Wine and Spirits Travel

It was a day full of beautiful surprises as I got to see incredible scenery while exploring the wine region of Roussillon . I started the day with my favorite French breakfast of yogurt, fruit and pan au chocolat. I never eat the same thing for breakfast at home, but this seems to work well to start a day of wine tasting. Virginie Hurault from Vins du Roussillon picked me up at the Hotel Metropole in Perpignan for our trip to the mountains and the sea, further into the south of France. The scene was like nothing I had scene. There were vineyards up mountains and in what looked like black dirt. The Mediterranean Sea was a glimmering turquoise and the houses on the hillside were unmistakably European. Our first stop was at a small store in Banyuls sur Mer, where we met with Jean-Francois Deu, owner of Domaine du Traginer .  The shop also sold other local wines and we tasted a few. I was taken with the 2007 Domaine du Traginer Collioure Blanc, a buttery vanilla whi

The weather was not cooperating the way we wished, with clouds and rain most of the day. It didn’t put a damper on my day as I had waited a long time to get to this area and was excited to be in the South of France. Eric Aracil, Export Manager, Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon , picked me up for a full day of wine tasting in the Roussillon region. He apologized for the weather and explained how unusual it was since this area actually gets 320 sunny days per year. I listened to him talk with pride as I enjoyed the beautiful landscape changing in front of the mountains. There were areas of green, but also many spots where it looked like the vines were growing right out of black! These are just a few of the things that make Roussillon unique from other French wine areas. Our first stop was at Domaine Piquemal , a family-owned winery that was now in the hands of the fifth generation, Marie Pierre Piquemal. She greeted us in the brand new building that now

It was an uneventful start to the long trip from home to the city of Perpignan in the wine region of Roussillon , France. I didn’t get upgraded on the American Airlines flight, but I did get a seat in the emergency row so I was able to spread out a little and get a bit of sleep. I had plenty of time before my afternoon flight, which was a good thing since I had to change in Paris from Charles de Gaulle to Orly Airport. That trip wasn’t quite so uneventful as a disruly passenger on the bus held us up quite a bit. I’d like to tell you what it was about, but my limited French could not come close to translating that conversation! From Orly, I took a short flight to the south of France, where Roussillon is located between the  Pyrenees  Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. It was my first visit to this region and I was excited about checking out another area of French wine. I would soon learn that this was much different than any other I had visited. I had a chance to r

It's hard to wake up anything but happy when you are at Disney World and the first view out your windows are the giraffes walking around Animal Kingdom. I was on a trip with a group of journalists to check out Disney's Golden Oak mansions, as well as what was new at the Magic Kingdom. Breakfast was at Jiko and it was a buffet like I had never seen. There was an omelet station that included treats like lobster and prepared dishes with delicacies such as ostrich eggs. The desserts were also delectable and we had a surprise guest – the big mouse himself came to greet us. After breakfast we headed to Disney’s Golden Oak community. This is the first opportunity for people to live right on the Disney property, something your family could certainly treasure. The mansions come in a variety of models. They are all truly luxurious and are priced at $1.6 to $8 million.  While the properties aren’t large (who wants to spend their time worrying about their lawns when liv