Ontario photographers should be taking notes as they read this post of Ancestry Guru. There are three new photo contests on Lenzr to help beat the winter blues. These challenges will give shutterbugs something to do in the cold winter months of November and December 2009. ALL three challenges celebrate the great outdoors and the semi-tropical environs of Mother Nature.

Macro Photos of Life contest will magnify small life forms into horrifying creatures – larger than life.

Locaboires are folks who insist on eating only locally produced foods and drinking water, local fruit juices and beverages that are made within a hundred mile radius of their homes. For people living in  Toronto this includes the wines of Eastern Ontario.

The Prize is a deluxe Locaboire vacation where you can drink the spirit of life in Prince Edward Co. in Eastern Ontario and enjoy their wine tour travel pckge for two adults that includes two meals and one night in a Brighton Ontario b&b

Medicinal Plants in Nature harvests botanical photography.

Lenzr members (you have to be a member to upload photos) are asked to document each plant’s medical properties. The winner of the contest will be part scientist and part artist and overall someone with an eye for natural beauty.

Lenzr hopes to index medical pictures of specific healing plants and their roots, tubers and flower blossoms. We expect to see fragrant tree moss,  wild mushrooms, tree gum and grass. Anything with medicinal properties is welcome in this contest.

There’s six different Neal’s Yard Remedies, created from botanical ingredients available as prize. This prize has been generously donated by Ontario best natural medicine clinic to the member that uploads the highest rated photo. That special photographer WINS Orange Flower Facial Oil, Yarrow & Comfrey Moisturizer, and White Tea Eye Gel, Orange Flower Facial Wash, Geranium & Orange Body Butter Rosewater Toner for a total retail value of $330.00* all prizes subject to availability

Ontario Tourist Attractions 2 photo contest is all about capturing the scenery, history, culture and geography of this great province. L0ok around Ontario at your pictures of the hot spots and monuments and ask yourself ‘are these the places that I think visitors might enjoying seeing for themselves when they visit this area?  Lenzr members are asked to present the most interesting travel destinations they have ever experienced.

Kanetix  specializes in delivering the lowest car insurance quotes and so it’s well suited to host this unique challenge.  It fits with their mandate of providing  satisfaction; they offer the best and most comprehensive quote search online, which makes people happy.

The people of Ontario like to explore the beaches outside historic forst and classic architecture that really defines our province. The lakes and waterfalls and battlefield museums and boardwalks attract millions of visitors each year.

Eco tourism These folks help catch the imagination of responsible pleasure seekers and Locaboires. is finally becoming more popular and at Lenzr we love to see people picking up liter and trash along the beaches and while hiking in the woods.

The winner of this contest is the member that uploads the top rated image January 1st 2010 and he or she will receive a prize of $300 American Express gift certificate.

CONTEST ENDS Jan 1st 2010 contest open to all Canadians except the residents of Quebec

November 11th marked our first anniversary together.   Anthony and I have had a wonderful year getting to know one another on a few dinner dates, then going on vacations together, and spending our weekends together, the time has blossomed into a loving relationship.  We look forward to many more anniversaries to come.

For our special day, my honey greeted me in the morning with roses and a poem he wrote for me.  Then we drove into town and caught a romantic “Wine Tour” Jeep ride with A Day in the West.  Our guide was a proud veteran who liked to be called an Indian rather than a Native American.  Along with us were two other couples who were also there to enjoy the tour.  Our first stop was the Page Springs winery where we tasted a few selections.  The fall colors added to our afternoon as we spent our time together.  Next stop was the Rattlesnake Trail as our guide took us into the National Forest along some beautiful wilderness.  We heard some amazing stories and enjoyed the fresh air as Anthony and I shared our special day together.

For that evening, Anthony took me to the Asylum in Jerome, Arizona.  This historic building sits way up above the Verde Valley, and was once a hospital, then converted to a fancy hotel and fine dinning restaurant.   Our night was made extra special by being seated at the best table for two, along the window with an amazing view.   Anthony then presented me with a beautiful journey pendant and necklace.  The night out was as special part of our anniversary.

Anthony and I look forward to many more beautiful years together.  One thing is for certain right now; I have found my best friend, life partner, lover all wrapped into one.

Couldn’t have asked for a better day for this – sunny and almost 70!  I do wish that there was one more day in the weekend however, I’m not ready for another full week starting tomorrow.

We hit up three new-to-us vineyards:  Piedmont, Three Fox Vineyard and the Winery at La Grange.

Piedmont

Three Fox Vineyard

Winery at La Grange

Perhaps the greatest benefit of the MBA program I’m currently attending at the Bordeaux International Wine Institute is the connections it has with the wine industry, especially (and not surprisingly) in the Bordeaux region. In addition to regular classes, the MBA curriculum also contains several “wine tours”, which are day-long excursions focused on a particular Bordeaux region.

We recently completed our first wine tour of the Médoc AOC, during which we visited three chateaux—all classified growths from the 1855 Classification: Chateau Pontet Canet (Pauillac, 5th Growth), Chateau Desmirail (Margaux, 3rd Growth), and Chateau Prieuré Lichine (Margaux, 4th Growth).

Wine being pumped over at Ch. Pontet Canet from the recently-harvested '09 vintage (it smelled unbelievably fresh, perhaps because it's bio?)

Starting the day with Chateau Ponet Canet, we were greeted by Winemaker and Technical Director, Jean Michel Comme, who gave us a thorough introduction to the facility and its winemaking practices. Ch. Ponet Canet produces a first and second label wine that is predominately Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Merlot and small portions of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The most unique aspect about Ch. Pontet Canet is that it is the only biodynamic (as well as organic) growth in the Médoc region. Comme explained that a producer takes on a certain amount of risk when switching to organic/biodynamic production and that most Bordeaux chateaux are owned by companies who don’t want to handle this risk, nor invest in the additional time required to convert to organic/biodynamic farming.

Ch. Pontet Canet became fully biodynamic in 2005. Having produced wines prior to its switch, Comme noticed a change in the wine’s composition within three years—citing a more pronounced minerality in the nose and an improved tannin structure. He also noted that the harvest happens earlier. Though currently working on the 2009 vintage, he considers 2008 to be Ch. Pontet Canet’s best wine, yet. His biodynamic philosophy is:

• No agressive action on the vines
• Almost all work to be completed by hand
• No green harvest in July

The objective is to obtain a natural balance with low yields—with the job of the growers being to assist rather than work the vines.

We then continued our tour with a visit and “wine lunch” at Chateau Desmirail. Desmirail also has a first and second label red wine—again, predominately Cabernet Sauvignon, but blended with a higher amount of Merlot (~40%), which is typical for the Margaux appellation. Though certainly not disappointed by the red wines at our table, I was most intrigued by the rosé wine, which is also a blending of CS/Merlot. The Rosé de Desmirail is a fairly new offering that I imagine is part of the producer’s intention to capitalize on the growing rosé market. Classified as an AOC Bordeaux Rosé, I saw the ‘07 vintage selling online for ~ US$32—not inexpensive, but certainly more affordable than a bottle of red from this troisième cru!

Our final visit was to Chateau Prieuré Lichine, where we had a brief tour of the facility and ended the day with a blind tasting of 5 Grand Crus Classés of Médoc from the 2004 vintage. The only clue we were given before the tasting was that each wine was from a different Médoc appellation. Having never studied Médoc wines before (let alone sampled more than three Médoc wines total prior to this tasting!), I just took things in stride and had fun trying to distinguish the nuances between each wine. This is what we tasted:

1. La Tour Carnet (Haut-Médoc)
2. Prieuré Lichine (Margaux)
3. Grand Puy Lacoste (Pauillac)
4. Cos Laboury (St.-Estèphe)
5. Léoville Poyferré (St.-Julien)

My favorite was the the Cos Laboury Saint-Estèphe. The nose was of cassis and caramel with black pepper and toffee notes mixed in. Its flavor was very similiar to the nose, with a smooth, long-lasting finish. Ironically, the St-Estèphe was also the least expensive of the wines sampled with a retail price of around EUR 17—I guess I have a taste for value, even among the Grand Crus!

