Category: travel

One of the most profound joys of river cruising is the realization that the view changes as often as the courses. As a food and wine reviewer, I find the true success of Avalon Waterway’s program lies in its balance of the modern traveler’s desire for healthful dishes as well as the culinary traditions of the European heartland.  I downloaded…

Here are my tasting notes for the last few wines I enjoyed on my Avalon Waterways cruise of the Rhine River. I did try several German beers while on excursions during the day and will try to write an article on German beer later. My Wine Tasting Notes Christoph-Seydel-Str 2024 Spätburgunder trocken Reinhessen.  Crystal clear. Medium minus red cherry colour. …

When I was contacted to see if I was interested to review this book, 100 Things to Do in Vancouver Before You Die, by Kathryn Anderson, I could not say no, as I’ve been a Vancouverite for 38 years as an adult, and counting.  What new gems may I find within these pages that I did not already know about?…

With Canadians not wanting to travel to the USA at the moment, we have more opportunities to explore our beautiful country.  I do enjoy eating tasty food and visiting wineries where I can sample their wines and maybe speak with the wine maker.  Victoria is a wonderful place to visit.  It has a culinary scene and it is close to…

Keeping our elbows up, if you live anywhere in the BC mainland, or anywhere in Canada suffering from snow, and you enjoy wine, beer, and other libations, you may want to consider visiting Victoria and surrounding areas on southern Vancouver Island.  I’d say that Victoria has the best weather / climate in Canada.  But you may not know about different…

Now that you have some background about the BC winery situation for 2025 from part one of Brent Gushowaty’s article, here is the second part of the article I have for you by Brent when you are at a BC winery’s tasting room. Your Tasting Room Manners – Before You Arrive Group Think For most wineries, large groups arriving unannounced…

Have you started touring BC wine country this summer?  I have a two part article about touring BC wine country in 2025, written by Brent Gushowaty.  In part one, he covers: The impact of the 2023/24 freeze Introduction of 2024 “replacement wines” Evolving winery business models and tasting innovations Part Two will focus on the practical aspects for the casual…

If you are a wine lover like me, you probably like to go on vacation to areas that grow grapes and make wine.  Lonely Planet has produced the second edition of their Wine Trails book where they outline 52 perfect weekend trips in different wine regions around the world.  The book does not go into depth for the different wine…

I have not been to Portugal yet to explore their wine regions and sample their wines as I feast on grilled fish or other Portuguese dishes. I received this press release from the Wines of Portugal about the Fall in Portugal and I thought I would share it with you and give you Wanderlust as well. ~~~ The days have…

With the lockdown on travel due to COVID-19, I thought I’d look back at some of my trips to wine regions around the world.  One of my memorable trips was to Chile in October 2009 where I toured around Santiago, the capital, then rented a driver with a car to take me the coastal city of Valparaiso and some wineries…