedule online and it worked like a charm. We stayed in a traditional style house (based on outdoor living) with a great view of Stomboli island, an active volcano that was spewing steam.

Our most authentic experience was a cooking class I found on Airbnb. I am a big fan of Airbnb because you can find local people who have cool apartments in areas that locals frequent. Airbnb offers “experiences”, these can be tour companies using multiple platforms for marketing and a local who offers a unique cultural experience. Our first ever experience was learning to row a gondola in Venice. We caught the bus to this little town where we went to Maria and Francesco’s home. They explained that people on the Aeolian island spend most of their time outside. So that is where we cooked, in Maria’s outdoor kitchen. Our first job was to get the wild fennel and an onion from their garden. We boiled the fennel fronds, copped them up, threw them into a pan with the onions and some canned tomatoes and some seasoning and we had a pesto for our pasta. Maria gave us some sundried and crushed capers to dust our pasta with. Maria should go into business making and selling this stuff, its umami in powder form, chefs could do amazing things with this ingredient. I am a bit suspicious of Francesco’s wine because it tasted as good as any commercial white wine that we tried. The problem is homemade wine is rarely as good as bought, and this was very good wine.

Yes they make wine on the island, remember this is a wine extravaganza so we can’t be too far away from a winery.  The best winery on the island is Hauner, in fact it would be in the running for best winery in Sicily. The only reason we didn’t buy a bottle is our wine carriers (inflatable bottle containers) were full. We had a curated tasting with nibbles and 4 wines.

The food item that the island is famous for is capers. I knew nothing about these little salt and umami bombs. So we booked a caper tour with Guiseppe. In addition to seeing some beautiful parts of the island we received our caper lesson. Capers are the buds of a flower of a caper bush, which stands about 3 feet high. They have to be processed in salt to prepare and preserve them. If left alone these buds turn into a beautiful pink flower. Once the flower is pollinated it turns into the fruit we know as caperberries, which are also processed in salt. We had a tasting of capers done 5 ways plus sausage and cheese and an orange marmalade that was so good we bought a jar. Guiseppe was easy and interesting to talk to, we learned so much about capers and the island.

One more winery visit to Capofaro. It is a neat location on the NE tip of the island. This winery is where they make Malvasia for this winery group. I am not a big fan of this aromatic grape, if you are then you will be happy.

That was basically the trip, just had to make our way back to the Palermo airport. However that was not the plan. We were supposed to have our winery splurge by staying at Relais Abbazia Santa Anastasia Resort & Winery after getting off Salina. However a storm blew in and delayed our departure several hours. We still had a 1.5 hour drive to get to the winery and it was very late, so we cancelled. This winery required a deposit and we were going to lose the deposit, However I pleaded our case (they knew about the weather) when we got back and they returned the deposit, That is customer service that you don’t see that much anymore.

This trip was a big one – five weeks. As Covid expanded so did my itinerary. If you have read my other blogs you know that I do not limit myself to wine, especially when in beer or tequila country.

The original trip was planned for the Mosel but due to COVID and a mix-up we did the Netherlands and Belgium instead. The Netherlands and Belgium were seen on a bike and barge tour. If you are an active person, I highly recommend Boat Bike Tours. Not only do you get exercise but you get to see the countryside at 10 to 25mph not 60. We spent a few days in Amsterdam getting over jet lag and reacquainting ourselves with this unique and wonderful city before boarding our boat. We stayed in De Pijp (pronounced “De Pipe”) a quiet neighbourhood close to the museum area. We loved the Honey Blonde beer from Troost – a brewery in De Pijp. It was a nice treat to be able to board the boat in Amsterdam and not have to worry about another plane or train. The Holland countryside was beautiful with little canals draining the fields, windmills, birds and stately Flemish country houses. Belgium had some beautiful towns and cities as well; Ghent and Bruges being our favorite. The boat is actually a converted barge, but what a conversion; it was well laid out, nicely decorated and very comfortable. Having been on a high-end river cruise, Boat Bike was one notch down on décor. However regarding food Boat Bike was as good as the river cruise. We were blown away how the chef kept the quality up meal after meal.

The boat tour ended in Bruges. We heard great things about Bruges from 2 of our sons and it exceeded my expectations. Yes I expected a quaint town centre and good beer but I did not expect the food to be as good as it was. Here are the must trys according to me:

1. Waffles – yes they are spectacular (nothing like these in North America). I preferred the Brussels waffle – which is light and crispy. My wife preferred the Liege waffle – which has a denser texture and sugar pearls baked into the waffle.
2. Chocolates – Yes they are world class but thanks to our own Belgian (Bernard Callebaut), Calgarians have been able to get world class chocolate for years.
3. Moules et Frites (Mussels and French fries, OK OK Mussels and Belgian fries) – we just came back from the Cdn Maritimes and I have to say the Belgian mussels were bigger and juicier. The best I have ever had.
4. Carbonnade – this is a rich hearty stew made with beef and beer. If you like your flavours to hit you in the face then pucker up.

So now to the Belgium libations. Belgium is the Holy Grail of Beer – just drop into the beer museum and stroll past the beer wall in Bruges to see the mind-boggling variety. Further proof is the fact that every beer has its own glass, which completely blows my mind. We visited the two breweries in Bruges. De Halve Maan – means the half moon – we did a tour here (book ahead) mainly because of their famous beer pipeline. Although it was interesting you only get one beer to taste. We enjoyed Bourgogne des Flandres more because we sat by the canal and got a tasting flight. I was expecting wild and crazy beers, but they were pretty traditional ales; of course we now take these ales for granted with the explosion of craft brewing around the world. Although they may not have been unique, they were very tasty.

The next leg of our trip was all about WWI & II. We did a WWI tour with Quasimodo and hit southern Belgium (Ypers area). We then drove down to Juno Beach – to see the world class museum, the beach and a German bunker. Every Canadian should visit this place, from some advertising I saw the American exhibit at Omaha Beach is also exceptional. It is very moving. After that we went up to see the Vimy monument and Carrier Wellington Museum (an amazing network of tunnels and old underground quarries used by the Allies in WWI). The Vimy monument was completed in 1936; I cannot figure out why I was not told about this in school. We did various things for Remembrance Day but nothing about what the Great War was like. I guess I have to thank Hollywood for my initial education.

We spent a day in Brussels and a day in Paris enroute to Alsace. Brussels was underwhelming, it just didn’t have any charm.[Pro Tip – car rentals are much less if you drop off in the same country, since we rented in Bruges we dropped off in Brussels thus avoiding the high penalty] . Having seen many sights in Paris on previous trips we opted to climb the Eiffel tower this time – apparently you need to book well in advance if you want to take an elevator to the top.