Wines tasted blind from the 2004 horizontal Médoc tasting

We’ve made some major changes on the Wine Travel Guides website, which will benefit anyone planning a wine tour in France, Tuscany or Rioja and other regions we will add next year. All the contents of our 50 micro-region travel guides to wine regions can now be viewed free on the website.

There’s no catch here, but anyone who would like the convenience of downloading the guides as PDFs to plan their wine trip off-line and print pages as required, can purchase the guides at a very reasonable price of £5 (approximately US$8.50 or €5.50) with discounts for multiple guide purchases. A sample PDF guide can be downloaded on registration; for those of you who have already registered, do log in and take a look as we’ve changed the sample to the Southern Graves and Sauternes guide by Jane Anson.

We have also converted our former Gold Subscription to Gold Membership, which allows any of our guides to be downloaded for a full 12 months (meaning you get the latest, updated guide) including any we add in the future. The price has been reduced too – Gold Membership costs just £29 (approximately US$49 or €32). A package of member benefits is also planned, and these should include discounts on other valuable wine and travel related information.

In case you are not familiar with the content on our Guides, our micro-region guides are bite-sized chunks of major wine regions, for example, we have 8 guides to Bordeaux; 5 to the Rhône Valley; 2 to Tuscany (covering only central areas at present) and so on. Each guide (about 10 – 20 pages in PDF form) includes 8 – 12 recommended wine producers to visit; a few places to stay (ranging from top hotels to friendly Bed and Breakfasts); restaurants, shops and attractions, plus a useful aide-memoir of the regional wines including appellations, grape varieties and wine styles. A wealth of information in a small package.

Most importantly of all, our guides are written by a selection of top wine and travel writers, selected because they have the inside track on their regions – some you’ve already seen on this blog, others are also top-class, including three Masters of Wine and several published book authors. We also make a point of updating our guides regularly, once a year at a minimum with tweaks during the year as necessary.

There are no other travel guides to these wine regions which are as authoritative or comprehensive as ours available anywhere else on the web, so please visit the site and tell the rest of the world about our existence. The main idea of these changes is to open up our content to many more independent travellers who love wine. Increased visibility – and let’s be honest about it, revenue – will allow us to expand our guides to other countries and regions in the future.

Thank you for reading this blatant sales blog post.  I felt that it needed to be spelt out as going from 60 pages to over 1500 pages of quality content is pretty big news for a website! I hope you agree and look forward to your reactions to the changes. I promise you that interesting wine and travel posts will resume soon!

By popular demand (from friends and family) I have set up this website to write about the various wine tours, tastings and experiences that have evolved from eating and drinking my way around the fantastic wine regions of South Australia.

I can now upload photos and wine reviews, stories and events that seem to happen all too frequently in this wonderful little corner of the world.  The highlights for 2009 have been:

January 10th – McLaren Vale

January 23rd – Barossa Valley and the tour down under

March 1st – McLarenvale with Queensland visitors

March 7th – McLarenvale with Sydney visitors

March 28th – Adelaide Hills and McLarenvale with family

April – Clare Valley

May 4th – Magill Estate, Penfolds Degustation dinner

June 7th – Sea and Vines Festival, McLaren Vale

June 13th – McLaren Vale with Spanish friends

June 21st – Cheese making with “Udder Delights”

July 5th – Swan Valley, WA

July 8th – Margaret River, WA

August 16th – Adelaide Hills

August 22nd – Barossa Gourmet weekend

October 22nd – “Understanding wine” course begins at the national wine centre

If you’re in Bordeaux and would like to visit the regional vineyards, I highly recommend you stop by the Office de Tourisme de Bordeaux. The Bordeaux Tourist Office is likely the most organized institution in the entire city and (unless you have a personal connection with the vineyard owners) is probably the best way for you to obtain a guided tour and tasting of the local châteaux.

Entre-deux-Mers is the green region featured on this map of Bordeaux's Vineyards.

Châteaux & terroirs is among a series of tours the office offers (currently on a daily basis), departing each afternoon to one of the main Bordeaux wine regions. Being Tuesday, today’s tour was scheduled for Entre-deux-Mers (literally translated as “between two seas”, though the locals prefer to say “between two tides” to reference the tides from the two rivers surrounding this region: Dordogne and Garonne). The entire tour lasted five hours, during which we visited two châteaux with a guided tour of the grounds and winery, met with the owners—and of course, visited the tasting room for a sampling of the châteaux wines.

Our first stop was at Château de Castelneu, located in Saint-Léon (Gironde). We were greeted by the owner, Loïc de Roquefeuil, who enthusiastically showed us the château grounds, winery, and cellar. 75 acres of the property is devoted to growing grapes, from which two AOC Entre-deux-Mers dry white wines, two AOC Bordeaux Supérieur red wines, and one AOC Bordeaux Clairet are produced.

We sampled three of these wines, starting with a 2006 dry white wine made from 100% old vines Sémillon. This wine is a bit of an exception in that it’s a mono-cépage, or varietal wine; whereas, Bordeaux typically produces assemblage, or blended wines. The Sémillon was golden in color with the nose of an oaky, buttery chardonnay. However, the taste was quite faint—a hint of earthiness and some lemon notes, but not all that exciting considering it was produced from vines over 110 years old. If anything, I expected more intense, concentrated flavor. However, the next wine sampled—the clairet—was far from disappointing.

The tasting room at Ch. Castelneau.

A Bordeaux Clairet resembles a rosé, but is darker in color and more extracted. It mirrors the original Bordeaux Claret wines that were exported prior to the 18th century (before the advent of barrel aging, leading to the production of more full-bodied red wines). The 2007 clairet produced by Ch. Castelneau was immensely refreshing and very easy to drink. It was bright magenta in color, with a nose of fresh strawberries and whipped cream. The taste though was more raspberry with an abundance of minerality. Loïc explained this wine wasn’t meant to be consumed just in the summer, but also during the dreary winter months—to cheer things up.

The final wine we tasted was a 2006 Grande Reserve Rouge, a blend of mostly Merlot with some Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in barrels. Its color was sparkling ruby without a trace of cloudiness. The nose was of red and black cherries and a bit of black pepper. The taste was incredibly smooth and again with a healthy dose of minerality mixed in with some blk. pepper and cherry notes. Not at all a heavy wine—I noticed it was just 12.5% abv.

Otherwise, there’s two things I found particularly apparent about the Entre-deux-Mers region:

1. This is the home of Bordeaux’s value wines. The three wines I mentioned above cost EUR 12 (old vines Sémillon), EUR 8 (Bordeaux Clairet), and EUR 15 (Grande Reserve Rouge).
2. These château owners have enormous fixer-uppers to tend to. Both Ch. Castelneau and Ch. Camarsac (the second château we visited) date back to the 14th century. They’ve weathered the elements, fires, and several significant wars. In addition to producing and selling their wine, side-projects include installing a modern kitchen and winterization for year-round occupation.

A view of Château de Castelneau---renovations still needed in the right wing.

The Vineyards of Swan Creek, located in the Yadkin Valley, will be celebrating their Harvest Festival this weekend, October 10-11th.

