Greece/Turkey 2010
Who said there’s not much to do in Athens at Easter? We had plenty to do as we arrived Easter Saturday. We started with our first wine tasting at the Domaine Vassiliou followed by what every tourist must do: visit the Acropolis. But then our hotel was in the Plaka and had an awe-inspiring view of the Acropolis from the swimming pool terrace so we could see it anytime we wanted to. It was too cold to swim but the view was a scorcher.
On Easter Sunday we traveled to a small town that traditionally cooks Easter lamb for everyone and throws a big party for anyone who wants to come. The next day was a cultural visit to the canal of Corinth and the vestiges of the Mycenae civilization. History was made so much more interesting by our excellent tour guide. That evening we boarded an overnight ferry for the trip to Crete.
After breakfast on board, we viewed history firsthand as we went to the ruins of Knossos of the Minoan civilization. That was followed by two winery visits and finally we checked into our hotel, ideally located in the heart of old town Heraklion.
Our next day was occupied by an interesting visit to a restored village where we had a cooking demonstration and a lesson in the production of raki, the Greek version of grappa.
We were even able to squeeze in a visit to a pottery factory for a demonstration of traditional methods of pottery production.
Early the next morning we were whisked by high speed ferry to the enchanting island of Santorini. Our hotel was actually a series of villas or caves built into the mountain with breathtaking views of the extinct volcano and the ocean. Getting to the villas was a challenge but somehow the view made the effort worthwhile. We had a wonderful tasting and lunch at the Santo Winery with a spectacular tasting room. The trellising system is unique to the island.
It’s a kind of basket weave that’s difficult to describe so I’ve included a photo in the Greece photo album. The purpose was to mitigate the effect of the winds that sweep across the island.
For those daring enough- and with enough energy- we made the trek to the volcano for an upclose view of the power of Nature. In the afternoon we were treated to a cooking demonstration of all of the courses of our lunch. These were typical island specialties and I took notes so expect to see the recipes in a future email. Our farewell dinner in Santorini was at one of the most famous restaurants on the island; a real treat!
Our post-tour extension to Turkey was eye-opening, to say the least. Not too many people would have guessed that Turkey had dozens and dozens of award-winning wines- 92 according to a competition led by 9 Masters of Wine in March. We had two interesting winery visits: one at an Istanbul wine bar that also produced its own wine; and the Talay winery on the island of Bozcaada, near Gallipoli and Troy. Most of us spent our last free day touring Istanbul and two of us actually went to a traditional Turkish bath.
During the course of both tours we had the opportunity to try some of the best wines produced in Greece and Turkey. Here are my personal highlights: from Greece- the whites made from Assyrtiko grown in Santorini and the Moschofilero, and for red: Cab blends. In Turkey, my best tasting experiences for whites were from traditional grape varieties such as the Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. The reds offered more growth potential and I especially liked wines from the Doluca and Corvus wineries using cabernet blended with the indigenous Okuzgozu. I liked these wines so much that I brought back as many as I could for a future tasting here in New Haven.
Our Piedmont tour, I am proud to say, was one of the smoothest tours ever: great visits, superb meals, cool, sunny weather,no glitches. In short, a wine lover’s dream tour.
It started with our opening meal at the hotel: a typical Piedmontese menu with veal with tuna sauce; fresh asparagus with cheese fondue; green ravioli al plin; marinated veal breast and hazelnut semi-freddo. Our wines were personally selected by the sommelier for us: a Roero Arneis from Silvano Nizza and a Barbera d’Alba from Filippo Gallino, two very small producers. We ended with an ‘04 Barbaresco from Prunotto. 
The first full day was magical: a tasting at Produttori del Barbaresco led by Aldo Vacca which included several of their crus 3 glass award Barbarescos.This was followed by lunch at the 1 Michelin star restaurant Vecchio Tre Stelle. I included some shots in the photo album of the visually outstanding presentation. And the wines were perfectly matched: a Barbera d’Alba ‘08 from Bruno Rocca, an ‘05 Barbaresco Asili from Ca del Bajo and a Moscato Passito from Terre da vino.