Alsace is a world class wine destination that checks all the key boxes – great wine, great food and great towns/sights. First let me tell you about how we did our touring. It was on an ebike – it was over 30C, so we elected to use an ebike to conserve our stamina. Our guide was Glenn Ford at BicycletteGo a very personable Brit who has been living in Alsace for many years running tours. Glenn met us in Colmar the day before our bike touring to give us a walking tour of the town – it was great to hear the stories behind some of the small but interesting sights. The agenda for the 2 days of riding was Pick-up in the morning, cycle some countryside passing the Grand Cru vineyards (designated by Hollywood style signs), tour some lovely towns (2 were awarded the “most beautiful town in France” (an annual award), then have lunch, then more vineyard cycling and finally wine tasting. The towns are magical, I was expecting to see Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), with birds flying around her head, swaying down the street in front of gorgeous medieval half-timbered houses

Another magical experience was tasting the wine. All the Alsatian wine I had tasted before was bone dry. I much prefer off-dry Rieslings and Pinot Gris, as some residual sugar brings the fruit out. The first winery Cattin was walking distance from Glenn’s place. The wines were delicious with the perfect amount of sugar to bring the fruit forward but still not tasting sweet. The prices were insane for this quality with many under 10 Euros. The second winery we visited was Francois Baur. I mentioned to Glenn we were interested in this winery since the sommeliers at one of our favourite wine stores had visited it. The prices were higher here because their top end wines are Grand Cru – Brand vineyard. The Grand Cru Riesling had a bit more elegance to it. We were unable to taste the Grand Cru Pinot Noir due to small quantities, but we did taste the regular Pinot. It was perfect for my palate in that it had great red fruit flavours – I am not a fan of Pinots that taste like a glass of dirt (like Burgundy). So I highly recommend you visit Alsace and Colmar if you like fruit forward Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir; see some of the small towns in the area and try the Tarte Flambe (French pizza) at La Soi in Colmar it will blow your mind and taste buds.

Finally, we visited Berlin to finish off the World War history and its aftermath, the Cold War. Our sons had visited Berlin a few years ago and loved it. I can see why, there is an energy in this town, at least where we were staying in Prenzlauer Berg. Tons of restaurants with lots of patrons. It supposedly has a vibrant nightlife – as vibrant as we got was staying up till 10pm reading a book. Lots to see about WWII and Hitler including the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of the city. Almost as brutal as WWII the cold war and its infamous wall separated German families overnight. I know of no where else that airs its dirty laundry like the Germans do – “lest we forget” – it is highly admirable. Not only do they air this dirty laundry, they encourage it with free admission to all the government museums. After our touring which was often quite sobering, it was time for a rest (30C heat will tire you out) then out to dinner. We ate at Asian, Italian, Middle Eastern and a couple of German restaurants. The best restaurant we went to for both the food and the beer was Leibhaftig. I had a pork cut braised in their lovely Dunkel beer – served with a dumpling, so good. My wife had a Dumpling meal – with 3 or 4 dumplings, so good. We liked it so much we went back another night and had their Bavarian Tapas – small bites when you split it 4 ways. Did I mention the Dunkel? If you aren’t aware of Dunkel it’s a dark lager – sometimes a wheat beer (Erdinger Dunkel being the most famous). They are refreshing like a lager but with more flavour. This was a lovely one.

All in all, a great trip. As much as we liked our visits to the major cities like Berlin and Amsterdam it was the smaller towns, like Bruges and Colmar, with their charm that we enjoyed the most.

Yes, I am aware there is no wine produced in Baja Sur. However, did you know there is wine produced in Baja California (the north part) in the Valle de Guadalupe? This Blog is about Mexico’s best known spirit, Mezcal. The S in WSET stands for Spirits, so you do learn a bit about some of the world’s great spirits like whisky.

Background

First, I will explain what Mezcal is. Mezcal is the spirit made from the roasted agave piῆa. The pina is the large root that looks a bit like a pineapple. The pina needs to be roasted in order the develop the sugars so they can be fermented. The juice of the roasted agave is squeezed out of the pina, fermented and distilled.

Now for the tricky part. If you are a wine drinker you know that Champagne is a sparkling wine, but a sparkling wine is not a Champagne unless it is produced in the Champagne area and adheres to the rules of the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee, the governing body) like which grapes can be used. It’s the same for Tequila, the most famous type of Mezcal. In order for an agave spirit to be a tequila it must:

1. Be produced in the state of Jalisco (which includes the town of Tequila) and some municipalities in four neighboring states (that have similar terroir to Jalisco).
2. Be made from only the Blue Agave plant, and contain a minimum of 51% blue agave

Another thing that makes Tequila different from many Mezcals is the fact it is cooked in an oven, whereas many Mezcals are cooked in a pit which imparts a smoky taste from the smoldering wood.

More Tequila & Mezcal facts:

1. Crappy Tequila (and Mezcal) can be made with only 51% agave and the rest corn or any other grain/product and is called Mixto. So when buying one of these spirits make sure it says “100% Agave” on the label. These spirits are world class because of the unique taste of the roasted agave, so you don’t want to dilute this.
2. These spirits come in three main styles and one bonus:
   1. Blanco – or white, this is the pure product coming from the still
   1. Reposado – or rested, is aged in oak barrels for 2 to 12 months. This mellows out some of the harshness of the Blanco
   1. Anejo – or aged, is aged in oak barrels for one to three years
   1. Extra or Ultra Anejo – or extra aged (tequila only), is aged in oak barrels for three years

The barrel aging mellows out the alcohol bite and imparts flavours like caramel and baking spices.

Now to dig into Mezcal more. Although there are over 200 species of agave, only about 40 to 50 are used to make Mezcal. Mezcal has been a certified product since 2005 (very young). To put Mezcal on your bottle it must come from Oaxaca, Guerrero, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Puebla or Zacatecas with Oaxaca being the most famous and producing 90% of Mezcal. Like tequila you want 100% agave, and for sipping probably the reposado or anejo and leave the white for cocktails like a Mezcalrita (a margarita made with mezcal instead of tequila). As mentioned above mezcal has a smoky flavor which is loved by its followers. The smoky taste is not nearly as strong as an Islay scotch.

Now just to confuse matters more there are other agave spirits that are technically mezcal but are not allowed to be called Mezcal because of the laws mentioned above. Money talks in Mexico and the really small producers can’t afford to lobby the government. So some areas have come up with another strategy, which is to create their own rules and name for their mezcal. The best examples of this are:

Bacanora – from Sonora using the agave Pacifica & has a smoky flavor

Raicilla – from Jalisco using the Agave Maximiliana or Agave Raicilla & has no smoke

Sotol – produced in Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango using the Desert Spoon plant & has no smoke

Touring

The primary purpose of our trip to San Jose del Cabo was to experience El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. I loved the movie Coco and had seen lots of pictures and souvenirs of skulls and skeletons in Mexico, so I knew I wanted to see this cultural experience for myself. San Jose was a great place to see the spectacle, although I understand some of the bigger cities like Oaxaca put on an amazing event.

The festivities started on Halloween eve (Oct 30) with some entertainment on the main stage in the town square. However the highlight of this evening was the boxing ring, first there were some amateur boxers then some kick boxing but the best part were the luchadors, the Mexican wrestlers. It was completely over the top. Most of them wore the masks you see for sale in the tourist shops, and most of them sported a substantial belly. The icing on the cake was when they threw guys out of the ring and jumped out and threw folding chairs at each other.

Halloween was for the kids. There were hundreds of them in the square that evening. We really enjoyed seeing the costumes, which were a mix of traditional Mexican and pop culture (including some squid game costumes); in Canada its usually freezing so all the kids have to wear snow suits which limits the costume options. Luckily, I found one discussion online that had advised on taking some candy, which we did. Our north of the Rio Grande mini chocolate bars where a big hit, next time we will need twice as many. The kids were very polite and so happy.

