I’m currently, and luckily, on a Wines Of Chile tour of the country’s many regions and wineries.  I’m going to try and pop in with a few notes here and there, WiFi allowing, to pass on some of my experiences.  You can look forward to a round-up piece when I return the weekend of May [...]

Fake sheepskin not included…
I’m taking the train (and bus) from Portland to the motherland and have been gaining bottles here and there along the way. I’ve never had to deal with Canada Customs with more than my generous 2-bottle duty-free limit, yet I’m fully aware of the possibility that I may have to pay 117% [...]

-I can confidently say that Portland is one of my all-time favourite cities. It offers an ‘in between’ pace of life that I could get used to. This time I was able to spend most of a day exploring a wine region that I’ve been dying to get to - the Willamette Valley. In this [...]

Thanks to a very capable tour guide, I was able to visit a few coveted wineries in the beautiful Russian River Valley, a sub-AVA of Sonoma County - Copain, Rochioli, and DuMOL. It was a serious departure from my earlier impromptu Napa visit and included tastes of wines that are strictly offered via allocation to [...]

Why does packing always seem so much easier in my head? What begins as a rosy image of a few t-shirts and a couple books swimming around in my bag, materializes with over stuffing and gambling with weight restrictions.

My Olympic cheering uniform. This is not an official sweater, but rather one my mom made for [...]

Grape vines flying by…
We found ourselves with a free day earlier in the week and after grabbing a Zipcar, embarked on a rainy drive through Sonoma and Carneros and into Napa on the lookout for a few wineries to drop in at.
Benziger
The Benziger property is gorgeous; It’s also a biodynamic theme park. After achieving [...]

You may or may not already know this, but I’ve taken up temporary residence a little further south of Vancouver in San Francisco. Yes, despite the fact that on more than one occasion I’ve drunkenly proclaimed “East Van til I die!” I’ve left the fair city of Vancouver. Kurtis and I will both still be [...]

We first stopped in at the 100-year-old Naramata Heritage Inn to visit with always hospitable Quentin Kayne - currently GM of the restaurant/Cobblestone Wine Bar.

Quentin set us up with a fantastic flight of local wines/cider (not to mention some great food):
Orchard Hill Red Roof Cider (on tap at the Inn)
I’ve been a fan for a [...]