Lunch was followed by two tastings: close to the restaurant was Azienda Albino Rocca, winner of a 3 Glass award Barbaresco (which we tasted of course) in the presence of the winemaker and his granddaughter. Then we returned to Alba for a late afternoon tour and tasting at Pio Cesare, led by a member of the family. This was my first visit to this winery since they usually don’t take group visits so hopefully we’ll be able to visit this historic winery again.
Saturday was a free day and we were lucky that our stay coincided with a wine fair called Vinum. All of us were able to profit from at least one of the activities; I for instance attended an evening tasting of 18 Barolos from the ‘99 vintage each presented by the winemaker. Truly outstanding!
Sunday is normally a day of rest but not for wine lovers: we were off to the Castello Grinzano Cavour for a tour and tasting; then a wonderful lunch at the Enoteca of Canelli; and we capped the day with a visit to the sparkling wine producer, Gancia.
On Monday we headed south to Barolo, starting with a tour, tasting and an alfresco lunch at the 3 glass award winery Schiavenza. It was a thrill to have lunch with the beautiful Serralunga d’Alba hills in front of us. The day ended with a comprehensive tasting at Damilano with a spectacular view of the village of Monforte.
We were fortunate to get passes to view the Shroud of Turin so that’s where we spent the next day: in the very liveable city of Turin.
After all this hard work in Piedmont, we headed to Santa Margherita Ligure for 3 days of some well-deserved R&R. Three of us actually walked to 4 of the 5 villages of the Cinque Terre. It was nice to return to our hotel which fronted on the bay in the center of town.
As our tour finally came to an end, there was consolation in knowing that the effects of the volcano in Iceland would not disrupt our return flights home, so we were indeed fortunate throughout this wonderful stay in Northern Italy.
 This tour of Sicily will go down as the wettest! It rained almost everyday, with mud slides and flooding creating hazardous conditions. All of our previous tours epitomize what you think of: terrain made yellow by lack of rain. But not this October- we even had to cancel 3 visits because it was just too perilous to try to get to the wineries. On more than one occasion we passed tractors moving mud off the roads, or sections of highway closed because of flooding, which forced the driver to find an alterate route. But we made the best of the situation and were blessed with some great winery visits, despite the weather. Perhaps the finest wine in Sicily is made by Abbazia Santa Anastasia: Litra made the finals for a 3 glass award and is an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon. Another outstanding winery visit was to the Planeta estate at Ulmo. Hosted by Chiara Planeta, we experienced first-hand why this enormous winery has won so many 3 glass awards. The Santa Cecilia is superb and is probably Sicily’s best example of what can be done with its indigenous grape, Nero d’Avola. And our lunch was peasant Sicilian food brought to an apogee. Truly a memorable visit. Because of the weather we unfortunately had to cancel visits to Cusumano and Cottanera, two of Sicily’s premier wine estates. But we did trek to Spadafora despite the weather. In fact Francesco Spa The reason I believe Sicily is such a great destination for enotourism is because it has wine, cuisine and culture. No visit to Sicily would be complete without taking in some of the ancient ruins. But which ones to choose? We selected Agrigento, Siracusa and Taormina, not too shabby. In fact some people believe that the ruins of Agrigento are better than anything you’ll find in Greece. We’ll have the chance to dispute that claim after our 2010 first ever visit to Greece in April. You may want to consider joining us so you too can compare Greece with its former colony Sicily. We also did two other cultural highlights: the Cathedral of Monreale with its unbelievable mosaics, and Mt Etna. We climbed onto several previous eruptions of Etna guided by a trained geologist. It was a gorgeous spectacular day that compensated for the many rainy days we experienced. Our guide also brought us to a winery building from the mid 1800’s that had to be abandoned years ago because of a lava flow. Sicily never stops to amaze you. It’s like a country of its own with such a diversity that defies being Italian.