November 1^st is “all saints day” in the Catholic calendar. In Mexico this is the day they celebrate the life of departed children. This is also the day we got schooled in El Dia de los Muertos. When I say schooled, I mean so literally. I contacted Melana of Spanish in Cabo, a school primarily designed for English speaking tourists, and asked if they could design a private class for us about the day of the dead. Not only did they give us a great little lesson in Spanish and English about the traditions which are primarily the alters built to remember the dead, they also arranged for us to have our faces painted.

November 2^nd is “all souls day” in the Catholic calendar. This is The Day of the Dead. There were traditional dance acts on the main stage, many with wonderful costumes and make-up. I think there was a costume competition, which we missed, because there were some beautiful Catrinas (women with the skull painting and traditional dresses) walking around the plaza.

Since all the Dia de Muertos activities are in the evening we had to do something during the day. Our primary activity is to go bird watching in the estuary – about a 20 minute walk from downtown. Brenda absolutely loves this and I am now a convert; we saw egrets, herons, ducks and ibis and even some iguana. The pelicans and osprey diving into the water to catch fish were pretty awesome.

At our Spanish lesson Melena and Eduardo mentioned they were doing a cooking class that Friday. So we decided to do that as well. It was a fun and easy way to learn some Spanish. As well as delicious. Eduardo is the chef and primary foodie. These people are really wonderful and a great resource. We had a great discussion about travel and food, lubricated with a Banana margarita. Eduardo also runs a travel business including tours to other Mexican cities like Mexico City.

We stayed at Casa Natalia for a week during the Day of the Dead festivities. This boutique hotel is located on the edge of the main town square where all the activity was. It was so convenient to walk out our front door smack into the middle of the action. You might think this would be noisy and there were a couple of evenings when we did hear the music but it always shut down about 10:30 at night so never impacted our sleep.

We moved down to a hotel near the beach for our second week. We went for strolls along the beach, sat by the pool and relaxed. Of course we stuffed our faces with more good food.

Tasting

Our Tequila and Mezcal adventure started with a class by Jorge Cuervo, a direct descendant of Jose Cuervo (the inventor of tequila along with his son). Jorge owns a little restaurant close to the main plaza called cuervoshouse.com where he conducts his classes. The class was supposed to last an hour but we spent 1 ½ hours with Jorge as he was so interesting. Jorge is a Tequila Master (Maestro Tequilero); I had no idea such a designation existed. Jorge did not push his family product, as they no longer own it, but focused on providing information on Tequila. This isn’t really the place to find your next bottle of white lightning as you only taste the 3 main types of tequila for demonstration purposes. We did get to taste a bit of his personal tequila and it was great; next time I’m in San Jose I will drop by to see if he has got his production ramped up and has some bottles for sale. There were so many interesting details and it would take too much time to try to relay them, plus its better you get the full experience yourself. There was one question I had for Jorge that I have been wanting to ask someone which is: what is the difference between a commercial tequila vs an artisanal tequila. The main difference is the agave is estate grown with artisanal tequila. Like wine great tequila starts with the fruit. Premium tequila will be harvested at just the right time when the sugars have developed fully but not used up by the plant yet. Of course the rest of the process is watched carefully through distillation etc.

The next stop was to find a store to buy some tequila. We did find a fantastic store that specializes in artisanal Mexican spirits; tequila, mezcal, the other agave spirits and other liquor like whiskey (with corn being such a staple in Mexico it only makes sense they would make a corn whiskey, known as bourbon in the US). Not only did we find the store named Agave but we found the best meal of our trip at their rooftop restaurant. This was contemporary world class food and cocktails. It would hold up to food we had in Barcelona and Italy. Back to the tasting, a young man spent a good half hour with us giving us two Tequilas, a Mezcal and a Bacanora. They were all great with that bright fruit flavour that is so distinctive. I liked the Bacanora the best but it was the most expensive. I liked the smoke on the Mezcal so bought it. Note these are not your margarita mixers as they cost $100, the cheaper ones C$100 and the more expensive >US$100. These are for sipping on a cold winter night.

This trip also turned out to be a culinary adventure. Having been to San Jose twice before we knew there was great food but with more time we were able to find some stunning places. From the best tacos (fish & meat), to high end like Agave and Flora farms (a beautiful working farm with an amazing restaurant and some great breakfast spots (with some killer avocado toast). We were finally able to get into Baja brewing; the beer and entertainment were great the tacos were OK.

Wine is grown all over Spain, from hot spots like the Priorat to cool areas like Galicia. We targeted the two most famous red wine regions Priorat and Rioja. However we were able to try some lovely wines from other areas when we were in Barcelona and Madrid. The we is the usual Brenda and myself but also our friends Dale and Steve.

Our trip started in Barcelona. This is a very hip and funky city. A big part of its cool factor is Mr. Antoni Gaudi, I knew of him but not much about his works. La Sagrada Familia is one of the greatest architectural marvels in the world. Casa Mila is so darn cute and funky. There is also a little Gaudi museum that is worth a visit if you want to gain a better understanding of this genius.  For example you learn how he invented a new arch. How many architects or engineers can say they have invented an arch? One unnamed Roman, one unnamed Gothic builder and Gaudi.

Food and wine in Barcelona was provided by a wonderful and lively tapas restaurant scene. Such a great way to try a variety of dishes. Spanish cuisine is hard to nail down especially in Barcelona. Barcelona is not really Spanish it is Catlan. Barcelona is a very international city and its cuisine borrows heavily from the French and Italians. Something you find on almost all tapas menus is croquettes. The Spanish/Catlans took the French potato croquette and added some of their wonderful ham/serrano. We became addicted to these crunchy creamy delights. We did one day tour out of Barcelona to Monserrat, a catholic monastery set into the side of a mountain. The natural setting was beautiful. We also stopped into a small winery on the way back, nothing special but nice to support a small operation.

We began our wine touring by catching a cab out to the airport to pick-up a rental car. From here we went to the Torres winery, one of the better known Spanish labels. Dale had arranged this tasting, because she did some work with a sommelier they considered her part of the industry, and we had a fantastic tasting. There were 2 white tastings paired with cheese and 2 red tastings paired with meat. They are doing some neat things with water recycling. Although they are big they do have a strong commitment to quality as evidenced by their exceptional Salmos (Priorat) and Purgatori wines.

We arrived at our spectacular Airbnb in La Vilella Baixa. We picked this place to stay because of the accommodations not the amenities. There were no restaurants in town only a couple of small food stores. If you want the ammenties like restaurants I would suggest Gratallops as a home base. In fact we did our best tastings in Gratallops starting with Clos Figueras and then Clos de l’Obac. We had a wonderful tour, tasting and lunch at Clos Figures; found their wines to be a reasonable value. Clos de l’Obac had wonderful wines but quite pricey; the hidden door to the library is very neat. We had lunch at a restaurant they owned in town and had a superb meal with an octopus starter and beef cheek main.

