We arrived into Wellington (South West of North Island, New Zealand) airport late in the evening to find a cool and damp Aeotearoa welcome. With a little navigational help from a friendly Maori man (who looked like he played in the front row for the All-Blacks), we set off into the night to find Martinborough. Heading east, we began climbing …
Sonoma Trip Summary – Spring Offering
I had always enjoyed the wines that I’d tried from Sonoma and was keen to visit the area in person. I had previously only gotten as far as Napa, where flat valley floor vineyards mix with massive architectural winery marvels, like from a theme park in Disneyland. Forgive me for saying so, but many Napa wines I’ve tried tend to …
Rachel’s Argentina Travel Blog
We arrived in Argentina after a full 30 hours of traveling from British Columbia. After clearing immigration in Mendoza, we went to pick up our bags – all 5 of them (traveling with a baby means lots more bags and gear) except only 4 were there!?. The bag missing happened to be mine and it also contained all of our …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel In Piemonte
Day 1 – After a LONG day driving from Minervois to Piemonte we finally arrived late in the evening to our quaint little cottage in Sessame Italy. We were greeted by the cottage owners, Kerri and Bob, who are a lovely English couple that immigrated to Italy to start their own vineyard. As it was very dark on our way …
in Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in Chile Days 8-11
Day 8 – After tasting wines, lots of different wines from all around Chile, Marcus has decided we are going to focus on Casablanca. We drove the 1 ½ back and went to a bunch of wineries on his short list. After an exhausting day tasting, nothing really stood out – especially compared with our experience at Catrala. Day 9 …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in Chile Days 4-7
Day 4 – Decided we really needed a new strategy – days are ticking along with no success so far. Decided to call the winery marketing arm called “Wines of Chile” first thing to see if they could recommend some small boutique, hard to find, wineries. Marcus attempted to call and email them before we left Canada to arrange a …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in Chile Days 1-3
Day 1 – Arrived in Chile around lunchtime after a long trip through the night. First impression – CULTURE SHOCK! We step off the plane and into crowds of people coming at us from all directions speaking to us in Spanish. I know for sure there were taxi drivers, car rental agencies and I am not sure what else as …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in South Africa Days 9-13
Day 9 – Being Saturday we thought it was a good day to visit the local markets where artisans are selling African made crafts and souvenirs. This was quite an experience – every tent we entered we were immediately met by a vendor who tried to interest us in various items they were selling. They often went straight over to …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in South Africa Days 5-8
Day 5 – Woke to our first rainy day in South Africa…and this is supposed to be the rainy season. First stop was Zorgvliet winery. We pulled up to a colossal and extravagant cape Dutch building set amongst stunning mountains and beautiful vineyards. We walked up the stairs into a modern tasting room. A friendly cellar door employee tasted through …
In Search of Premium Wines, Marcus & Rachel in South Africa Days 1-4
Day 1 – We arrived in Cape Town at 10:00 after a long trip. Luckily we stopped in London on the way through to break up the trip and visit Marcus’s sisters who are both currently living there. The trip would have been 40 hours with the layovers otherwise. The 9-hour time difference from British Columbia to Cape Town is …
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