Most people can’t even pronounce Puglia much less tell where in Italy it’s located. Well, here’s a lesson in a nutshell: Can you say ‘pool ya?’ And point to that lady’s boot heel and that’s all you need to know. Or is it? It’s a pity but Puglia is not even on the radar screen for tourism, for wine, for cuisine- that is, except for those people who have been there. Tell that to the many German tourists who flock to the Puglia coasts for vacation at a fraction of the cost of Portofino or Sorrento. The first thing you see as you approach Bari airport is the miles and miles of olive and fig trees. Some people claim that half of the olive oil in Italy comes from Puglia; I’d say more like 60%. And Puglian cuisine is as tasty as anywhere in Italy. The irony is that for an area where the geography is defined by miles of seacoast, the primary claim to fame is red wine. I didn’t see too many herds of sheep or cattle and those rich red wines would overwhelm most fish dishes. But there’s no denying the quality of Puglian red wines, especially if you judge by the number of 3 glass awards. The proof came on our first wine visit, right in Alberobello, a town world famous for its trulli- those conical shaped stone structures. Cantina Albea’s claim to fame is its fabulous Lui, made from the indigenous Nero di Troia grape which I think has more finesse and character than its more well-known primitivo.
 We headed right to Lecce, a cultural gem of a city famous for its Baroque architecture. I think all of us enjoyed the miniature train ride- it’s really the only way to negotiate the maze of narrow streets in the old town. After a well-deserved rest, we were ready for a full day of superb winery vists. First we started at Cosimo Taurino, the winery that first put Puglia on the wine map. Although they haven’t won a 3 glass in recent history, their negroamaro based Patriglione and Notarpanaro are outstanding. Actually I liked the negroamaro even better than the primitivo for its finesse and delicate character. This was followed by a tasting conducted by Gianni Cantele at the family winery, Cantele. From their Chardonnay to their Salice Salentino, Cantele produces top quality wines that surprisingly didn’t garner any 3 glass awards this year. We then made the short trip to another old-time Puglian winery: Leone de Castris. Again we have a winery with no wines in the 3 glass finals but all of the wines we tasted with lunch were extremely well made. We ended the day at the huge (over 2 million bottles) Castello Monaci, owned by Gruppo Italiano Vini. Who says big doesn’t mean quality? Tell that to the judges for the Tre Bicchieri who gave the Artas ‘06 its highest award. Based on primitivo, Artas almost made me reconsider what I thought about that grape. But I’ll stick to my guns. After this gruelling day( how could a wine lover find it grueling?) we had a second day of outstanding vists: Racemi, Cantine Due Palme and Lomazzi and Sarli. How’s this for results: a 3 glass, another 3 glass and 2 almost 3 glass awards. Racemi in fact was the one winery that impressed me the most, especially since I found out that owner Gregory Perrucci is a founding member of ZAP. He loves zinfandel and in fact got his 3 glass this year for Zinfandel Sinfarosa. On our way back to northern Puglia, we stopped for lunch and a tour of Matera, that spooky town of caves that actually was inhabited as late as the 1950’s until the Italian government forced everyone from their primtive living conditions. Our last day of wine visits was not too shabby: Torrevento and Rivera. In fact probably the single most outstanding wine of the entire tour was Torrevento’s Vigna Pedale Riserva produced from that sleeper grape, Nero di Troia. You just have to try a wine made from this grape! And probably our finest meal was at the restaurant owned by the winery, near the region’s famous tourist attraction, Castel del Monte.
 Although this was not our first tour to Napa and Sonoma, it was almost a new experience. I never like to repeat a tour with the same itinerary. It requires a lot more effort but our niche is creating customized tours.
So this time we visited new exciting and great wineries. I did make one concession to the past- we revisted Opus and Robert Mondavi. Both had changed hands since our last visit and I wanted to see if the standards were similar. I can assure you both are outstanding- in fact our lunch at Mondavi was one of the tour highlights. That day ended with a VIP tour and tasting at Silverado Cellars, so it was a great day for wine lovers.
While we were in Sonoma, we also revisited Cline Cellars. Again we were given a VIP tour and tasting, which was conducted in their replica of the original Spanish mission that was on the estate.