For our last winery we went to Scala Dei because of a recommendation from a winery owner in British Columbia. The winery is in this very small old village but is ultra modern inside. Lovely wines once again. I don’t think I have ever been to a wine area where every single wine, even the whites, are great. There are some neat old ruins of a cathedral next to the town, so we went on a lovely stroll.

Next we headed north to Basque country and the city of San Sebastian. Another lovely city, but this one on the Atlantic. The foodie thing to do here is Pintxos. They are bites of food (OK maybe two or three bites) usually on a piece of bread. The bar has these all made up and sitting on the bar. You point at what you want (and say uno or dos por favor or just grunt and hold up some fingers) and the bar tender puts them on a plate for you. Of course, this is when you ask for a glass of wine. Because of the predominance of seafood with a few meat and veggy dishes we ordered primarily rose and most of the time we got Navarra wine. Navarra and Rioja are the two closest wine regions to Basque country. We love the versatility of rose and especially this style. Like Provence it is dry and acidic but has a bit more concentration and flavour. On the touring front we did a day trip to Bilboa to see Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum. In addition to Gehry’s whimsey there are some really fun sculptures around the museum and of course the FOG. Every so often the pool outside the museum has fog that spreads out over it, interesting fact that they don’t tell you is FOG is Frank Owen Gehry’s initials.

Now onto the Grand Dame of Spanish wine, La Rioja. We stayed in Haro due to its central location and ability to walk over to the winery area of town for tasting. We did go to other towns in the area to find some highly rated wine or wineries. The wineries in Haro don’t require reservations. Tasting is crucial to finding wines that work for you. Like most wine regions you get great and not so great wineries. We liked Muga but Cune not so much. One of the best tasting we did was at Luis Canas. Their tasting room has a very impressive view of the vineyard. A first for all of us was the barrel tasting of French oak aged wine and American. Most of the world uses French oak for the more subtle taste it imparts. American oak is larger grain and adds more wood to the wine in the form of vanilla and tannins. So I was expecting the American oak barrel to be harsh and off putting but it was not, it was simply a different taste than the French oak. Another very interesting winery was Remirez de Ganuza. They use the shoulder or top of the grape cluster for their best wines since the tops of the bunches get more sun, the tip or bottom is used in their lower end wine. I don’t remember if we tasted a tip wine but the shoulder wines were excellent.

Our last day of wine touring in Rioja was more about food and architecture. We had lunch at Eguren Ugarte winery. The food was very good with a hearty peasant soup, sausage and lamb grilled over grape vines. The wines were uninspiring as was the tour. We did have some fun with a group of men from Norway. It seems to be a thing with European men to have boys get-aways; I saw a lot of boats filled with men in Croatia (I won’t post a picture of the Germans in their speedos). Here is a tip, if you want to make friends when wine touring take over a bottle of wine to the table of your new friends. For the architectural portion of the tour we went to see more Frank Gehry at Marques de Riscal and Calatrava’s work at Ysios winery. Both marvelous modern buildings but no tastings. Marques de Riscal could accommodate us but it would have interfered with lunch. Ysios cancelled our reservation shortly before we arrived in Spain, they got a bigger group, money talks everywhere in this world.

Now its time to wind up the wine touring but not the site seeing. We headed for Madrid but made a stop in the town of Segovia. They have two fairly impressive sites: a well preserved Roman aqueduct and the alcazar (castle). It was well worth the stop since it was on the way. We loved Madrid because it felt like we were experiencing the soul of Spain. Catalonia and Basque country were lovely but did not feel like Spain. What does Spain feel like to us? It feels like the place that inspired colonial Mexico and of course many other Latin countries around the world. Madrid has the Royal Palace, grand squares, the gran via (a street lined with Spanish style buildings with similarities to colonial Spain), some significant museums and churches. Similar to Barcelona you can find wonderful tapas restaurants but also more traditional food. We did not see any Pallela restaurants in Barcelona but you can find them in Madrid, although you need to go south to Valencia to find the most authentic. We got our fill of Pallela at our cooking class. Pallela is one of those dishes that has been mauled by North America, I looked at a couple of cookbooks when I got home and they have none of the technique and only some of the correct ingredients. After taking the class we stocked up on saffron and real smoked paprika from one of the many shops that sell these and other delicacies. Although we consider ourselves foodies we have not done any Michelin star restaurants usually opting for more traditional food or the good value Michelin bib restaurants. Well we righted that omission in Madrid with a visit to the one star Lua. It was definitely an experience to remember. This is your classic tasting menu, and since this was a wine trip we opted for the wine pairing as well. Some dishes were spectacular, others interesting, and the bread was equally varied and fantastic especially the corn bread. The wine pairing was probably the most expertly curated I have ever had. The other fun and touristy thing we did was a Flamenco dinner show. That is an art form you have to experience. The dancers are working their tails off, the guitar player is working his fingers to the bone and the singers are wailing the most haunting songs for what is a very moving experience.

Normally one would just catch a flight home from Madrid but we flew on points and had to fly back from Barcelona. The only reason for mentioning this was the birthday meal I had with my lovely wife. It was at the Torres restaurant. We were able to have some more purgatory and the food was exceptional. Spain doesn’t seem to get the same love as Italy or France but we fell in love with the country, so much so we came back the next year and did southern spain. I don’t think I am going to write a blog on that trip because the wine touring was minimal, however the sights were as good as or better than this wine trip. Adios amigos and amigas.

We loved Italy so much we went back the next year. Valpolicella was the wine destination and Cinque Terra was the exercise activity. Since we were spending time in northern Italy we flew into Venice. Venice is like Disneyland for adults, it is completely surreal. For touring I recommend Rick Steves guide book or at least go to his website and download the Grand Canal tour for free. You simple hop on a vaporetto (water taxi) from the plaza le roma, start the tour on your phone (headphones are a good idea), and pause the program if it gets too far ahead. You disembark at St Mark’s plaza. Yes St Mark’s is touristy but there is a reason for it. The church is unique, spectacular and not ABC. The Doge’s palace and the bridge of sighs are also must dos. Did you know you can go up to see the workings of the clock tower that faces out onto the square? Its pretty neat with some great views. We did a Rick Steve’s recommended cicchetti tour and it was terrible. Cicchetti are little snacks on toast similar to pinchos in Northern Spain. There is nothing wrong with the concept, in fact it is a high art in Spain. The problem was the old guy has gotten fat off of Rick Steves and doesn’t even try to give you good value. The cicchetti were sub-average and the wine was sfuso (loose or fresh wine, not aged, not even bottled) which was embarrassing for a country with so much great wine. If you like the concept just do it on your own. By accident we bumped into a little restaurant whose menu looked good. It turned out to be so memorable we went back about 5 years later and ate there again. In fact I ordered the same dish – black pasta with mussel sauce. We also visited Murano & Burano, Murano is just glass which you can find all around Venice, Burano however is a very cute and colorful town. I would skip Murano and put Burano on the itinerary.

We picked up our rental car in Venice and headed over to the mainland on our way to our place in Valpolicella. We stopped into the Soave area, just east of Verona. Soave is a white wine DOC based primarily on the Garganega grape. This is your typical dry acidic wine like so many other Italian whites. A great food wine if paired properly.  We visited the Gini estate. We were led through the tasting by the owner’s daughter. We had the standard young new release and one made from old vines. We cracked the old vine wine (70 year old vines) at home and it was spectacular with melon and honey flavours and tamed acid. Afterwards we went into town to see the castle and had a great lunch on the steps of an old church. We dropped into a tasting room of another winery in town.

