Wine tasting notes from trips we have taken.
Our driver was unfamiliar with the location of the winery. He relied upon his GPS which sent us, not to the recently constructed wine cellar but, to the vineyards and home located further uphill toward Mt. Etna. We were happy for the detour, it allowed us a brief glimpse of the terraced vineyards after which the winery is named. Vincenzo […]
Do you look down when you travel? Sounds like a silly question on the face of it, of course you do, you’re probably even more deliberate about doing so when you travel than when you’re at home on familiar territory. Aside from making sure you don’t trip or step in doggie doo doo, the colors, textures and patterns you will see beneath you […]
The 2015 Wine Bloggers’ Conference (#WBC15) is what brought us to the Finger Lakes wine region. Every year the conference, which is organized by Zephyr Adventures, is held in a different wine region and provides attendees the opportunity to dive into the details of the region.
Our experience began with the Pre-Conference Excursion on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. The excursion was limited to only 50 bloggers, so early registration was a must. The Seneca Lake Wine Trail, and its over 30 winery, distillery, meadery and hard cider producer-members sponsored the excursion.
It was quite by chance that we came to visit Waterkloof Wine Estates located above Somerset West, an hour’s drive east of Cape Town. I had not heard of the wine farm until several years ago when we received a comment on one of our blog posts about South African wines.
Research pays off. It’s what brought us to visit the Swartland wine region in South Africa. In addition to visiting the better known region of Stellenbosch and the very scenic Franschhoek, we wanted to visit an out of the way wine region.
The Tulbagh wine district in South Africa is a valley that is surrounded on three sides by a ring of mountains, the Obiekwaberg, Groot Winterhoek and Witsenberg mountains. Located over an hour’s drive north of Cape Town, it’s a bit out of the way but well worth exploring.
Being the wine lovers that we are, we wouldn’t consider visiting South Africa without spending a few days wine tasting. We spent two days wine tasting in Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh and Swartland. On the third day we ventured out to a stunning farm in Somerset West. We have never toured such a beautiful wine region, and the wines were not overshadowed one bit by the beauty of the scenery. Join our tour of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch in this post.
Cape Town, South Africa is stunningly beautiful. It sits perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in the southern portion of South Africa. Cape Town is located at the northern end of a peninsula which terminates at Cape Point. Sweeping beaches stretch along the Atlantic and are interrupted by a rocky shoreline. The ocean is blue-green and wild along the Atlantic.
Mosi-oa-Tunya is the traditional name for Victoria Falls, which straddles the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. It translates to “the smoke that thunders.” The tremendous volume of water plummeting over the falls produces not only a loud roar (the thunder) but a large cloud of spray which from a distance looks like billowing smoke.
The fourth safari destination on our Overseas Adventure Travel Ultimate Africa safari was Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. At this point in our trip we had spent nine nights in three tented camps in Botswana and Zambia. We had only three nights left in Hwange National Park before we headed back to the city (Victoria Falls and then on to Cape Town.) I tried not to think about the fact that our safari was coming to an end, but tried to remain in the moment and enjoy everything Hwange had to offer. And no, we were not tired of watching and photographing the animals!
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.