I’ve always wanted to go to a Mardi Gras celebration. The beads, the parades, the music, the copious amounts of alcohol consumed. I mean, doesn’t that sound like fun? What if you threw in Mardi Gras at an American theme park? Like say, Universal in Orlando, Florida? It might not be New Orleans but it was a hell of a lot...
read moreThe local bus was taking forever. On the map there looked to be about 40 kms between Neuquen and Rio Negro, not far, there in half an hour. However, I forgot that I was traveling in South America and nothing is ever quick or fast on a bus, even if it was the “express” bus, it’s a term used very loosely in this...
read moreEn primeur is coming up fast in Bordeaux. I don’t know a lot about en primeur, I must confess. I knew of en primeur but it’s only recently that I was able to actually visit Bordeaux and taste en primeur. You’re probably thinking, hang on a minute Denise, how did you taste en primeur 2010? It’s not 2010 en...
read moreI went to a trade tasting last week for the wines of St. Emilion featuring their Grand Cru Classes. St. Emilion unlike the Left Bank of Bordeaux, which has only ever classified their wines once, back in 1855, re-classifies their wines every 10 years. This in and of itself is quite interesting because there can be no resting on your...
read moreI’m now officially an “international wine expert”. That’s what it says on the cover of Tara Devon O’Leary’s new book, “Every wine tells a Story”. Well, it doesn’t name me directly on the cover but I was one of the contributors for Tara’s book and I’m very excited to...
read moreCheval Blanc. To those unfamiliar with the wines of Bordeaux, it was the fine wine that Miles gloomily drank from a styrofoam cup with a burger in the movie Sideways. To Bordeaux wine afficionados, it’s one of the two wines that stand head and shoulders above the rest in St. Emilion, being designated a Premier Cru Grand...
read moreTorsten, The Winerambler, likes his German wines and he likes to trip me up with his unusual and rare finds so it was with much anticipation that I arrived at his house last night. He had promised a mystery wine and he swore I wouldn’t be able to guess what it was. Well, I have to say the cards were stacked against me, seeing...
read moreIt’s hard to believe, sitting here in my flat in London, all wrapped up in a heavy jumper and wearing thick socks, that a little over a week ago I was frolicking in the waves and stretching out on the beach in Argentina. Like all holidays, that one had to come to an end and so I find myself flipping through my slideshow on my...
read moreI have seen 1,000 year old butter and it’s not pretty. Nor, I think, is it edible. It was in a glass enclosure so none of us could stick a finger in it but it did make for an interesting introduction to the Butter Museum in Cork, Ireland. It was my last day in Ireland with Tourism Ireland and our first stop was the Butter...
read moreAs I ventured further south into the Pampas and beyond of Argentina, it really did begin to feel like the end of the world. The Argentines have a phrase, “el culo del mundo” which roughly translates as the “ass of the world” . Once you’ve gone 15 hrs on a bus on a 2 lane highway that never wavers,...
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