Valpolicella is a DOC just north of Verona. It is famous for Amarone – made from 3 or 4 grapes you never heard of before Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara, these grapes and the terroir produce light wines so in order to up the concentration and flavor the industrious northern Italians dry the grapes after harvest thus shedding water from the grapes and concentrating flavours. If you like big Napa reds you will love these fruit bombs. Back home we usually get the Amarone light – Ripasso – which is wine that is passed over the crushed Amarone grapes thus adding body and flavour. The third wine that almost all winemakers in the area make is Recioto. This is one of the worlds greatest red dessert wines. It is made the same as Amarone but fermentation is stopped early thus leaving a good amount of sugar in the wine. All the wineries were great and easy to visit. Reservations are not required but are a good idea to avoid waiting. A case in point we booked Speri for a tasting. There were several groups getting their talk and our guide, Laura Speri, popped out of a back room and gave us a tasting of their full line-up and of course the story of the family.

We stayed at a lovely B&B or Agroturismo as the Italians call country B&Bs on the edge of San Pietro in Cariano. It was the perfect setting for a wine touring vacation with vineyards in front of the house and olive trees scattered around. It seems cake is a thing for breakfast in Italy and Laura made a delicious one every morning. Right around the corner from the B&B was a restaurant that made one of the best dishes I have every had in my life; beef cheeks braised in Amarone! We also had one of the best meals in our lives by accident. We decided to try another town for dinner one night. The restaurant we wanted to go to had a special event booked that night. As we came out we say this little restaurant with a lovely patio. We strolled into the restaurant and asked if they had a table for us. The lady looked at the rotund little chef, said something and he nodded and we were seated. It turns out this was multi-course extravaganza of a meal with 4 or 5 courses all of them spectacular all served with wine except dessert which was served with the most amazing grappa. What was really fun was hearing the story of the maître’d who definitely had an Australian accent. It turns out friends of hers were visiting from down-under and they told us the story. Her and her husband had been touring Italy a couple of years prior and had the same fantastic experience. She chatted with the chef-owner and he told her his wife had died years earlier and his daughters did not want to take over the business (they saw it first hand working there for years). He said he was thinking of shutting it down since it was getting too much for him. She asked him if he would keep going if she helped him. He said yes and she packed up her belongings and moved to Italy. I am waiting for her book – Under the Valpolicella Sun – to come out.

Our next stop was Bolzano. This is not your quintessential Italian town, in fact it feels more like Germany. It is 85km south of the Austrian border. Many of the restaurants serve hearty Germanic fare not pizza and pasta. In the morning expect your hotelier to say “morgen” (short version of guten morgen) to you not buon giorno. The top site, other than the spectacular Dolomite mountains (which were covered by clouds most of the time), is Otzi. He is a 5300 year old hunter that died and was preserved in ice. The museum is really fascinating. They do an excellent job in showing you the detective work the archeologists did to understand Otzi. Although you can see his frozen form the best parts are his belongings that tell you about how he lived and hunted. We did get a break in the weather and spent a good part of a day at the Trauttmansdorft gardens. They were beautiful gardens with a few neat exhibits inside and out. We went south to Tramin next. This is in the northern part of the Alto Adige wine region – think beautiful white wine. We stopped at a couple of wineries on the way down – no need for a reservation. After checking in at our hotel we walked through town to Cantina Tramin – a very impressive modern winery. We searched this winery out since we are big fans of their Lagrein Rose. We picked up some salad fixings on the way back to the hotel, ordered a pizza from downstairs, cracked open a bottle of wine we bought that day and had a wonderful dinner.

Our next destination was the beautiful Lake Como. This area is about seeing opulent villa’s built on hillsides overlooking the lake. We were stationed in Varenna and enjoyed walking along the lake (literally – as the walkway is actually elevated in spots as the hill drops right into the water) on our way to dinner in the evenings. You hop on one of the frequent ferries and go across to Menaggio and Bellagio and tour the towns. One must is to walk from Menaggio to Villa Balbianello for a very interesting tour and see the beautiful grounds, so beautiful Star Wars and other movies used the site for filming. No George Cluny up here, he is further south near the town of Como.

So now a chance to wear off some of the fabulous food we have been eating. We drove down to La Spezia and parked the car (not easy to do – research your options better than I did). We then hopped on the train over to Vernazza, one of the five Cinque Terra towns. The reason we didn’t drive to Vernazza becomes evident when you see the hills plunge straight into the Mediterranean. Parking is also an issue, there simply is none in the town. These colorful towns cling to the sides of hills and are connected by trails. When we visited there had been a lot of rain so the trails were supposedly closed. Our B&B host and another couple staying at the B&B both said just go for it, we did and never had an issue. However I will add that most of the lower, easier and less scenic routes were closed so you had to climb up to higher routes. If I had the choice I would do the higher routes so you can walk through the vineyards clinging to the hills. I don’t know what it is about the Mediterranean but it mesmerizes me every time. One really neat thing I have never seen anywhere else is a cog track that goes up the hill with this crazy machine that has a seat, a cargo tray at the back and a motor with a gear that pulls the contraption up the cog track. After our exhausting first and longest day we stopped into a restaurant built into the side of a hill with an amazing view. We ordered a charcuterie plate and a few glasses of wine. I would not travel here just for the wine, but it went well with the food and fantastic with the local seafood. The other great news is the towns are also connected by rail and boat. So you can hike one way and train or boat it back.

On the final leg of our trip we headed over to Padua but first stopped outside of Modena to visit a Balsamic vinegar facility. We had a fantastic tour with just one other couple. The young lady explained the process and differences between condimento and sour vinegar. We tasted 100 year old condimento balsamic and it was mind blowing. Now this was one gift shop I did not mind exiting through. Padua is a very nice little city with some great sights like Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel, St. Anthony of Padua’s Basilica and the anatomy room at the ancient university. It always helps your memory of a city when you stay in nice accommodations. The B&B we stayed in was lovely and the family that runs it was super friendly. The son who is the main B&B guy even drove us downtown and told us how to catch the bus back. Since Padua is only about ½ hour from the Venice airport this was a better option than driving back into Venice, turning the car in and bussing it back to the airport.

After these two back to back Italy trips we have fallen in love with this country. The diversity of terrain, history, food, wine and sights is exceptional, and I should add most of the people were great.

This was our first trip to Italy. As a result we wanted to see a lot, but still not at a frenetic pace. We flew into Rome. A lot of people don’t like Rome, saying its too dirty and busy. We loved Rome, so many major sites like the Coliseum and St Peters. So many small wonders like gelato and the wine tasting we did. The wine tasting was very memorable for a few reasons; the cheese was out of this world with over 6 different types of Italian cheese including a fresh ricotta that was like eating clouds, a fantastic red from one of the small islands north of Sicily and our first orange wine.

