Wine and Spirits Travel

I think the heading says it all – what more can a girl want? I even had my good friend Cortney along for the ride as I enjoyed the good life in Chicago . We were staying at the Trump International Chicago , which will always remain one of my favorite hotels. Donald sure knows how to give you the royal treatment and the staff tells me he comes by once in a while to make sure they are doing their job right. They certainly did for us, whether it was giving directions or bringing extra bath salts and neck warmers to our spa room. I started the day with a little yoga so I wouldn’t feel quite so guilty about what I was about to put in my body – donuts, lots of them. My first stop of the day was at Firecakes Donuts , the latest in Chicago’s gourmet donut trend. I met with one of the owners, Tony Bardwell, and realized that maybe the donut stop wasn’t so bad for my health. Firecakes uses all natural ingredients, importing cocoa from France, getting Pure Tahitian Vanilla Ext...

I was just getting over an illness, but itching to travel, so when the opportunity to go to Chicago and do nothing except eat, drink and spa came up, my bags were packed and I was ready to go. My friend Cortney picked me up for our second adventure in Chicago together .  Our first stop was The Local Chicago, just opened in December, 2012. Even though this restaurant is by the same owners as Chicago Cut Steakhouse, the two could not be more different. The Local Chicago is all about a casual atmosphere and old fashioned American Comfort food, offering fare to the “locals” such as a Thanksgiving Dinner every Thursday.  It is open from 6:30 am to 2:00 pm, offering one menu for lunch and dinner. We started lunch with the unbelievable Blue Cheese Fondue Chips, which were soft and crispy. We also tasted the Jalapeño corn bread and it was easy to see why Oprah fell in love with it. Alongside the comfort food were comfort cocktails, with ingredients like house-made g...

Ever since the first time I saw photos of Mackinac Island , I couldn’t wait to go there.  It was one of those places that would require a long drive and the timing never seemed right. When I finally did commit to making the trip, there was nothing that was going to stop me. My friend Lisa and I left early in the morning and drove through the day to make sure we would catch the last ferry in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island. It was a bit disappointing that it was raining when we boarded the Arnold Transit ferry, but they had indoor seating and it was a very short (less than a half hour) ride to the island. Along the way we had a view of the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Mackinaw City . We were told that the “shuttle” would take us, as well as our luggage, to our hotel. What we didn’t realize until we arrived was that shuttle was synonymous with horse and buggy on this island! We walked a bit in t...

On the way to Roussillon , I flew through Paris, but I was excited to have the opportunity to fly back through Barcelona. I had been to Spain before. This was my first trip, though, to this vibrant city and I’m so glad I was able to squeeze it in. It was a short one and a half hour train ride from Perpignan in Roussillon, France, to Barcelona, Spain . I enjoyed the scenery as we went by, but I was anxious to arrive at my destination. I only had until the next morning before I was flying home. The train station was busy, but it didn’t take me long to find a cab to my hotel, the Catalonia Plaza Cataluna . I was pleased that Wines of Roussillon had chosen this location for me as it was central to the city. It even had two things I don’t get often in Europe, a bathtub and king size bed. I quickly freshened up and asked the concierge for my best walking route to see the city. He pointed me to La Rambla, which was just a block away. From there I was able to head to the Got...

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Eric Aracil, Export Manager, Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon , was there to greet me first thing in the morning at Hotel Metropole in Perpignan. It was my last day in this wine region and we had lots of wine to taste. It was another scenic drive as I once again saw the diversity in the soil of this area between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. We were actually heading closer to the mountains into the driest area in Roussillon. Our first stop was at Domaine La Casenove in Trouillas , where the Montes family and winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo had managed to make wine from a land filled with clay and pebbles. They had a lot of practice in doing so as this family had been here for more than 400 years. I liked the selection of wines at Domaine La Casenove, which included dry reds like syrah and the sweeter muscat. The Muscat de Rivesaltes is dessert wine perfected, with notes of honey, apricot and kiwi. Our ride to Domaine de Nidoler...