Road Trip! Blog

FLA-VOR

Wed, 9 Oct 2013 13:56:39 -0700

I was curious about what flavor really means, as dogs we sometime really don’t taste the food as it goes down, but when we lick plates we get flavor.

But flavor is a cool word, giving flavor to all kinds of things in life.

It means the distinctive taste of food and drink; the indication of the essential character of something; a distinctive quality of atmosphere; or in physics, the quantizing properties of Quarks. Hmmmm!

Flavor is the theme at this year’s Digital Wine Communicators Conference (DWCC) in Rioja, Spain.

So flavors in wine - and in life. From all the Spanish films we’ve seen (Almodovar is our favorite), life is full of passion, quirkiness, food, fashion, Carmen, and wine, of course.

We have been to three DWCC’s and the atmosphere is what has struck us the most. To be immersed in a culture, a country, the landscape, the people, the friends. It is a distinctively atmospheric experience.

Wine, well we are all on a journey to find the essential character of wine and the people who love it. Wine gives us much more than flavor in the glass, it makes friends, promotes travel and education, it reaches people at their essence and surrounds their lives with atmosphere.

Now a wine maker or two, might know the flavor of quarks, and we know science projects can taste good, especially if fermenting is involved:)

Oh, and bonus, we love Frank Gehry, architecture. This is the Las Vegas Brain Center we see almost everyday on our car trips. Yes this is your brain on Frank Gehry:) Can’t wait to taste wine flavored by his architecture.

We will be in Spain from Oct 19 to 30th, so follow us on twitter at Chez Vino, and on facebook to see our Spanish adventure unfold.

Treated Like Royalty in Kelowna!

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 07:50:26 -0700

Kelowna British Columbia is a jewel in the crown of the Okanagan wine region. Situated at the Northern end of Lake Okanagan, it is the largest metropolis with a bustling friendly airport and home to many of the larger wineries in the area. This is the colder region so Sparkling nose twitchers, and crisp whites dominate, as well as Jory’s favorite; traditionally frozen on the vine ice wine.

Wine Tourism is a focus for the entire Okanagan, and the Kelowna area is an amazing place to begin out journey!

Our paws and tummies were in heaven; with so many amazing places to sniff out and gourmet meals to salivate over, the two days went by fast! We left the quaffing to Valerie but judging by the happy smiles the wine and food pairing were were a hit.

The two day pre conference was organized by the savvy two gals, Catherine and from the the Kelowna

Each event is worth some extra love so follow the links below for an in-depth peek!

We stayed at a cool 3 story lake view resort with a lake view; had an amazing dinner at Summerhill Pyramid winery, had a relaxing breakfast at Tantalus Vineyards followed by a beehive demonstration and honey tasting, and a comprehensive wine tasting; then onto.....for a food and wine tasting in the vineyards and lunch and tasting looking over the lake!

Kelowna BC Wine Route, on the road to WBC13

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:29:39 -0700

The Okanagan Wine Region in British Columbia Canada is the next stop on the world wine route. I, Nikita, have been here before several years ago, and I had a blast out on the deck overlooking the lake. The area is very dog friendly, (even to Jory, the rascal!)
We will be arriving June 5 and staying until June 13. Part with the Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC13) and part on our own 4 paws.
We arrive into town a bit early, for the Kelowna pre-conference excursion that will take us to three of the area’s winery and vineyard pioneers, along the Lakeshore Wine Route, one of Kelowna’s 5 Wine Trails. First stop; Summerhill Pyramid Winery, where we will explore how aging wine and sparkling wine inside a 1/8 replica of the Great Pyramid of Cheops can positively impact its flavors. We have been here before and it’s odd eeriness is certainly worth a second visit, as is their restaurant.
As the sun sets over the lake, we will unlock the secrets of biodynamic farming as we enjoy an organic feast at Summerhill. Their sparkling wines are a real treat and they have been awarded Canadian Producer of the Year, and Best International Sparkling Wine at the London International Wine & Spirits Competition in recent years.
The next day, we’ll visit Tantalus Vineyards, BC’s first and only LEED-certified winery, for breakfast. Here we will get to taste Riesling that has been lauded by wine reviewers, such as Jancis Robinson, for achieving the most perfect definition of Riesling from some of the area’s oldest vines. We’ll also visit the winery’s beehives. We both like chasing bees but Valerie has said a firm NO to that.
We’ll then depart for CedarCreek Estate Winery, one of BC’s first eight wineries, and twice named Canada’s Winery of the Year. We’ll have lunch at CedarCreek Estate Winery in a locally-sourced outdoor feast.
That’s all in two days!!!!

#winelover Virtual Roadtrip to Umbria

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:45:26 -0700

We love Italy, and I know Valerie was hoping to go back to Verona for one of the biggest wine events in Europe, Vinitaly, which takes place between March 25 to 28th.

When we live on the west coast it is hard to go back and forth to Europe for all the amazing wine festivals and conferences. We wish we lived in Europe sometimes, sigh.....

But with Vinitaly we can all have a ring side seat.

Luiz Alberto of the Wine Hub started the #winelovers group for Twitter and facebook, on Valentines Day this year, and he has a booth at Vinitaly The booth will serve as an online meeting point, with free wifi, thanks to the sponsorship of the Consortium of Umbrian wines ,who have given the #winelover group a space on their stand.

The #winelover group will bring live updates of VinItaly through a wide range of social media (Twitter, FaceBook, Google Plus, Pinterest, ...), blog posts and web TV. Our friend Onne Wann, will be covering the event for us on her site, Winedefenders.TV.

So start looking for the #winelover, and #umbria, and you’ll be immersed inside this world-class wine event, without the 19 hour plane flight.

Road to DC and Virginia Wine Country

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:37:30 -0700

In a few days we will make a hop skip and a jump, (that’s Jory for you!) to DC and Charlottesville, VA for Wine Blogger Conference 2011 (WBC11). We will travel to the Loudoun Wine region before the conference, and guess what! - They specialize in Cab Francs! We will be blogging from the event but to get a taste of what we are going to explore in the Loudoun region there are some cool videos to check out here http://www.visitloudoun.org/Videos