From Rome we went down to Sorento and the Amalfi coast, via train and bus. We love Roman history so Pompeii was a must do and it did not disappoint. Being an engineer I constantly marvel at the ingenuity of the Romans. Seeing the better part of an ancient Roman city and its parallels to our modern cities amazed me. Sorento is a charming little tourist town and our home base for Pompeii. This is lemon country and the two best lemon based items we had were the best lemon gelato and limoncello.

Amalfi was our base for cycling. This is still my favorite cycling destination. Something about riding just above the Mediterranean was so magical, not to mention towns stuck to the hillsides. This is not a popular tourist cycling destination as the only cycle operation we could find was just a local young man who delivered the bikes to our hotel. His service was exceptional. We switched from road bikes to e-bikes after the first (Brenda) and second day (Derek). We also had him guide us one day as access to the best look-outs were tricky to find. He arranged a lovely lunch at a local restaurant. It felt good to accomplish this 1000m climb. This fellow had a great relationship with the hotel so the bikes were locked up in a storage room and the front desk would let us in in the morning to get the bikes. This hotel was very memorable. First was the staff, so helpful and friendly. Second was the huge breakfast spread and custom made lattes. Third was the rooftop patio where we would usually eat breakfast and have Aperol Spritz for happy hour.

Now it was time to head up to Tuscany. I was pleasantly surprised to find out there is a direct train line up to Florence from Salerno. It was a relatively quick boat ride from Amalfi to Salerno. Florence was a bit of a bust due to the bad weather and terrible accommodations. Florence’s main tourist attractions are its museums, which are important since this was the birthplace of the Renaissance, but at the end of the day they are still museums which get tiring. I must say we did eat very well here. I had a great Osso Bucco and probably the best charcuterie board in my life with a lovely Chianti Classico.

Our base for Tuscan wine touring was Sienna. Sienna is a beautiful little city, maybe our favorite in Italy. The main square called Piazza del Campo is great place to hang out in the evening after dinner or for dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the Piazza (which we avoided as they looked too touristy).

We decided we were not going to drive on this vacation so wine touring by ourselves was out. As well we thought we would let the experts take us to their favorite spots. We found Grape Tours online and were highly rated and for good reason. One great thing about Grape Tours is you can do as much or as little as you want since they offer day tours out of Sienna. You can book one day or their full 4 day plus bonus tasting. We did the latter visiting the 4 main Tuscan appellations of San Gimignano, Chianti, Vino Noblile de Montepulciano and Brunello de Montalcino. Our guide Ilaria was knowledgeable, funny and just good company. We stayed at a very nice little hotel that served breakfast. From there it was less than a 10 minute walk to the meeting point. Ilaria drove us around in a mini-van. By us I mean Brenda, myself and 3 generations of ladies from the US.

San Gimignano is a white wine area based primarily on the Vernaccia grape. The town itself is very neat as back in the medieval ages each important family built a tower to show off how big and important they were; men and their phallic symbols. I am not a huge fan of a lot of Italian white wines but I must say this wine went superbly with our lunch of ricotta ravioli at a mom and pop winery. You would never find a nonna to make you ravioli on your own.

Chianti is what most people think of as Tuscan wine. Chianti is a food wine with its acid and tannins. I can’t remember the wines as they were not much different than what I can get at home. What I do remember vividly is a visit to the Butcher of Panzano, Dario Cecchini. I kept looking around for the hidden cameras, I thought I walked onto a movie set by accident. I think he had ACDC playing. When you walk in they give you a glass of wine and you help yourself to some nibbles. The ladies in our group got their picture taken with him. I did not realize how famous this guy is until I got home and saw his picture in a Jamie Oliver cookbook. He also appears in a Netflix food show. We ate at his restaurant next door. The food was good but the view of the Tuscan hills were like from a movie. We really enjoyed his seasoning salt. You dump a spoonful of salt into a cup, add olive oil, mix and dip some raw veggies into it. After lunch we headed over to the butcher shop to buy some salt. Beware they will want you to try some of his grappa, the only problem with this is the stuff tasted so good. I don’t understand why we can’t buy grappa that tastes like his stuff over in North America.

Our favorite wine was from Vino Noblile de Montepulciano. This is probably the least well known of the red wine areas. Although made from a Sangiovese (same grape as Chianti) clone it is a more elegant version with the acid and tannins a bit more refined. We had a great lunch of Pici, a rustic Tuscan pasta with a wild boar ragu sauce. The perfect meal to accompany this wine. We also visited a winery that produced Vin Santo, a decadent dessert wine tasting of caramel and raisins.

Our last wine area was Montalcino to taste the famous Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello is another clone of the Sangiovese grape, producing a bigger denser wine than Chianti. Unfortunately we were not blown away by the wines we tasted on the tour. Part of the problem may be young Brunello can be quite harsh, with aggressive tannins. These wines are best enjoyed with a few years in the cellar. I have had other Brunello’s that blew my socks off so I understand the allure of these wines.

Finally we caught a bus back to Rome. We stayed by the train station for a quick get away to the airport in the morning. The B&B was very nice, the atmosphere of the area at night reminded me of Vancouver’s east side, in a word “scary”.

What a revelation this was visiting this area of California. I now know why >39mm people live in this state. It was beautiful and the wine was as well. Much nicer than the concrete and pavement of LA.

The central cost wine area stretches from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. We flew into LA, rented a car and drove up to San Francisco. Our first order of business after picking up the car at LAX was to get lunch at In-N-Out Burger.

Our first stop was in Santa Barbara, what a beautiful city. We strolled downtown from our B&B and looked at the waterfront. There are lots of restaurant options many with good wine menus. We started our wine touring with a day tour of the hills North West of the city. Day tours allow you to sample till your hearts content. We lucked out on our first stop at the Koehler winery, finding a box with a Styrofoam insert to protect the bottles. They gave this to us for free upon the purchase of one of their lovely Cabernets. The advantage of doing a tour other than the drinking and no driving is the overview of the area as it relates to wine making.

The next day we drove up to Los Olivos, a 40 minute drive NW from Santa Barbara. This was a new experience. The area wineries set-up tasting rooms in town all within stumbling distance of each other. We took it easy on the drinking since we stayed in Santa Barbara, but you could consider staying overnight in Los Olivos and walking over to the tasting shops. You really get to see the wide variety of grapes used in this area by visiting so many tasting rooms. You get cool climate wines like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir closer to the ocean and hot climate wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah further inland. In fact there are some grapes that absolutely need heat like Sangiovese and Grenache grown here; the Stolpman Sangiovese was a revelation, it was gulpable without the high acidity and tannins of the Italian chiantis, try it and buy it.

We then moved up to Paso Robles. There are both large operations (like J Lohr) and small ones. We only spent a couple of days here but you could spend a week since there are over 200 wineries. They grow all kinds of grapes in this region but predominately red including Zinfandel, Bordeaux varieties, Italian varieties and they seem to be very proud of their Rhone blends. Some of the scenery back in the hills is exceptional, we particularly liked Daou perched up on a hill with lavender bushes surrounding the driveway. Clayhouse tasting room is conveniently located downtown, as are some lovely restaurants.