Tour all five of the Vineyards of Swan Creek and enjoy two days of wonderful, award-winning wines, great music and entertainment, complimentary seasonal refreshments and great gift ideas while overlooking the beautiful and scenic Swan Creek.

Entertainment will be part of the festivities at all the vineyards. At Raffaldini Vineyards, special events  include operatic performances by soprano, Michelle Evans Jarrell.

There is no admission fee. Wine tastings at each vineyard are $5.

http://www.swancreekvineyards.com/vineyards_raffaldini.html

Virginia is known as much for its many products and resources as it is for it rich Colonial heritage and history. As early as the 1600s the commonwealth has been a center of production for many goods and luxuries. Historians tell of our forefathers growing tobacco along the cobbled streets of Jamestown, and for nearly a century Suffolk has been regarded one of the peanut capitals of the world. Cotton, ham, and seafood are also popular exports, as is wine. Few people outside the bacchanalian world realize that Virginia is popular wine country, ranking tenth among US states in grape production!

There are over one hundred active wineries in the commonwealth of Virginia, covering nearly 2500 acres of land, and producing as many as three hundred thousands cases a year. On average, over four thousand tons of grapes are produced annually to make Virginia wine. You’ll find nearly every variety of red and white grown in Virginia, from the sweetest Rieslings and tart Chardonnays, to the sharpest Merlots and Cabernets this side of the Mississippi River.

Wine festivals are hosted all over the state, as many as three hundred annually, with many state vineyards taking home national and international awards for their produce. Wine making has been a devoted practice in Virginia since the dawn of the early colonies; it is a tradition well-preserved in the thousands of bottles sold each year to wine enthusiasts. Not only is Virginia the first state to produce US presidents, it is the first to produce wine, and over the centuries the practice has aged as well as the vintages!

In Northern Virginia in particular, one doesn’t need to travel “sideways” to enjoy a pleasant winery tour. From Stafford County to the lip of the DC beltway one can over 30 wineries, many of which offer tours and tasting specials. As the majority of Virginia wineries are small, family-owned enterprises, it is strongly recommended to contact ahead of time for operating and tour hours. On occasion, some wineries may schedule events in conjunction with other local businesses – a quick internet search on Virginia wines and the Virginia Wine Association will lead you to a wealth of information to help you plan a fun wine tour. Once you’re on the road, look for the road signs bearing a purple cluster of grapes that indicate the directions to your destinations. You are more likely to find them off the beaten path, on state and local roads, rather than the interstates.

When you plan your next Virginia wine tour, be sure to take a few detours to the Northern Neck region near Stafford and King George Counties and Washington, DC. Here are a few popular picks which are certain to please the palate:

Hartwood Winery: Fredericksburg

This historic farm has been producing fine wine since ‘89! Hartwood Winery hosts many tastings and events throughout the year, allowing visitors to sample their crisp Chardonnays and Clarets.

Lost Creek Winery: Leesburg

Lost Creek offers unusual but delicious blends to savor, from apple and grape wines to late harvest wines made from high-sugar grapes.

Three Fox Vineyards: Delaplane

Three Fox specializes in Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, and Viognier vintages on their fifty-acre farm. Wine aficionados are also invited to subscribe to a special vintner’s circle, where one can “sponsor” vines and be trained in the winemaking process.

Linden Vineyards: Linden

For over twenty-five years, Linden has produced some of the finest Bordeaux wines in the Commonwealth. Tours and seminars on wine making and growing are hosted in the winter and summer, making Linden the perfect spot for an education as well as recreational stop on any Virginia wine tour.

If you enjoy what you taste at these and other Northern Virginia wineries, be sure to take a few bottles home with you, especially if you are out of state. Presently, Virginia wines are mainly available within Virginia, though the state has reciprocity agreements with thirteen states to allow the wine to be sold elsewhere in the country. Salud!

Happiness really does grow on trees. I saw it with my own eyes – in the form of the beautiful bounty of grapes growing on rows and rows of vines, ripe for the picking. That was but one of the highlights of our half day wine tour in Niagara on the Lake. And there was more!!

We began our drive down to NOTL (that’s what us cool “wine folk” call it) at 9am, planning to get there with plenty of time to spare for our 10:30am meeting time with our tour guide. The drive down was quite scenic – Lake Ontario and the rest of the scenery was really nice. The town itself was very quaint and charming, just like a postcard, with little shops (lots of them wine-themed) and flowers and everything was so clean.

We arrived at our meeting point, which was the info kiosk in the parking lot at Fort George, where strangely enough there was a re-enactment of the war of 1812 going on. We caught glimpses of it and it actually looked pretty cool – lots of guys in uniforms firing guns (firecrackers). The tour guide met up with us and informed us we were the only ones on the tour! So began our private tour in wine country.

Len (our tour guide) drove for a living for 30 years of his life and after a year of retirement and going nuts at home, he walked over to the wine tour place and asked if they needed any help. Sounds like a great job. It’s official – Chris and I are retiring in NOTL. You can come visit. Bring a glass.

Anyhow, our first stop was the “big” winery called Chateaux des Charmes, which has quite a large facility, mostly underground. We walked out in the vineyards, guided by Bob (another tour guide from the same company we were with, but he worked at the winery), then toured the facility and learned how wine was made, which was pretty cool.

Wine barrels at Chateau des Charmes, red on othe left and white on the right

Since Bob knew we were with Crush Tours, he kept checking in with us and were telling people where we were going on our next stop. We had followers. Then we went back outside for our course on how to taste wine: take a first sniff, then swirl, then take another sniff (you can really smell the difference after the swirling), take a sip to cleanse the palate, then take another “real” sip. It all made sense but I couldn’t help feeling a tad pretentious. It was great. We tried 3 wines (white, rosee, red – can’t remember what kind). Then we popped over to the wine boutique on site, and picked up a Sauvignon Gris, which I had never tried before. This winery is the only one that makes it in Canada (I believe), so that was worth the try.

View from where we had our wine tasting at Chateau des Charmes

We met back up with Len in the boutique and then we were off to the next stop: Ravine Winery. Anna Olson (food network host of Sugar and Fresh) has her restaurant/bakery adjacent to the winery so this stop was a tasting, followed by lunch at Anna’s. There’s that pretension again. Funny how that keeps creeping in. The tasting at Ravine was 3 wines: a chardonnay (“chard”), a merlot, and I can’t recall the other one. The merlot was fantastic so after lunch we swung by to pick up a bottle.

Chris and I having lunch at Ravine

Lunch was out on the patio sitting at wooden tables with mismatched wooden chairs, all very charming and rustic. While we were doing our tasting, Len went over to organize our table and stuff (i.e. would we like to sit in the sun?). Lunch was awesome (see pics in my photo album), paired with a glass of merlot. Ah bliss. and there was more!

My lunch at Anna Olson's. Delicious.

The third stop was at the Coyotes Run Winery where we had 4 tastings (a sanguine which was a rosee, a pinot noir, a shiraz and an ice wine). Good but none purchase-worthy. This was our least favourite stop. Still good, but the others were great.

The fourth and last stop was at Caroline Cellars – this was the most casual and fun (although this might be because of all the wine we had drunk thus far on the tour..hmm). We had the choice of 4 wines each or 8 and we share. To be honest, I can’t remember what we did. LOLOL I know we tried a bunch: boca (their most full-flavoured red), shiraz (their most full-bodied red), I tried a pinot-cherry which was quite nice for a novelty, and then compared a 2004 merlot (1 year older) and a 2005 merlot (prize winner) and the 2005 was better although it was younger. Then we ended with 2 ice wines (one white, one red), paired with 2 chocolates. omg. Heaven. We bought a bottle of the red ice wine.