One of our new visits was VJB Vineyards. You’ll never find these wines outside California since all 4000 cases are sold at the wine shop or through their mail list. We had met Vittorio Belmonte years ago at the Boston Wine Expo, but this was the first time we visited his winery- and what an estate! Vittorio’s villa is on 17 acres of vineyards directly behind Ledson, the castle-like winery on Highway 12. Our tasting was held next to his pool- luckily no one fell in! Then we had a private al fresco lunch at Landmark, followed by a great tasting on the wrap-around porch at Arrowood Winery.
Another Sonoma highlight was our visit to Martinelli- although we didn’t get to taste their Jackass Hill Zinfandel (there are precious few bottles made) we tasted just about every wine they produce. And the food and wine pairing we later had at Kendall Jackson was also very memorable.
 Back to Napa- we visited Castello di Amoroso, the ornate castle recreation by the owners of Sattui Vineyards. Although the wines aren’t among Napa’s best, the castle is definitely worth the stop.
On one free evening, some of us went on the Napa Valley Dinner Train. We had never been and I always wanted to try it. I would recommend it at least once- it gives an interesting geographic perspective and the dinner is actually pretty good.
Our final day in Napa literally takes the cake as our best day: in addition to special visits to Groth and Honig wineries, we had the honor of having our farewell lunch al fresco at Cakebread Cellars in the presence of Bruce Cakebread, who joined us for the visit.
With the tour concluded, Roz and I picked up our rental car at the San Francisco airport and traveled south to visit with tour alumni John and Karen Hovannisien. They own a vineyard in Paso Robles and they’ve been trying for years to get us to visit Central Coast California. We were so impressed with the region- great vineyards, Big Sur, San Simeon, etc, that we have already penciled it in as a future tour.
 A private VIP tour, tasting and dinner at the Manor House of Chateau Ste MIchelle- what an auspicious beginning to a delightful tour of the great Northwest wine regions of Washington and Oregon.
Twenty three very fortunate people discovered first-hand why this region deserves the attention of anyone interested in wine; from great values to great boutique-and pricey-wine, these 2 states make world class wines. One barometer is the involvement via partnerships of some pretty impressive European vintners. But I digress... Before we left Seattle for the interior, we did manage to visit 3 wineries. Mind you- no one grows grapes west of the Cascade Mountains, so the grapes are sourced inland and vinified in Seattle.
Two of them were the proverbial garagistes- literally making wine in garages. But what wines! You won’t find wines from Fall LIne or Cadence much outside the winery but the dedication of the owners to making great wines-especially from Cabernet- is obvious. Another winery we visited is by no means a garagiste- Brian Carter started with Apex and now devotes his time to his eponymous medium-sized winery in Woodinville.
What impressed all of us was the dramatic change crossing over the Cascade Mountains- from green, lush and rainy terrain to an almost desert-like region. We spent one night in Prosser- much too short a time as we learned. For a town of 5,000, Prosser warrants at least 2 days because of its Vintners Village. A unique concept and as far as I know, the only one of its kind in the world: a campus of 9 wineries. We had a great time criss-crossing and zig-zagging from one winery to another- all on foot!
We then visited Mercer Winery, a collaboration with the Hogue Family and later had dinner at the Cowan Winery. We slept well that evening!
We left the next day for Walla Walla, stopping en route for a private VIP tour at Col Solare, the magnificent joint collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and the Antinori Family. Winemaker Marcus Notaro only makes 2 wines, but what wines he coaxes from those arid hills!
We punched our way to Downtown Walla Walla where we had a surprisingly exquisite winemaker’s lunch at the venerable Whitehouse Crawford restaurant. After lunch we visited Waterbrook with our winemaker hosts from lunch, before checking into the majestic Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla, our home for 4 nights.
Walla Walla may not be Napa, but it’s a delightful slice of Americana and worthy of the trip. From there, it was a snap to visit Dunham, Northstar, Pepperbridge and K Vintners. If you had the time, you could visit dozens and dozens more. You don’t even have to leave Downtown Walla Walla- there are at least 7 tasting rooms. And by the way there are less expensive hotels and motels in Walla Walla, but trust me when I say- stay at the Marcus Whitman!
