Our latest Video AdVINEture features a sneak peek of our recent trip to Oregon! After a night in Portland we headed to the Willamette Valley to interview Doug Tunnel of Brick House Vineyards and Wayne Bailey of Youngberg Hill Vineyards & Inn. We also experienced the provisions tasting at Soter Wines and stopped into Sokol Blosser for a tasting. Fall is our favourite time to visit any wine region and with harvest just completed, there was lots of activity and lots of optimism about the 2018 vintage. We are big fans of the wine coming out of Oregon and this latest trip solidified that the Willamette Valley truly deserved to be named Wine Region of the Year (Wine Enthusiast 2016)!
As we have written here before, The Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Washington is one of the greatest restaurants, anywhere. More than a meal, it is an experience. Perhaps their crowning achievement of all their different experiences or menus is their 100-Mile Dinner. At this prix fixe dinner of 11 different courses, each paired with an appropriate beverage, every molecule was sourced from within 100 miles of their restaurant! This is by no means an easy feat. Notwithstanding that self-imposed limitation, this meal was every bit as good as all the meals we have enjoyed at The Herbfarm.
We toured Chateau La Couspaude (more commonly referred to simply as “Couspaude”) and tasted with members of the owners’ family as a part of a tour from Bordeaux to Rioja with Iberian Wine Tours. Couspaude is a Grand Cru Classé from the St. Emilion appellation in Bordeaux’ Right Bank. We toured their 200 year old winery, a gorgeous and authentic stone building, and the perfect place to learn all about a winery that is rich in history.
Champagne is the ultimate celebratory drink, the drink of toasts, of special occasions and in our book, one of the finest wines around. But ask most people how those bubbles got in their glass or what their favourite region of Champagne is and you are likely to see blank faces staring back at you. Learning the fundamentals of Champagne is not as daunting as you might think. We have broken this wine down into 5 basics that are easy enough to remember and give you a good overview of the wine.
Just over two years ago, a museum dedicated to wine opened amid much fanfare in Bordeaux, France. La Cité du Vin is housed in an ultra-modern building that is a glaring contrast to its historical backdrop of one of the most famous wine regions in the world. Designed to conjure up the image of wine swirling in a glass, the building itself stands out while drawing you in, immediately making a statement that this is no ordinary museum.
For the second installment of our Wine High Club, we are reviewing Air France, partner of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, who we featured in the first article of the series. Together these two airlines make up one of the world’s largest carriers in terms of both revenue and passengers. You would think that being partners would mean similar offerings when it comes to food and wine, but we were delighted to discover they have each stayed true to their regions and celebrate what makes them undeniably unique.
We’ve said it before and we stand by the statement that the best travel experiences are never the ones that are planned. There’s no question iconic sites are important for a reason, but usually the most memorable moments are the ones that are unexpected. Case in point, we recently travelled from Bordeaux to Rioja with Iberian Wine Tours, and despite incredible visits that included Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Pichon Baron, San Sebastian, and Roda, we still reminisce about our most unique wine tasting to date: our visit with Javier Guzmán Aldazabal.
We enjoyed a spectacular lunch and tasting at this top Bordeaux estate as a part of the Iberian Wine Tours Bordeaux and Rioja Tour. As we pulled up to the Estate, we knew we were in for something extraordinary. The curving cement walls flanking the gates with vines growing up them spoke of class and regality. As we entered the estate we looked across an expanse of perfectly manicured lawn to the site of the Chateau itself: with its two round turrets, steep-pitched roofs, symmetrically spaced windows and reflection pond, it is the archetype of the French Chateau.
We toured Chateau La Couspaude (more commonly referred to simply as “Couspaude”) and tasted with members of the owners’ family as a part of a tour from 
Champagne is the ultimate celebratory drink, the drink of toasts, of special occasions and in our book, one of the finest wines around. But ask most people how those bubbles got in their glass or what their favourite region of Champagne is and you are likely to see blank faces staring back at you. Learning the fundamentals of Champagne is not as daunting as you might think. We have broken this wine down into 5 basics that are easy enough to remember and give you a good overview of the wine.
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