We got back to the minivan (Chris walked, they had to roll me) and we drove back to Fort George. I must say that if anyone wants to take a wine tour, go with Crush Tours, choose the Sip & Savour tour and ask for Len. He was simply fantastic and thoughtful, helpful and really wanting to make our day special for our anniversary.

I had such a great time. The fresh air, the gorgeous scenery (everywhere you looked, there were vineyards, by the side of the road, rows after rows of vines and grapes)…the WINE! Just beautiful. We should have done this a long time ago and hope to make it a regular event.

Chateau des Charmes: http://www.chateaudescharmes.com/

Ravine: http://www.ravinevineyard.com/

Coyotes Run: http://www.coyotesrunwinery.com/

Caroline Cellars: http://www.carolinecellars.com/

Take a drive up the eastern bench above the Southern Okanagan wine Mecca of Oliver, B.C., and you’re sure to spot some wild horses among the sagebrush and arid, sloping hillsides.

You’re not seeing things. Turns out there have been free roaming horses in the Oliver area for a long, long time. On a recent drive through the area on a scorching hot summer’s afternoon in late August, we spotted a small band of horses by the side of the Mount Baldy access road.

It was a thin but healthy mare, two yearlings and a muscular, wary stallion, who each continued to graze by the side of the road when we slowed down to take some photos.

Entranced by their wild beauty, we slowly got out of the car, and walked as close as we dared. The stallion kept close watch, but didn’t budge from the shoulder of the opposite side of the road. The mare trotted a safe distance away, where she grazed on desert grasses for a few minutes, until her colts decided they were too nervous to stay with the stallion on the roadway and eventually joined her.

The origins of Oliver’s wild horses lie inside a blend of oral history, rumour and local aboriginal tradition. According to a March 25, 2009 article in the Oliver Chronicle, some say they’re feral horses whose ancestors were domesticated horses that escaped or were released into the wild. Others say they’re truly wild, and still others believe they’re privately owned.

The truth is probably a combination of all three. Whatever the origin story, today hundreds of wild horses are roaming around on Osoyoos indian reserve and Crown land in the area, and occasionally wandering onto private property in search of food, depending on the season. Current estimates suggest there are as many as 350 horses roaming on a 50,000 acre range.

According to rancher and band member Aaron Stelkia, wild horses used to roam throughout the region before European settlers arrived, the article continues.

“The Okanagan natives were horsemen,” he told the Chronicle. “After the Second World War, the government put a bounty on wild horses. People shot them and cut the horses’ ears off as proof.” Over the years, the First Nations people added stallions to improve the breed, he said. “They are wild horses by history, but now there’s probably very little of the wild horses left. Over the years, some [domestic] horses escaped, some were turned loose.”

Stelkia said his people used to catch wild horses, sell them for meat or bucking horses, and sell the best ones as saddle horses – until the market crashed three years ago.

“Now, wild horses aren’t worth catching anymore.” Sadly, some of the horses have trouble finding enough food over the winter, and become thin and unhealthy-looking, causing concern among local residents.

Ok a weird thing happens whenever I post a blog containing the word ‘whale’. Blog hit rates go through the roof.

The latest version of WordPress statistics confirms this.

Way more hits than any other term tagged amongst my occasional blogs. It occurs to me there are a lot of people out there interested in whales. More than I ever would have imagined. For comparison sake, the word ‘wine’ appears far more often in my blogs. Yet the hit rates on ‘whales’ is about 100 fold (maybe I should have started a whale touring business, not a wine touring business?).

I find this odd because there are a heck of a lot of wine appreciators out there. Just have a look at the number of wine Twitter’s! Apparently everyone’s a wine journo these days. Not so many whale tweets, bleeps or sonar pings by comparison.

So here goes …… lets blog two uselessly interesting facts. One about wine and one about whales. And I’ll tag the blog with a few well known varieties of whales ( Humpback, Southern Right, Sperm ) and wines ( Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir ).

Whale fact #1
The voice of the blue whale is one of the deepest voices on the planet. It is so powerful that it can travel 100 kilometres underwater.

Wine fact #2
Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.

Let’s see what happens. The result, other than producing utterly useless information, unlikely to be used in a Freakonomics reference, will likely only be interesting to me. I’ll update the result occasionally in this blog piece.

And anyone reading this who has come to me via my website www.margaretriverdiscovery.com.au and considering booking a tour with me, my message to you is don’t panic! I’m not a statistic counting nutbrain intent on boring with facts on figures while on tour. This is actually just a frivolous way of directing unintended traffic to my website and creating a stronger web presence with Google. Lateral web marketing.

And finally, let’s just hope the reference to ‘Sperm’ whales is not the highest ranking hit!

By Wink Lorch

Testing out the insider expert advice on Wine Travel Guides is definitely one of the perks of my job. As a wine educator, I used to advise my students that by choosing top producers from lesser-known wine appellations, they would find better value than choosing a nobody from the well-known appellations. It’s no different with a wine tour, so when we wanted a stop en route to visit my sister south of Tours, we checked out Jim Budd’s guide to the Central Vineyards of the Loire and planned our Saturday.

We’d both already visited Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire (home to Pouilly Fumé and arguably one of the most boring ‘famous wine villages’ in France!), so we decided on a short visit to one of the more obscure Central Vineyards appellations: Menetou-Salon, Quincy or Reuilly. We selected Menetou-Salon for the simple reason that we could link up a visit and tasting at a family-owned domaine with lunch at an interesting-sounding restaurant.

Pierre Jacolin of Le Prieuré de Saint Céols was initially reserved and somewhat preoccupied as during Saturday afternoon and Sunday that first weekend of August, the Menetou-Salon producers were holding ‘Caves Ouvertes’ (Open Cellars), meaning that for once, visitors are welcomed for tastings without needing appointments and often side-events are laid on. The only wine estate in the village of Saint Céols, set in an large old Benedictine priory linked to the famous Cluny monastery, the Jacolins had invited several local artisans to display and sell their crafts, arts and foods. Last minute preparations under the supervision of Pierre’s wife Christine were underway while we were tasting. As so often happens when tasting wines with a producer, as soon as he realized from our questions that we were genuinely interested, Pierre gave us plenty of information along with the wines to taste.

The Jacolins' house in St-Céols © Brett Jones

The Jacolin range consists of two whites (Sauvignon Blanc), a rosé and two reds from Pinot Noir. As everywhere in the Loire’s Central Vineyards area, the whites made up the majority production from the domaine at around 70%. The slightly more expensive wine named Cuvée des Bénédictins was aged for longer on the yeast lees and bottled later giving a much deeper flavour and ageing potential than the ‘basic’ fresh and zippy white. Both the rosé and the two reds (the better one again named Cuvée des Bénédictins and this time, spending time in oak barrels) had longer maceration on the skins than most producers in the area give their Pinots. This gave more structured wines calling out loudly for food. After tasting a few older vintages, which impressed us greatly, we were offered a taste of a very different kind of drink – a Crème de Cassis made from blackcurrants grown on their family farm, and Pierre urged us to taste it neat, without adding any white wine to make a Kir. It was absolutely the most concentrated blackcurrant flavour I’d ever encountered and I could imagine it would be delicious over vanilla ice cream – we bought a bottle to try another day.