From here we drove up to Monterey via Highway #1, the Pacific Coast Highway. Warning you are driving along the edge of a cliff, so you need to be OK with this. The scenery is breathtaking. A must do if going on this road is to stop into Hearst Castle, especially if you are a fan of Citizen Kane. We stopped South of Monterey near Carmel for a tasting and met a couple of real housewives of Carmel. I think a little wine in the afternoon makes one extra friendly. One of the ladies asked what we were going to do in the area and we said do some tastings and visit Pebble Beach to see it, not play. She said you have to pay to enter the area unless you are visiting a resident, so she gave us her name and we were in the next day. After visiting the golf course gift shop we took a stroll along a beach front board walk. It was very windy with native shrubs growing along the beach. We were in a constant spray from the ocean. It was a real treat to see and experience nature. If that isn’t your thing you can look the other direction and see golfers who have more money than skill playing one of the auxiliary Pebble Beach courses.

Our B&B was maybe half a mile from the waterfront in Monterey. They have a fun touristy area here called Cannery Row with restaurants and shops.

Our last day of wine touring we decided to find the famous Ridge winery. The reason for its notoriety is the solid placing in the original Judgement of Paris (watch the movie Bottle Shock about the white wine battle) and winning the 2006 reenactment. The wine is Monte Bello, a Bordeaux blend, and it is spectacular. The winery is on top of a mountain, I could swear our GPS was going to send us off a cliff. Just when I was about to turn-around we came upon the winery. We ended up getting a Zinfandel, which was not a jam jar of grapes but an elegant expression of this noble Italian/Croatian grape.

We had a day to kill before catching our flight out of SFO and went into San Francisco. We strolled around the touristy pier and went for lunch. I still remember the linguine con vongole as the best I ever had, still haven’t found one in Italy that could top it.

In summary we thoroughly enjoyed the great wine and fantastic scenery of this part of California. I am not going to take anything away from Napa/Sonoma but I think the landscape is nicer along the Central Coast, as well reports from people we bumped into indicated the tasting fees are crazy in Napa. Back in 2014 the tasting fees in the Central Coast were $10 typically, Napa was supposedly $20 and up. Coming from Canada these fees are a shock to the system, fees are typically $5 and are waived with the purchase of a bottle.

Once again we took the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in Paris. The Starry Night by Van Gogh in the Musee d’Orsay took my breath away.

We hopped on a train to the town of Brive and picked up our rental car; note that you should check-out traveling all the way to Cahors via train. Cahors is in the Lot department with the river Lot flowing through the district. We stayed at a B&B west of Cahors near the town of Douelle. Cahors is very easy to wine tour, no need for reservations and friendly proprietors. Cahors is Malbec, malbec is an allowed grape in Bordeaux wines but is rarely used today. A French malbec bares little resemblance to an Argentinian malbec, with the Cahors malbecs being black ie highly concentrated and tannic as opposed to the easy drinking Argentinian wines.  The wines are not our favorite since we like more fruit, so you dirt lovers would probably love these wines after aging a bit. The area however was beautiful with the towns populated with medieval houses that have exposed timbers, including the city of Cahors. We did a day trip over to the village of St Cirq Lapopie, which is picture perfect.

Two other famous towns just north of Cahors are Sarlat and Rocamadour. Unfortunately we got rained out in Sarlat but got the idea of the town. Sarlat is a larger town than St Cirq but similar medieval architecture. This is goose and duck country, every shop has canned duck confit and foie gras. We had never had duck confit before but are now huge fans. In North America it is a delicacy, in this part of the world it is as pervasive as a burger would be to us. Rocamadour is a neat town built on the side of a cliff, we did this on a bike and it was quite a challenge climbing out of the valley.

From here we went cycling in the Correze, a plateau NE of Brive. This was the exercise portion of the vacation. We did get a lot of exercise in between rain days but we did not lose any weight due to the excellent food. We stayed at a Bike accommodation that included our biking and meals (breakfast and dinner). The British couple that runs it did a fantastic job renovating an old stone barn into the rental accommodations. The food was great, think Jamie Oliver type of British cooking not mushy peas and shoe leather. At the end of our trip it was like leaving our new friends Sam and James and le petite chien Henri.

About a two hour drive west was Bordeaux, the most famous wine region in the world. Bordeaux is not an easy area to DIY, you cannot just drive up to a winery and knock on the door. However that does not mean you cannot taste great wines here. We booked two half-day tours, one on the Left Bank and one on the Right Bank. This gave us a solid understanding of the appellation. There are several great wine bars, the wine museum where you can also taste wine and a store where you can taste samples of some very high end wine (like Lafite Rothchild). The store and one of the wine bars will sell you a card with a dollar amount loaded on, you insert the card into an enomatic machine select the amount you want and presto you have a small sample to taste. You can find wine tasting opportunities everywhere; we did a boat cruise on the river where some small winemakers presented their wines.

Bordeaux is a grand city with some architectural marvels. We stayed at a B&B about 15 minutes from the main area of town. This is probably the best B&B I have ever stayed at. What made it so special was the proprietor; we would chat with her for over an hour as we ate our delicious breakfast. The bed was the most comfortable I have slept in in all of Europe.

Another great trip filled with great wine, great food and great sights just lousy weather.

Overview

The Okanagan valley stretches 160 km (99 miles) north from the Canada-US border. Geographically it is on the same latitude with the northerly French appellation of Champagne and the Rhine in Germany. You would think this makes it a cool climate wine area which it is in the north part of the valley. However in the south around Osoyoos it is actually the northern part of the Sonoran desert. It can get very hot and dry down here, therefore irrigation is required. The lakes and mountains act as heat sinks which helps extend its season and moderates some of the heat in summer.

Below are the main areas in the Okanagan valley plus an adjacent valley called the Similkameen. If you’re wondering who came up with these odd names, you can thank the First Nations people who still live in parts of the valley. In fact they are part owners and operators of a world class winery called Nk’Mip.

From North to South

1. Kelowna/Lake Country – this is definitely cool climate terrior. There is some stunning Reisling grown up here. Tip – you can find some great red wines at wineries from this area, but they are all from grapes grown in the southern part of the valley.
2. Peachland/Summerland – This area lies between the cool north and the warm south. Some producers are able to squeeze out some very nice wines, including reds.
3. Naramata Bench – has some stunning wines. The bench above the lake gets great late day sun and the moderating effects from the water. They produce both excellent whites and reds and of course rose. This area lies just north of the city of Penticton.
4. Skaha Bench – this is the smallest sub-region. It is just south of Penticton. You are starting to get into some heat loving red grapes here.
5. Okanagan Falls – the main area sits up on top of a mountain that was sheered off by ice-age glaciers. Similar to the Naramata both reds and whites perform very well here.
6. Oliver – is a town in the heart of wine and fruit country. There are wineries surrounding the town. We are really getting into the heat now.
7. Golden Mile Bench – lies between Oliver and Osoyoos on the West side of the valley. This is one of the top 3 areas in the Okanagan in my estimation.
8. Black Sage Bench – lies between Oliver and Osoyoos on the East side of the valley. This is another one of the top 3 areas in the Okanagan in my estimation.
9. Osoyoos – is the southern most town in the valley just 3.6km north of the US border. This is the hottest area in the valley which you can tell from the desert flora like antelope brush and wild sage.
10. Similkameen Valley – is the next valley to the west of the Okanagan, near Cawston. This is also a hot area. Because of some unique terrior, wineries in the Okanagan own some vineyards in this region. This is a younger wine growing region and I think some of these wineries are still figuring out how to optimize their operation, but a few have.

