Wine

If wine tasting was an Olympic sport, I’d win gold. Seriously. I have this sport down to a science. I’ve done a number of wine tasting trips from Napa to Italy and I’ve learned a few things along the way. The key is having a plan and pacing yourself. Whether you’re new to wine tasting or an experienced oenophile, here are 10 tips to get the most out of your trip and really learn how …

Yeah, it’s no surprise by now that I like to drink wine, but in all honesty, I’d rather be exploring wine regions than actually imbibing. There’s one thing all wine regions have in common – beauty. But whether it’s Napa, Tuscany, Bordeaux, or lesser known regions, like Monferrato in the Northwest corner of Italy’s Piemonte region, each has a very unique terroir and approach to wine.  lies Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, a bucolic area known for …

As a grad student at Stanford in 1989, Argentinean Santiago Achaval discovered a passion that many college students experience – wine. And not just wines, fine wines. Weekend road trips to Napa and Sonoma bested his academic studies. Returning to his career in accounting in Argentina, he could not leave behind the thoughts of those exquisite wines he had tasted in California. Something in him told him that Argentina, with her soil composition and climate, …

Last fall, I convinced my husband that he really needed to experience all of the beauty that Umbria, the lush, scenic region that borders Tuscany,  had to offer — including the picturesque rolling vineyards and incredible wine tasting experiences. I had traveled throughout the region when we lived in Italy, but he had never seen the true Italian countryside. So we set off to tour a few wineries in the region and received the VIP …

Spain is one of the European countries I have not spent much time in but it’s pretty high up on my list of places that I need to get to know better. I developed an affinity for Spanish wines, primarily Tempranillo, on a trip to Madrid. And I’ve made it my mission to learn more about them.  I love talking to winemakers, mainly because I believe they express their personalities through the wines they produce. …

I love wine and I love to travel. So what could be better than combining the two with wine tasting in Tuscany and Umbria? Just like culinary travel and adventure travel, wine travel is gaining popularity. Wine travel offers enthusiasts the opportunity to truly experience the wine production process, and if you travel at the right time of year, to actually be part of harvest and production. As a former Italian expat, I was excited …