C'heu l'Zib, Menetou-Salon ©Brett Jones

As always, tasting made me hungry, so I was ready for lunch when we arrived at the restaurant C’heu l’Zib (Chez l’Zib) in the middle of the nearby village of Menetou-Salon. Apart from the food itself, the whole experience at Chez l’Zib (C’heu is the dialect word) reminded me of eating in the Italian countryside, though I suspect that decades ago there may have been more restaurants like this in France too. The warm, rustic interior is full of wood (including the trestle-like tables and rather uncomfortable school-like chairs), with decorations hanging from the ceiling and every piece of wall or beam, an open fire for winter and a bar in the corner. There is a cosy family atmosphere with strangers often sharing tables. Although a menu of sorts is displayed outside, there is no menu handed to you and you are expected to eat the menu of the day, which will include some choices. From most tables, you can see into the busy kitchen at the end where several women of all ages and one lone man bustled away. The restaurant was full this Saturday lunchtime with a mixture of locals and (French) tourists in the know.

Everything about the food is homely, simple, seasonal, regional and delicious. I started with half a melon (served completely plain) and Brett had perfect, rustic pork terrine. He followed with a classic of the restaurant, locally caught pike served simply in a typical beurre blanc (cream, butter and wine) sauce. I had tow magnificent slices of veal shin cooked in wine. Carrots in butter and simple roasted potatoes were served on the side. After, a big bowl of green salad and a cheese plate including several of the local goats’ cheeses were passed from table to table and replenished as needed. Dessert focussed on slices (however big you wanted) of a rich chocolate charlotte and there was a bowl of stewed plumss and another of marinated grapes. Phew! I feel full just writing this and to think that one option was to choose both the fish course and the meat course! The wine choice is even simpler: red or white, Menetou-Salon of course, from whatever producer they have around. You can have a bottle, a half-bottle or a glass …

Bottle sculpture in Menetou-Salon © Jim Budd

Our meal for two with a half a bottle of white and a glass of red plus a couple of coffees came to just 78 Euros. We had a slow walk around the village, inspected some badly hail-damaged vines (sadly 2009, the year in which the appellation celebrates its 50th birthday, commemorated by a bottle sculpture, has not been kind to Menetou-Salon) and then ambled off to the local woods for a siesta. Thanks to Jim Budd for recommending these gems in one of his five Loire guides.

By the way, in case you’ve not yet noticed, Wine Travel Guides is currently offering subscriptions at half price – only till August 26th. That makes the Gold subscription with access to 50 guides only £24.50 (approximately $42 or €30).

C’heu L’Zib, 2 Route des Aix d’Angillon, 18510 Menetou Salon
Tel: +33 (0)2 48 64 81 20 (No email, no website).
Open lunchtimes except Wednesdays. Dinner by reservation only except Wednesdays and Sundays.

Wine and Food on the Tuscany Umbria Border

As I host a popular Winery Tour and tasting with dinner at the Gritti vineyard on the Tuscany Umbria border, I was interested to try a special evening of Italian Wines matched with food at Calagrana, a superb restaurant close to where we live in the Niccone Valley. This was the second wine evening they have hosted and they continue throughout Thursdays in August. The wines were chosen by our friend Marco Carlini, an architect and wine lover, and matched with food cooked by Alberto Chiappa, Calagrana’s chef and owner. The restaurant was full and we enjoyed the good company. Incidentally, have a look at Marco Carlini’s website if you need an architect on the Tuscany Umbria border. Marco Carlini: Tuscany Umbria Architect

Starter

The delicious starter of spicy panfried prawns and cannellini beans was accompanied by a white wine which is a Soave in all but name, San Vincenzo 2008, produced by Roberto Anselmi.

Spicy Pan Fried Prawns & Cannelini Beans, Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria Border

Many quality producers choose to label their wines under the Veneto IGT because the name Soave has become associated with mass produced quaffing wine.

San Vincenzo 2008, Anselmi, at Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria

Made from 80% Gargenga , 15% Chardonnay,  and 5% Trebbiano di Soave, the tasting notes said that the wine has scents of apple, lemon, hawthorn. For me, pears were the predominant fruit aroma, it was a pleasant well rounded wine, quite low in acidity for a white.

Primi

The next course was a Calagrana speciality, beetroot filled ravioli with butter and sage topped with poppy seeds and smoked ricotta. This was accompanied by a Pinot Bianco, Sirmian 2008, produced by Nals Margreid in the Alto Adige.

Beetroot Ravioli, Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria Border

The tasting notes talked of apple, citrus and pinapple aromas.

Pinot Bianco Sirmian 2007, Served at Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria Border

I definitely got the apple and pineapple, this was a good wine, I agreed with the tasting notes which said… “full and elegant, mineral and sapid (agreeable savoury flavour in case you’re wondering), balanced with the right acidity. Persistent finish.

Secondi

Next, it was on to the main course, lamb chops in a mustard and herb crust served with mashed potato.

Lamb Chops, Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria Border

This was accompanied by a superb red wine that I had tried with Marco at the Syrah Wine Bar in Citta di Castello; a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Marina Cvetic, 2005, produced by Masciarelli.

Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Marina Cvetic 2005

The tasting notes state that the aromas are intense, complex, full. Scents of ripe red berries, vanilla, tobacco and spices, liquorice. By this point I was losing my ability to concentrate properly, but I do remember the intense red fruit aromas! The wine was concentrated in flavour, nicely balanced, with noticeable but pleasant tannin and relatively low acidity. This one was so good our table ordered another bottle!

Dessert

Finally it was time for dessert, a selection of tasty biscotti served with a sweet passito wine, I Capitelli 2006, like the first wine, it was produced by Roberto Anselmi in the Veneto.

I Capitelli 2006, dessert wine served at Calagrana, Tuscany Umbria Border

Passito is the technique of air drying grapes to concentrate the sugars, it’s quite common in Italy but unusual in other countries. The wine smelled of orange marmalade and ripe melon. I’m not generally a sweet wine drinker and I can’t say this one did much for me, however, Marco’s notes described this one as creamy textured and elegantly fruity with admirable finesse, complexity and a long mineral finish.

Without extra wine, the evening cost €40 a head.

To book at Calagrana, telephone 0039 075 941 0865

Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Agritourism

You can eat at Calagrana when you holiday on the Tuscany Umbria border. Gorgacce Rentals have a selection of self catering holiday accommodation in this beautiful part of central Italy, visit their web site tuscanyumbria.com for Large Tuscany Villas, Small Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Farmhouses, Tuscany Agritourism and Tuscany Bed and Breakfast apartments, all with swimming pools. Whether you are looking for a Luxury Tuscany Villa or budget Tuscany Agritourism Apartments you will find suitable accommodation for your holiday in Tuscany and Umbria.

Gorgacce Rentals: Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Agritourism

The French word terroir describes the combination of site, soil, sun, climate and farming techniques and the resulting character they create for a vineyard and its grapes.   On a recent trip to the Tuscany region of Italy, I felt a great example of how the these elements come together to produce wines that are magical.  Brunellos of Montalcino, Chianti Classico and the wines of Montepulciano all reflect distinctive and engaging wines from their landscapes and vineyards.

It’s also interesting that the word terroir can also be loosely translated as “a sense of place”.  This is a great description of what you feel when you experience Tuscany.  On a wine tour with my good friends David Jackson and Kathy Troidle of Ripertoli Wine Adventures (www.ripertoliadventures.com) I soaked in all that Tuscany has to offer.  I learned that not only are the wines special and unique, but that the people of Tuscany find great celebration in the unions created between food AND wine of the region.  And they are such an integral part of life there, it becomes essential parts of the culture.  You taste it in the wines and food. You feel it as you travel small roads through villages and past a multitude of vineyards and olive groves.  A sense of place.

We had the great fortune to spend time at several wineries, but one in particular stands out.  Castello di Querceto is a special place in Greve in Chianti. Querceto, which refers to “the small forest of oak” it resides in, is a quintessential Tuscan winery – home not only to vineyards and winery, but also home to the family who has been making wine in the region for decades.

