Wine and Spirits Travel

After a major renovation, The Westin Downtown Cleveland offered to flew me to the Ohio city to write about the hotel. It had been years since I had even been there, and I was anxious to see what the city was doing in preparation for the 2016 Republican National Convention , so it didn’t take me long to accept the opportunity. It was my first time flying into Cleveland and I quickly learned that this town has its priorities straight. It’s all about the food and the music, with top chefs producing the former and music’s most famous museum hosting the latter. A sign greeted me the minute I walked out the door of the airport announcing the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Exhibit. (The 2016 Exhibit will be up soon and I look forward to seeing it.) As much as I would have loved to go straight there, I was waiting for my ride from Christopher Moore of the Cleveland Tourism Board . I made a quick stop at The Westin Cleveland Downtown to check into my r

Day three of the Food Network South Beach Wine & FoodFestival was filled to the brim with some wonderful New Zealand wine, some foodie girls going wild, and a thrilling barbecue by a man who knows the chew. I was back down at the Perry Hotel bright and early in the morning for the Wine Spectator Seminar: Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc & Pinot Noir Style Diversity.  The leader of the seminar was New Zealand wine expert and winemaker Patrick Materman, who filled in the blanks on the region and led a tasting of wines from Brancott Estate and Stoneleigh Marlborough . Since I am currently planning a trip to New Zealand, I was especially interested – and impressed with the offerings. I’m always a fan of NZ sauvignon blanc and was happy to discover the ones from these brands, which were full of tropical and grassy notes. I also tasted New Zealand Pinot Noir for the first time and found the 2010 Brancott Estate Letter Series “T” to be more fruit forward and richer than m