Girl by the Lake

wine tours: bierzo

Overview of Bierzo

Continuing on our Spanish theme from my previous post, I would like to introduce you to Bierzo, a small wine-producing region in the northwest part of Spain. This is an “up-and-coming” region in every sense of the word – ten years ago, Bierzo wines were virtually unheard of in the international marketplace. Today, however, Bierzo wines have swelled in popularity due to a dramatic increase in the quality of the wines. You may not have heard of Bierzo, but odds are your local wine store has several bottles from this enchanting and developing region.

wine tours: Priorat

Overview of Priorat

Spain has a long, rich history of winemaking and stands today as the third largest producing nation in the world. You probably have tried some Spanish wine at a restaurant or bought a bottle at a retailer and for good reason – Spanish wines continue to offer some of the best bang for your buck of any region in the world. The Spanish regions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero (among others) have long been established as quality wine-producing regions. However, some of the most interesting, complex and powerful Spanish red wines are being made in the up-and-coming wine region of Priorat, which has been largely under-the-radar until the late 1990s.

Priorat (as spelled in Catalan, although other Spaniards call it “Priorato”) is located in the southwest part of the Catalonia region (about 2 hours outside of Barcelona). Priorat was named for a local monastery that began producing wine in the 12th century, and flourished for many centuries until phylloxera, a small grapevine-destroying insect, arrived in the late 1800’s and destroyed the majority of Priorat vineyards, effectively ruining its wine industry.

wine tours: Sicily & Mt. Etna

Overview of Sicily and Mount Etna

When you think of Italian wine, many thoughts may pop into your head – a juicy and fruit-forward Chianti, a lush, rich Brunello di Montalcino, a powerful and structured Barolo. However, you probably don’t immediately think about Siciliy, the Italian island located in the central Mediterranean, which surprisingly is one of the biggest wine producing regions in Italy.

wine tours: Argentina

Welcome to Argentina!

If you’ve ever been to Argentina, you know that the natives are very serious about their wine. When I visited Buenos Aires in 2008, a local waiter remarked to me, “Redmeat and red wine – the two most important components of the Argentinian diet,” as he served me a gargantuan steak that could have served a family of four with a glass of malbec. Every restaurant I visited throughout the country expressed a similarly infectious enthusiasm and pride for its local wines, and by the end of my trip, I had to agree – Argentina was producing some very high-quality wines.

travels: napa valley, the wine

two and a half days. 12 vineyards.

one very fun, extremely exhausting and challenging trip.

but would I do it all over again???

ABSOLUTELY!

Over President’s Day weekend, Eric (the bf) + myself + two other friends headed out to Napa Valley, CA to undergo what would be a fantastic weekend of wine tasting, site seeing and extreme eating. I had such a great time that I’ve almost started to forget about the really long flights/EXTREMELY uncomfortable redeye ride home on Monday night.

So! Seeing as I took well over 300 pictures, I’ve decided to share a few with you guys. I plan to separate the photos into three sections: the wine, the food, and the scenery. Today I’ll feature some of my favorite pictures from our wine tasting adventures. Above you’ll see two of my favorites: the first from MINER vineyards, the second from Frog’s Leap (our very first stop on the trip).

We tasted some pretty good (but very pretty) sparkling wines at Domaine Chandon. (above)

Plump Jack wine had the best name (but very a very tiny tasting room!).

Day 2 began with a tour + tasting at Sinskey Vineyards.

The caves were pretty darn cool if I don’t say so myself.

And if I could throw a party in this private room every day, you better bet I would. The room was WAY far back in the cave, and it also stored a case of every single wine the Sinskey had ever produced. This was one of the prettiest rooms we saw all trip!

Finally, on Monday we made our way into Sonoma, CA where we visited two vineyards. Our first stop included a tour of a pretty large cellar where these HUGE (but no longer used) barrels were on display. I believe the tour guide said something about it holding over 4000k gallons?

Seghesio (Sonoma) had some FANTASTIC Zinfandel wines (some of the best we had all trip!).

I can’t wait to show you guys more pictures of the trip. I had a blast, and I know you’re going to love looking at the pictures!