Note: Bold type indicates the four official sub-regions (basically appellations)

Home Base

My recommendation for where to stay is based on its access to the wine areas and availability of quality accommodations. Proximity to restaurants is not a major criteria; we prefer to have lunch at a winery to break-up the tasting and get some more food in our stomachs; we then have a small dinner back at our accommodations.

Our preferred home base is Spirit Ridge (a Hyatt property) in Osoyoos. It’s a wonderful spot with vineyards in front, a great view of the lake and two swimming pools. This is also the location of the Nk’Mip winery. Osoyoos is a small town with a lake on both the North and South side of town, it has that small town vibe. Osoyoos gives you access to many of the best wineries in the Okanagan, with the best access to Oliver, Osoyoos, Golden Mile, Black Sage and the Similkameen.

My second pick for a place to stay is Penticton. It is a small city with a lake on both the north and south sides of town. It will have more amenities and options for accommodations and eating. Penticton is a great base with the Naramata butting up against the city on the North-East side. Summerland is only 15minutes on the north-west side of town. On the south side Skaha is very close and Okanagan Falls is only 20 minutes away. Another advantage of staying in Penticton is the seven breweries in town, in the event you are traveling with beer drinkers.

Kelowna is the biggest city in the Okanagan. It has a population of 130,000 which doesn’t seem that large, but the problem is there is only one main road through town so traffic feels like a big city. The other issue as I mentioned above is the cool climate, so you should like white wine. There is some successful pinot noir grown up here, but you have probably heard it called the “heatbreak” grape due to its temperamental nature.

Note that Kelowna and Penticton both have airports.

Wine Touring

It is difficult to recommend specific wines and wineries for two main reasons:

1. Vintage – like Europe vintage plays a significant role due mainly to weather. However forest fires have also been an issue in the past. I will add the last few years have been quite good, I’ll let the scientists debate if this is due to global warming.
2. Young Industry – wine has been made in the valley for over a hundred years, but up until the 1980’s it was mainly jug wine. The first serious attempt to make real wine started with Hybrids designed for cool climates. Vinifera vines first got their start in 1975 and were proven successful so that in 1988 growers were incented to replace their hybrid vines with vinifera. Europe has had centuries to figure out what grapes grow best in which areas. The Okanagan growers have only had 30 years so far. There is a lot of change that still happens in the industry. One trend is for growers to decide they want to start a winery using the vineyards used to sell grapes to other wineries. As a result new wineries are opening all the time. Many of them are not that great initially, but most figure it out eventually. The other phenomenon is experimentation with grape varieties new to the Okanagan. While some varieties are well established there is still some pioneers trying new things. Moon Curser in Osoyoos is a prime example trying their hand at Tannat (moderate success) and Touriga National (fantastic).

I will let you know some of our favorite wineries here. Down the road I will try to do a vintage report to let you know which wineries to focus on.

1. Kelowna – if you like Riesling with bracing acidity but with just enough sugar to bring forward the fruit then I highly recommend Tantalus
2. Summerland – the Israeli owners of Silk Scarf researched the world to build their winery about ten years ago and picked the Okanagan. They do a bang-up job of everything but we love their rose.
3. Naramata – It is very difficult to pick just one winery here as there are so many excellent ones. I’ll go with Howling Bluff, it is consistently great, producing one of the best white Bordeaux’s anywhere in the world, along with great Pinot Noir, red Bordeaux and rose. Luke the owner wears his heart and winemaking on his sleeve. Honorable mentions go to Van Weston and Deep Roots for reds, La Frenze for white and Three Sisters for their rose. There are some wonderful winery restaurants on the bench such as Lake Breeze, Hillside and Poplar Grove. Another neat option is the Upper Bench winery that makes one of our favorite Chardonnay’s and some very nice cheese.

4. Skaha – is the smallest sub-appellation with only 5 wineries. The winner here is without a doubt Painted Rock. This is a serious operation winning many awards including a wine of the year award from Decanter magazine. Red, Red and more Red.

5. Okanagan Falls – is another tough area to pick a favorite, so I won’t. You will surely find something tasty at one of these three: Stag’s Hollow, Noble Ridge and Liquidity. Liquidity has a world class winery building with a world class restaurant.

6. Oliver – this area is a bit of a catch all. The best wineries near Oliver sit on the Golden mile bench or the Black Sage bench. I would pick Jackson-Triggs as the best winery in this area. It is a large operation but maintains quality and innovation by maintaining separate teams for each of their four labels. River Stone is a small winery offering a more intimate visit and some nice wines.

7. Golden Mile Bench – was the first sub-appellation in the Okanagan. Just a few notes on the map below. All the wineries on the Golden Mile are great (I would not hesitate to visit any of them) and grow primarily French vitus vinifera, with the exception of Gehringer Brothers which focuses more on German grapes and ice wine. Fairview cellars is off the beaten path and you need to head towards the Fairview golf course, Bill the owner is a bit of a maverick who produces some great big reds. Cassini is missing from the map. I am not sure if Intersection and Second Chapter are officially part of the appellation but are in the area and are worth a visit as well. Rustico is now called Rust, and the new owners have dramatically improved the quality of their wines. The best restaurant South of Oliver is Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek, we eat here every visit. Hester Creek has a great restaurant as well.

8. Black Sage Bench – like the Golden Mile all the wineries here are great but I find Burrowing Owl  and Dessert Hills are the most consistent and have lovely restaurants. A word of caution, avoid Silver Sage if you like wine, however if you like a sweet beverage made with grapes and the possible addition of chilies (yes the hot little peppers) and a tasting room filled with stagettes then be my guest.

9. Osoyoos – like Oliver is a catch-all of the wineries around Osoyoos that are not part of the other areas/sub-appellations. The viticulture experts determined that the Golden Mile ends at Rust, so wineries on the same side of the valley but further South fall into the Osoyoos area. My favorites are:

Maverick – probably the best Sauvignon Blanc in BC, Rubeus is a solid Syrah based blend

Nk’Mip – has a winner every year. They have two lines with the QWAM QWMT being the premium label, be sure to try these. Past winners have been Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Chardonnay. The neighboring Spirit Ridge resort has a restaurant.

Moon Cursor – is not afraid to experiment with some heat loving grapes. I have never been a fan of their Tannat but their Touriga Nacional is a revelation, its not as big as one from Portugal but is big enough and super tasty winning all kinds of awards. Lots of other reds and whites.

               Our favorite winery restaurant in this area is at Kismet, it is East Indian food and great.

10. Similkameen Valley – is accessed by taking Highway 3 west towards Keremeos and Cawston.

At the south end of the valley is a collection of wineries with Seven Stones being the most established and Vanessa (not on the map – just North of Seven Stones on the East side of the road) being the newest and showing promise. In Cawston Orofino is the best and in Keremeos I would recommend Clos du Soliel and Corcelettes. I was never a cider fan until I had Twisted Hills cider. They grow apples specifically cultivated for cider so more acid and less sugar. Their tasting room is a geodesic dome along highway 3 in Cawston.