Our tour guide was Marcello, a gracious man and son-in law of Alessandro Francois, head of the family and the winery.  The Francois family which has been in Querceto since 1897, on land along the Via Cassia Imperiale, built by the Romans in 123AC.  As we toured the grounds, their XVI century castle and home, the vineyards and wine production facilities and the richly historic wine caves, I couldn’t help but feel the passion he and many other winemakers have for  their product.  But more than the product, the wines reflected their lives – their history, their love of land and life.  The kitchen staff produced truly beautiful food – elegant on its own, but simply special with their wines.  As one of our other hosts along the trip explained, “the act of sharing wine and food with friends and family is what life is”.  Indeed.

A version of this experience played out in the many wineries and restaurants David and Kathy introduced us to across the Tuscan countryside.  Their Tuscan wine tour is special in its way of creating a deep connection of  newcomers with the Tuscany they love. They do it by focusing on key elements of experience design: finding special elements in a product or place.  Creating a context where people are active in their engagement and exploration and crafting a deeper, more powerful experience for themselves.  It helps to have a rich pallete to draw from in a special place.

Tuscany. A passionate people. A sense of history. A sense of union between a land and its people, reflected richly in its food and wine.  A sense of place.  Terroir.

This very elegant tour was built around an 11:00 am appointment at the Jordan Winery in Alexander Valley, with a starting point in downtown Sonoma. We left the Plaza at 9:00 am and headed up valley by way of Arnold avenue (to avoid the endless construction on route 12 in Boyes Hot Springs) and cut back to route 12 over Madrone Rd. After enjoying a beautiful ride up the Valley of the Moon we continued straight on 4th street, taking a right on College and taking that to the Hwy 101 North entrance. We exited at the downtown Healdsburg exit and took a little turn around the plaza, before heading north on Healdsburg avenue, turning right on Alexander Valley road. We passed Jordan since we were early and continued south on Route 128 south along the Alexander Valley to the Hanna Winery.

This has always been a favorite of mine, due to its great location and views, beautifully charming architecture, and wonderful wines. It was originally a recommendation from my friend and fellow wine tour guide Nick Rosnov from Beau tours and Hanna has always done a great job for my clients. Great Cabernets.

Half an hour later we were heading to Jordan, it helps to be early to their appointments. I found the changes that they’ve made to their reception area very enjoyable, and a nice place for people to spend a few minutes while the other guests for the tour assemble. Jordan is not an inexpensive tasting, and it’s a bit of a ride, but well worth the effort. It reminds you of visiting a French chateau, and the wines are world class. The tour and tasting takes an hour and a half and while I waited for my clients I had enough time to go over the Alexander Valley road to the great Jimtown Store and get a double espresso and a fantastic carrot muffin. I also bought a back scratcher for Lahni.

After two wineries my clients needed to eat so we back tracked to Healdsburg avenue, went north to Lytton Springs road, and took that west over to the Dry Creek Valley. There we turned right to the Dry Creek General store where we picked some great sandwiches. From there we crossed over the Lambert Bridge to West Dry Creek road and headed south the Lambert Bridge winery. They have some of the nicest picnic areas anyplace. My clients did a tasting there, and part of my plan in picking Lambert Bridge is I know how spectacular their wines are, and they could stand up following a tasting at a heavy hitter like Jordan.

The next stop was obligatory but it didn’t really fit in with the rest of the tour, Ferrari Carano at the top of the Dry Creek Road. The best way to get there is to back track over the Lambert Bridge and go up Dry Creek. That’s because the West Dry Creek road North of Lambert Bridge is very winding. My clients loved the gardens but felt that the winery was a little too commercial, which it is in comparison to the other gems they were visiting that day. But this way they could tell friends who asked that had in fact visited FC. We headed back south and turned left on Canyon road and took that to the entrance to Highway 101 South.

Now we were heading to the Russian River Valley. We exited at Fulton and bore to the right pass Kendall Jackson, and then turned right on River Road, and in a couple of miles turned left on Olivet road. Even though we were passing great wineries like Martinelli, Hook and Ladder, Sunce and DeLoach, we continued to Guerneville Road, turned right and then left on Frei road. The Lymar Estate is the left hand side and it is a gem of a winery tucked in a beautiful hollow. The tasting is outside on the patio surrounded by beautiful gardens. The Pinot Noirs are the best and the experience fit in beautifully with the rest of these great wineries. I could tell my clients had a great day.

This is kind of tour you want someone to drive you on. We’re happy to do it, just book us well in advance if you can. www.AmicisTours.com

The middle of June marked our first major vacation together, for Anthony and myself.   My Kahana Falls timeshare was available this year in Maui,  so we wanted to see how we could do the island for a week as a loving couple.   Plus the company that Anthony works for needed him to train salespeople; he was also offered a job on Maui.  I must admit, I was a little scared that our first major vacation together as a couple also ended up as a decision to move over there too.  I knew it was going to be interesting.

As we got in late Sunday morning we got up to walk the beach holding hands. We walked the shore until we got to a farmers market where we bought the best organic corn on the cob.  Anthony and I ended up eating two ears each!

We got snorkel masks and went to Black Rock and spent the rest of the day at the beach.  Anthony had business for the resort he works for Tuesday morning in Ka’anapali.  When he was done with his training, he and I had lunch at Bubba Gump’s restaurant and then walked the shops on Front Street.  We drove toward Io valley and ended up at the botanic gardens.  We had the whole tropical wonderland to our selves.  We ended up having dinner in Whaler Village where we walked hand in hand on the beach at sunset.

Anthony and I spent the next day driving to the top of Haleakala where we went hiking.  We had fun hiking and taking pictures of the volcanic landscapes. I was surprised how easy it was to hike into the crater, but harder due to sudden altitude changes to leave.

The next day we planned for a guided bus tour to Hana. We had a delightful guide that was very knowledgeable in Hawaiian studies and a native to Maui and raised in Hana. The jungle coast line scenery was breathtaking. We came across a black sand beach, and several waterfalls. We arrived in Hana around noon time where we bought organic tomatoes and had a chicken lunch listening to a lady play Hawaiian music. Then we continued way beyond a standard road and traveled the back roads through cattle ranches with historic views of the ocean and Haleakala. We ended up at a winery where we tasted pineapple wine. All in all, Anthony and I where grateful that we had the time to relax together after our righteous hike the previous day.

The last day for us was a morning boat tour to Turtle Town with snorkeling. It was very nice to get out to sea! Anthony and I got to see the islands from the water. That night Anthony took me to the Hyatt Luau where we waited in line to get in. I had done it before, but not with Anthony. So we wore matching Aloha shirts that we bought together at Wal-Mart on Maui. It was a special night with Hawaiian drinks and food plus island entertainment. Anthony and myself had such a nice evening we became even closer in our relationship. It was an amazing last night to our very special vacation.

The next day we enjoyed the waterfall pool where I own at Kahana Falls. We then checked out to head toward the airport to leave for home. We spend our last hours visiting the Maui Ocean center aquarium.

For the very reason I tell all my clients to take vacations, Anthony and myself had many special moments. We experienced a week together 24/7. We made it through as lovers and friends. In other words, we had the time of our lives….

Dinner at the Gritti Restaurant, Molino Vitelli, Tuscany Umbria Border

Last night we had dinner at the Gritti Restaurant in the Niccone Valley. The Gritti Restaurant is in the hamlet of Molino Vitelli, close to the Tuscany Umbria border. It is attached to the  vineyard and you can buy Gritti wines there. On Tuesday nights I run a popular winery tour there but we last night we simply went for a meal.

Pearl Barley Salad, Gritti Restaurant, Tuscany Umbria Border

We started with a delicious salad made with pearl barley and finely chopped vegetables and a beef carpaccio, thinly sliced raw beef covered in parmesan and thinly sliced summer truffles.

