Author: ashingcon

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.

Southern Rhone

The Southern Rhone lies on both sides of the south stretch of the Rhone river, not to be confused with the Northern Rhone, which is an entirely different appellation. The major city of the region and best home base is Avignon.

We started our trip by flying into Paris. It was wonderful to see the best city in the world again. We then hopped a high-speed train to Avignon. Avignon is a wonderful little city with some great history about the Catholic Popes.

Since this was our first European wine trip we booked a day tour to help us get our bearings. Mission accomplished, we visited a winery in Beaumes de Venise, Vacqueyras and Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The tour gave us an introduction to the area and allowed us to determine that we could easily drop into wineries without a reservation. Brenda’s favorite meal/memory is the picnic we had in our apartment in Avignon. After our tour we walked over to the main market in town and picked up some bread, cheese, ham and some tomatoes and seasoning salt. The French know how to bake a loaf of bread, the tomatoes tasted like they use to when we were children and could eat them off the vine. This was all washed down with a bottle we bought on the tour.

The next couple of days we did true DIY touring. We went up to Rasteau, best known for their desert wine. We went back to the town of Vacqueyras and visited another producer. Chateauneuf-du-Pape is crazy, there were dozens of tasting shops in town. If you are a big fan of this wine I would suggest you take a taxi there so you can hit more than one shop. We also headed over to Gigondas for some touring and lunch. Gigondas is a lovely little town, with narrow cobblestone streets and flowers hanging from window boxes. There are no wineries in town but there is a store, which I believe is owned by the region’s wineries. You can have a small taste of different producers in order to determine what you want to buy. What we did buy was the best wine I have ever bought. It sat in my cellar for about 7 years and it came out with the fruit still shining through (thanks Grenache) but it had all these wonderful tertiary flavors like leather and tabacco (thanks Syrah). Gigondas is the best value in this area, producing wines often on par with Chateauneuf-du-Pape but at half the price.

Next we took a break from Wine touring, but not wine as dinner and lunch is always served with wine. We did a week of biking in the Luberon valley. Cycling provides an opportunity to burn off some calories, but not lose weight as the breakfast at our B&B and the dinners replaced what we burnt off. The Luberon is known for its dramatic hill side towns, so the biking was tough climbing up to these towns. The effort was worth it as they are very picturesque. The picture below was taken on a day ride over to Roussillon en Provence. It is an abandoned ochre mine. The whole town is painted in different shades of ochre. Fun fact, in the summer in this area the locals put ice in their rose wine. Rose went perfect with the main course salads that seemed to be on every lunch menu in the area.

Next we did some old fashioned touring. There is so much to see within about an hours drive from Avignon. Below is the spectacular Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. If you into Roman history this whole area is rife with sights scattered around. Although I am getting worn out of museums, the one in Arles is one of my favorite ones as it has some great Roman treasures like a floor mosaic that is in amazing condition. The colosseum although small is in better shape than Rome’s.

Another thing to do in Arles and surrounding area is to walk in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh. Many of his most famous paintings were done in Arles.

We spent a few days in Provence, Aix-en-Provence to be exact. This was at the tail end of our trip as the plan was to fly up to Paris and then home. The closest airport in this area is the Marseille airport, which is located between Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. Aix is a beautiful town and is an excellent base for this area.

The highlight though is the Mediterranean. No matter where I go, the color of the Mediterranean is always stunning. Below are the Calanques, limestone cliffs that plunge into the sea. You see them on a little boat tour.

Back to wine. This is Rose country, it’s so famous Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie source their Miraval rose from here. We drank a lot of rose on our trip, bit only visited one winery. It was quite a GPS adventure. You know how some GPS will send you into a lake, well ours sent us over a hill through these wonderful rocky outcrops with the shimmering Mediterranean in the background. The view will stay in my memory forever. The wine was pretty damn good as well.

This trip was so wonderful we adopted the template thereafter – Wine, Food, Sights and history, Physical activity.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and all the other ones on this site.