I ran to hug my sister, nearly knocking her to the ground. It had been three months since seeing her at Christmas back in the States. This reunion was a little far from home, however. We were in one of my favorite cities in the world – Rome, Italy. Rome is a sentimental place for […]

An early morning drive to the Champagne countryside was the moment I had been waiting for my entire trip. We were finally getting a chance to see where the famous Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grapes are actually grown and where the smaller Champagne producers are settled. Guided by a Reims local, Valentin from […]

As a lover of wine and the finer things in life, my love for Champagne was inevitable. Having just blown out the candles on my 24th birthday, I couldn’t think of a more fitting place to celebrate than in the region where luxury is bottled. Early on a Saturday morning, my Finnish friend and I […]

Until recently, many of the Classified Growth Châteaux of Bordeaux did not open their gates to the public. Luckily for me, things have begun to change in this world-famous wine region. Now more than ever, some of the best wine estates are welcoming guests to their property for a once in a lifetime look into […]

The quest to discover the magic of Port wine had brought me to Portugal’s second largest city, home to colorfully splashed buildings, a lively waterfront, and enough wine to make you weak in the knees. The city of course is Porto, located on the northern bank of the Douro River, just a stone’s throw away […]

Some may be surprised by the fact that Portugal’s most famous wine is not actually produced in the city where it derives its name from. The magic of this precious liquid actually begins about 200 miles east in the Douro Valley. The Douro Valley is 70 miles of hillside-clinging vineyards shaped by the mighty Douro […]