 As we left on our way to Oregon, we had another wonderful special-treatment tasting and lunch at Columbia Crest. Ste Michelle is a class act! We did one last stop at Merryhill Winery for its exhilerating view of the Columbia River Valley on our way to Portland.
There are 2 things to remember about Oregon: Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. There are other wines produced in Oregon but their claim to fame is, and will be, those 2 varieties.If you stay in Portland, as we did, you can easily reach all of the major players- and many, many more. We were fortunate to have wonderful tastings at Domaine Drouhin, where we tasted the French and Oregon Pinots. Wow!
There were also many other memorable highlights- King Estates and Elk Cove, but even tiny Cana’s Feast Winery, where we had lunch, impressed us.
We just scratched the surface and that’s why we can’t wait to return!
This was a tour inspired by a faithful tour alumnus, Jesse Abboud, who ironically was unable to participate. He missed one of our best tours. I was very proud of how smoothly each day went, considering that this was the first time we had ever brought a group to this area.
On the 4th day, we left for the little village of Yecla, stopping for a visit at Luzon and then met with Loren Gil of award winning Juan Gil Winery, who joined us for lunch at Paco Gandia, which had a framed article from the Wall Street Journal claiming this to be the best place in all of Spain for the “perfect” paella. (WS Journal 8/9/08)
 The next day we were met by Alfredo Candela of Señorio de Barahonda who gave us a guided tour of Yecla, a tour of the original family winery and the fabulous new winery. At lunch we had the Valencian version of gazpacho, which unlike the Sevilla version, is a hot concoction similar to beef stew, served on a large tortilla. All of this accompanied by their best wines.
Then off we went to Granada, not for wine, but for the Alhambra, a magnificent structure built during the Moorish occupation of Spain. Our guided tour gave us a better appreciation of the contribution of the Arabs to this area of Spain. That evening, most of us went to a traditional flamenco performance in one of the famous gypsy caves.
Our next destination was Seville. However we had made arrangements to meet Vittoria Ordoñez, sister of the respected importer of great Spanish wines, Jorge. The Ordoñez winery is high above Malalga, on slopes of 50 degrees that rival anything I’ve seen along the Mosel or Douro. Having an al fresco lunch in the middle of this breathtaking landscape was one of my personal highlights.
We ended the tour with 3 full days in Seville, two of which were dedicated to Sherry.  We started with a tour and tasting at La Gitana, led by Javier Hidalgo, whose winery makes the most famous manzanilla. Afterwards we were able to visit an almenacista in Sanlucar: small traditional producers of small lots of Sherry, usually sold to the larger Sherry companies as single estate labels. We ended the day with a marvelous tour, tasting and lunch at one of the most respected Sherry producers, Lustau.
The next day was just as spectacular: a tour, tasting and lunch at the impressive Pedro Domecq facilties, the oldest in Jerez. Before lunch, we were treated to a display of equestrian prowess by a trained Spanish stallion. The day ended with a tour at Gonzalez Byass, where we waited in vain for the infamous mouse to drink his Sherry.
Our last day was a free day; I spent it touring the Alcazar, which I found to be a rival to the more famous Alhambra. That evening we had our farewell dinner in a private room at the beautifully restored opulent Hotel Alfonso XIII. What a wonderful climax to an extraordinary visit to this area of the wine world. Thanks again to Jesse for his inspiration for this tour.
Austria/Hungary 2008
 This tour was highlighted by the number of visits to 3 glass award-
winning wineries.  Ferrari family, producers of a 3 glass spumante. We also
had lunch in their 1 star Michelin restaurant, Locanda Margon.  Our last stage took us west to Friuli. Here we visited 3 3 glass
award winning wineries: Castello di Spessa, Mario Schiopetto and Lis
Neris. This is definitely an area of the Northeast to watch: there
are some great white, and surprising red, wines being produced in
this area.
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