St. Petersburg, Russia. Ugliest waterway entrance I've ever seen, but beautiful architecture once you're into the old city. I'm going to have vodka and caviar for lunch. I think that's what the natives do here.

Caviar makes up for a lot of ugly. St. Petersburg is on our wish list for next summer.

Windsor, NS. Small, small town about an hour from Halifax. Oh, and the prices and selection as the NSLB make the LCBO look awesome. I would imagine there will be at least a couple weeks of me not complaining about the LCBO. Maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by Seaquam:
St. Petersburg, Russia. Ugliest waterway entrance I've ever seen, but beautiful architecture once you're into the old city. I'm going to have vodka and caviar for lunch. I think that's what the natives do here.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
Caviar makes up for a lot of ugly. St. Petersburg is on our wish list for next summer.

I loved St. Petersburg when I was there about 10 yr ago. Agree with Seaquam about the architecture. And there's a shabbiness that I like...sort of like tarnished silver. The beauty is there to be seen, but it needs some polishing. On the other hand, the "tarnish" is beautiful in its own way. There are some wonderful gardens there, too.

quote:

Originally posted by Don in KS:
Board-O, how do you keep your wine cool on a driving trip such as this? Just a regular cooler?

Just saw this. We travel with the wine in a styrofoam shipper which insulates well. When the wine is in the car, it's seatbelted in the back seat with the air conditioning on. As soon as we get to a hotel, we put the wine in the airconditioned room. If we're travelling and leave the car for a half hour or an hour, we lave the windows open a drop and try to park in the shade. Even on a hot day, after an hour, the wine is still cool to the touch in the sealed styrofoam shipper.

Napa, CA.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:

quote:

Originally posted by Don in KS:
Board-O, how do you keep your wine cool on a driving trip such as this? Just a regular cooler?

Just saw this. We travel with the wine in a styrofoam shipper which insulates well. When the wine is in the car, it's seatbelted in the back seat with the air conditioning on. As soon as we get to a hotel, we put the wine in the airconditioned room. If we're travelling and leave the car for a half hour or an hour, we lave the windows open a drop and try to park in the shade. Even on a hot day, after an hour, the wine is still cool to the touch in the sealed styrofoam shipper.

ROTFFLMAOWTSDMC. You gotta be kidding me. While you will no doubt accuse me of following you, I will honestly say I would laugh at anyone who posted that. That is beyond over the top obsession. The imagery that conjures up is hilarious. You need wine that badly? Ever heard the expression, When in Rome do as the Romans do? Wine geek doesn't even begin to describe that behaviour.

Given the crap you drink, I can understand you feeling that way. It's no trouble for us, but then again, we don't drink the swill you do.

Sober up.

Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm here all week.

Beginning my trip tonight and will end up in Boracay, Philippines among other islands for a few weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by wineismylife:
Napa, CA.

Me, too.

Joe, did I meet you at Randy's tasting and not even realize it?

quote:

Originally posted by dannyk8232:

quote:

Originally posted by wineismylife:
Napa, CA.

Me, too.

Joe, did I meet you at Randy's tasting and not even realize it?

Actually, we did meet albeit it briefly and we didn't get to talk much.

quote:

Originally posted by wineismylife:

quote:

Originally posted by dannyk8232:

quote:

Originally posted by wineismylife:
Napa, CA.

Me, too.

Joe, did I meet you at Randy's tasting and not even realize it?

Actually, we did meet albeit it briefly and we didn't get to talk much.

Bummer!

California ....

8/16-8/21: SF. Highlights include dinner at Fleur de Lys, cocktails at Bourbon & Branch, a free walking tour of Nob Hill by the folks from SF City Guides.

8/21-8/25: Carmel/Big Sur. Highlights so far include dinner at Passionfish and Pacific's Edge and watching sea otters break open clams and oysters at Point Lobos State park.

8/25-8/31: Napa/Sonoma wine country.

...Rome...........NY, that is. Wine, forget about it.

Hurricane, WV

Starting the countdown for Rome, Siena, Florence and Venice.

...the MGM Grand in sunny (hot) Las Vegas.

I'm here, with my lovely wife, for a conference. However, we will be able to relax a bit and enjoy some time without our children.

Today: Some conference time, then out to the pool.

Tomorrow night: Dinner at Gonzalez y Gonzalez then a show (Zumanity)

Thursday night: Dinner at SEABLUE.

P.S. Nine Fine Irishmen is a very cool bar.

Traffic school.

Siena, Italy. Tomorrow we are off to do some tasting in Tuscany.

Last week was Kansas City. Today through Wednesday is Wallingford, CT (Hartford).

Salem, Oregon this AM (watching Wisconsin vs. Minnesota on ESPN), then Eugene, Oregon this afternoon to watch the Oregon/Cal game at Autzen this evening.

quote:

Originally posted by duckfaninmt:
Salem, Oregon this AM (watching Wisconsin vs. Minnesota on ESPN), then Eugene, Oregon this afternoon to watch the Oregon/Cal game at Autzen this evening.

Get thee to a winery!

The south of France! Wife and I made our way to Montpellier today after a couple of nights in beautiful Bonnieux. Have also spent some time in Cannes, Avignon and Chateauneuf du Page (tasting at Beaucastel and la Barroche). Lots of eating, drinking, walking, etc. Will give a full report when I get back!

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:

quote:

Originally posted by duckfaninmt:
Salem, Oregon this AM (watching Wisconsin vs. Minnesota on ESPN), then Eugene, Oregon this afternoon to watch the Oregon/Cal game at Autzen this evening.

Get thee to a winery!

I did, both my brother and I did! On Friday we visited the following:

Adelsheim, Bergstrom, Penner-Ash, Carlton Winemakers Studio, Scott Paul, Domaine Serene, and Maresh Red Barn. Wanted to visit a couple other places that we'd been to last year (such as Domaine Drouhin and Archery Summit), but they were either closed for special occasions or we simply got there too late. Awesome dinner at Tina's in Dundee that night.

On Sunday, we made it a leisurely drive back to Portland from Eugene and visited a few other wineries en route:

Van Duzer, St Innocent, Bethel Heights, Cristom, Witness Tree, and Maysara.

I am admittedly very much a novice when it comes to Pinot Noir (which is pretty much all we tasted), but I found the 2007's to be a step down quality-wise from the 2006's (if that makes any sense). Fortunately, many of the wineries, while promoting their '07's, still had a wide variety of the 2006's available for tasting and purchasing. I did a lot of tasting (emphasis on "lot" ), but showed remarkable restraint in the purchasing area, even though I was tempted to buy quite a bit of the '06's that I had tried.