Beef Carpaccio, Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border.

For primi we asked for two half portions of strangozzi (thick stringy pasta) with a fresh tomato sauce.

Strangozzi in Fresh Tomato Sauce. Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border

For secondi I had a kebab of grilled liver with spinach and Emma had  beef scaloppine al Milanese.

Liver Kebab With Spinach. Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border

Beef Scaloppine. Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border

We finished with a fruit salad (known as a macedonia in Italy) and a pannacotta.

Fruit Salad (Macedonia). Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border.

Pannacotta With Strawberries. Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border

We drank a bottle of the vineyard’s 2006 Pinot Noir, this fragrant wine, low in tannin, was perfect for a hot summer evening.

Pinot Noir 2006, Gritti Restaurant, Niccone Valley, Tuscany Umbria Border.

To book at the Gritti Restaurant telephone: + 39 075 941 0798

Tuscany Villa Rentals, Umbria Villa Rentals

The Gritti Vineyard and Restaurant are close to Gorgacce Rentals‘ self catering Villas, Farmhouses & Apartments on the Tuscany Umbria border. Gorgacce Rentals have accommodation to suit every budget from Luxury Tuscany Villas to Cheap Tuscany Villas. Tuscany Villa Rental, Umbria Villa Rental Gorgacce Rentals.

First things first:

Sorry about the delay of blog entries, things have been quite hectic on this side of the Atlantic. From where I left off, I had just heard that my parents were coming to visit. Yes, those responsible for my existence made the trek through the United States and across the ocean to see where I’ve been spending all my time these days. You may remember that I have a couple of Uncles in South Africa, so that proved to peak their interest in visiting even more. By now though, they’ve come and gone. In short, they has a crash course in Cape Town. The journey passed through Table Mountain, Nelson Mandela’s prison cell on Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa’s beautiful winelands, restaurants of all influence, and a steady flow of music. The best part of the visit for me was being able to show my parents the life I’ve had here for the last 5 months. They met some of my close friends here and we went to dinner at some of my favorites. Also, introducing them to the music scene I’ve immersed myself in was so amazing.

Even though I know that the live jazz I’ve been loving here is really dope, there’s nothing like having my parents reinforce that belief. Venturing to Cafe Sofia for live jazz and Asoka for some funk infusion proved to be a really great time. Also, the fact that many of the jazz musicians in Cape Town are fairly young (between 20-30) is one of those things that gives a fan of the genre hope for the future.

It was ultimately music, food, sightseeing, and good weather that helped for my parents to make their mark on Cape Town. Hopefully, Cape Town made an equally impressive mark. Family Reunion in Cape Town??

Peace and then some,

Naima

Congrats Lisa and Stephen!!! They celebrated their special day in the beautiful Napa Valley amongst their closest friends and family over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. I was lucky enough to join them to help them prepare for the big day. We had beautiful and moderate temperatures, compared to the 90+ degrees just a couple of weeks earlier. Lisa was a glowing bride and Stephen was a happy groom, ready to start off their fun filled weekend.

I absolutely love the Napa and Sonoma valleys. I love wine and great food, and I find Napa to be like my second home. I am so glad that I was able to work with this awesome couple in one of my favorite places of all time. 

I got these great photos from Richard Wood Photography. He is one of the most sought after photographers in the Napa area. It was so nice to work with him and I hope to see him again at future weddings!!

The Holy Family Church was such a lovely Catholic mission. The church was intimate and had tons of history within its walls. Can you imagine how many marriages and special celebrations have been witnessed here? It was truly a magical place and a perfect setting to get married amongst the Napa wineries. The church even had their own vineyard growing in the back. 

My favorite details were the wish tree, the special guest photos, the wine bottle guest sign in, and all of the beautiful flowers. I loved the fountain, it looked so romantic with the flowers drifting around in the water.

The bride also incorporated the wine theme in her table names; calling them Cakebread, Rubicon, Silver Oak, etc. She found these really cute wine glass place card holders that we used for the table name cards. 

Her color scheme was gold, green, champagne, and pale pink. She wanted to balance off the natural setting you find in Napa.

More importantly, the couple wanted to ensure that their friends and family, who flew from all parts of the world would enjoy their time in California. They even hosted a wine tour for their guests the next day. We were also able to help Lisa and Stephen plan this fun day out.

The backdrop of the Napa Valley at sunset was breathtaking. I know that Lisa and Stephen will remember this special day for a lifetime. They are a super couple and I wish them nothing but happiness together! Congrats!!!

Contact us for your Napa wedding needs: info @ typeaplanning.com

By Wink Lorch with photos by Brett Jones

On our recent wine tour in Trentino in north-east Italy we had the chance to visit the cellars of the famous Metodo Classico sparkling wine producer Ferrari. After a cellar tour and a rather special tasting of their wines, we were given not only a guided tour of an extraordinary 16th century villa owned by the Lunelli family, owners of Ferrari spumante, but also the chance to eat at their fine dining restaurant in the hills. Certainly we felt like we were in the fast lane of life in Italy.

Ferrari spumante was founded in the city of Trento by Giulio Ferrari in 1902. His family owned vineyards and he had been trained in wine production at the local prestigious San Michele all’Adige agricultural school and later in Montpellier, France and Geisenheim, Germany. He also spent some time in Epernay, Champagne and thought that Chardonnay would be ideal to grow on the high altitude limestone hills of his home area in Trentino, so he smuggled in some vines.

From the start Giulio Ferrari aimed to make high quality spumante using the Champagne method, today known in Italy as Metodo Classico. Until the 1950s production remained highly limited (less than 10,000 bottles a year) and much in demand all over Italy, but with no successors Giulio finally sold the company to Bruno Lunelli, who ran a successful wine shop in Trento and had long been an admirer of Ferrari Spumante. Giulio continued to work in the firm until his death in 1965 aged 86. The biggest change Bruno Lunelli made was to increase production to create a viable business and the company has never looked back. Today Ferrari spumante remains owned and run by the Lunelli family and produces nearly 5 million bottles of Metodo Classico sparkling wine.

The current offices and three hectares of cellars are on the outskirts of Trento and are open to visitors. The reception area is quite sumptuous with a wonderful display of pop art-decorated Ferrari bottles and a shop where you can buy period posters and other related artefacts as well as the wines of course. If you’ve never visited a Champagne house then the visit through the cellars is well worth it – it’s usually available with an English guide if you are prepared to wait a little while, though always better to make an appointment.

All the sparkling wines under the Ferrari label are Trentodoc – the name developed for Metodo Classico wines from the Trento D.O.C. and Chardonnay is the dominant grape variety. We tasted their excellent non-vintage 100% Chardonnay Maximum Brut which has three years on yeast before disgorgement alongside its rosé partner from a blend of 70% Pinot Noir base wine made as rosé with 30% Chardonnay. Both had lovely freshness and delicacy with the rosé ideal for food as was proved later that day. The Perlé vintage 2004 (again 100% Chardonnay) was a tremendous wine with elegance joined by roundness and real length. As we were part of a group of British wine educators, we were honoured to be given a taste of the latest vintage of their single vineyard Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore 1999 produced in very small quantities only in good years: it was mature, spicy and sumptuous – and has been described as “one of the four wines that have changed the story of Italian wines.”

