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 […]

Today marks one month since moving to the lovable French city of Bordeaux. While I have since settled into a daily rhythm filled with school and work, it still seems impossible to quit the feeling that I am on a holiday. How could I with weekend hiking trips in the countryside, day trips to the […]

I have just returned from an impromptu weekend retreat in the French countryside. Myself along with 3 new girlfriends packed into a coupé early Saturday morning with no plans aside from a hotel reservation at a 17th century manor home. We were bound for the medieval village of Rocamadour, located in Central France’s Dordogne region. […]