Joining us to taste the Giulio Ferrari was Franco Lunelli, one of Bruno’s sons. Marcello Lunelli the oenologist commented “my uncle always turns up when we open this wine”, but Signor Franco Lunelli, now in his 70s worked hard for his share. He was our knowledgeable guide around the extraordinary Villa Margon owned by the family and set in parkland in the hills a few kilometres above the winery. The situation and the collection of buildings including an 18th century chapel are simply beautiful in themselves, but it is the actual villa and the art that it contains that is the highlight of a visit here. It was built in 1540 by the Basso family, who had purchased the land from the Bishop of Trento. The villa became a summer retreat for prestigious guests travelling through Europe, including cardinals and other church dignitaries, and it is believed that Emperor Charles V was a guest too.

Between 1540 and 1560 artists were invited to the villa from Belgium and from Venice to paint frescoes on the walls and these have never been restored. All the rooms of the villa are adorned with these allegorical and historical frescoes, which remain in amazingly perfect condition with colours so bright that experts continue to debate what materials must have been used to paint them nearly 500 years ago. The frescoes in one room illustrate the battles in which Charles V was involved; in another they are devoted to bible stories from the Old Testament and a further room has stories from the New Testament. My favourite room had 12 frescoes each representing the typical activities occurring in one month of the year. At least three were wine related with March showing the pruning, August preparing the barrels for the new harvest and September illustrating the harvest itself. Two months that amused me were January showing the men playing cards whilst the women work in the kitchen and December which was the shopping month – prospecting for wood amongst other purchases. For further insight, check out this recent visitor’s blog post.

Close by on another side of the hill the Lunelli family have opened a restaurant Locanda Margon, which now has one Michelin star. In a beautiful setting above the Adige valley, but only a few kilometres from Trento, it would make a fantastic summer evening’s excursion and the food we experienced was high class country food, beautifully served.

Over lunch, Matteo Lunelli, another family member working in the company explained something that had intrigued me, namely whether there was any relationship between Cantine Ferrari spumante and Ferrari Maranello, the car company. Matteo told us that that Ferrari was, along with Rossi, one of the most common names in Italy – the equivalent of Smith or Jones, so it was crucial for both companies to protect the use of the name commercially. The two companies are good friends and Matteo explained that they were “two expressions of luxury lifestyle”. Some years ago they came to an agreement giving Cantine Ferrari the exclusivity of the name for the world of drinks while Ferrari Maranello has the exclusivity for all other products. When Ferrari wins at a Grand Prix race, the team always celebrate with Ferrari spumante.

A perfect wine tour day should include all these things: interesting cellar visit, great wines, a superb meal, good views and some sort of cultural experience. Thanks to Ferrari you can get these all, close to a major city too.

Contact Ferrari via their website to arrange a visit to the cellar or to Villa Margon. Villa Margon is open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, plus a few special opening days.

Today I went with Patrick from the Enoteca Wine Club in Umbertide to visit the Cantina Roccafiore near the town of Todi in Umbria. Cantina Roccafiore was having an open day for those in the wine trade and Patrick took me along. The winery is only three years old although the first  vineyards were planted in the late 1990’s. The 11 hectare vineyards and winery are part of a larger 90 hectare estate, the farm has nearly a thousand olive trees, free range Cinta Senese pigs and arable crops, all their produce including the wine, is grown organically. The red grapes grown are Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Sagrantino and Merlot along with the white varieties Grechetto, Trebbiano and Moscato.

The Vineyards at Cantina Roccafiore, near Todi, Umbria

The visit started with a quick tour of the farm in a landrover driven by Luca Baccarelli, the estate manager.

Stainless Steel Fermentation Vats, Cantina Roccafiore, Todi, Umbria

Afterwards we had a look around the impressive modern cantina with temperature controlled stainless steel fermentation vats. For ageing the wine they have the choice of French oak barriques and larger Slovenian oak barrels.  

Tasting the Wines at Catina Roccafiore, Todi, Umbria

Afterwards we tried the wines, starting with the whites.

The fist was Fiordaliso IGT Umbria 2008, Cantina Roccafiore, 12.5%abv. A blend of 70% Grechetto and 30% Trebbiano

Fiordaliso An Excellent White Wine, Cantina Roccafiore Todi Umbria

There were no notes on the bottle but the leaflet that I picked up described this wine as a happy union of two Umbrian grapes, Grechetto di Todi and Trebbiano Spoletino, harvested and vinified separately. The grapes are harvested at perfect maturity, softly pressed, the temperature controlled fermentation takes place in stainless steel. This results in a straw yellow wine with gold reflections in the light, on the nose it has a wide range of aromas, white flowers with notes of pink grapefruit and green apple. In the mouth it’s fresh with a pleasant freshness supported by a good minerality and persistent taste. Goes well with antipasti and pasta dishes.

On the nose this wine was very floral and fruity with an intense bouquet comprising lycees, pineapple, banana and camomile flowers. It the mouth it had a good acidity and a good fruity finish. Verdict: I really liked this wine, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it appearing in Patrick’s Enoteca.

The next wine was Fiorfiore IGT Umbria 2007, Cantina Roccafiore, abv 13.5%. Made with 100% Grechetto grapes.

Fiorfiore, 100% Grechetto, Cantina Roccafiore, Todi, Umbria, Italy

The label tells you that this is a unique wine made from Grechetto grapes. It expresses the flavour of Umbria but also reflects the influence of the winemaker Hartman Dona, from the Alto Adige. A year in large oak barrels results in a complex, full bodied and elegant wine with an evident personality and balance.

The colour was a much deeper yellow than the previous white wine. On the nose this lacked the intensity of the first wine and had a slightly fruity bouquet. In the mouth it had a pleasant bitter almond flavour typical of a Grechetto. The low acidity means that it is a good drink on it’s own but may not stand up well to robust dishes. Verdict: a pleasant wine, whether I would buy it or not would depend on the price.

Then we moved on to the red wines, the first was Rosso Melograno, Umbria IGT Rosso 2007, Cantina Roccafiore Made from Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Merlot.

Rosso Melograno, Cantina Roccafiore, Todi, Umbria, Italy

There was no information on the label but the leaflet describes this wine as combining typical Sangiovese characteristics with the aristocracy of Merlot and the authenticity of Montepulciano. Harvesting and vinification of the different grapes is carried out separately, the temperature controlled fermentation is carried out in stainless steel vats. After bottling it stays in the bottle for 6 months before release. The wine is brilliant ruby red in colour, the aromas are of fruits of the forest, herbacious notes and mature plums. In the mouth it is pleasant and inviting with a good acidity and soft tannins. Goes well with cold meats, pasta and cheese.

On the nose it wasn’t hugely intense, but the aromas were good quality: plums and black currants under alcohol. In the mouth it was soft with low tannins and a quick finish. Verdict: An easy drinking wine, purchasing would depend very much on the price.

The next red was the Rosso Roccafiore Sangiovese 2006. Cantina Roccafiore 13.5%abv

Rosso Roccafiore, Cantina Roccafiore, Todi, Umbria, Italy

No information on the label but the leaflet states that the wine is made from Sangiovese grapes harvested in the first 10 days of October. Fermented in stainless steel with strict temperature control, the wine is then aged for 12 months in large Slovenian oak barrels. The colour is ruby red with an intense impact on the nose, mature plums, small red fruits, tobacco and liquorice. It has a good structure, class and elegance. Good with red meats and cheeses.

On the nose I could smell blackcurrants and plums under alcohol. It was nicely balanced in the mouth with soft tannins and was good with the cheese and salami we had to try.

We also tried the 2005, it had a more intense aroma of plums under alcohol, more decisive tannin and a longer finish.

Verdict: The 2005 was the better wine, but both were good. I would have to know the price if I was to recommend buying them. 

Todi and the Cantina Roccafiore are within an hour’s drive of  Gorgacce Rentals’ villas, farmhouses and apartments on the Tuscany Umbria border: Gorgacce Rentals, Tuscany Villas, Umbria Villas