Wine and Spirits Travel

I have been lucky enough to travel around the world, but I never had the opportunity to visit any of the places my family came from.  That list is longer than you may think since each of my grandparents was born in a different country. When the opportunity to visit Sicily came up, I was thrilled to be able to cross one of those places off my list. The trip was organized by Rebecca Hopkins, whom I had met while at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic . She works for Folio Wines and put together a trip for me with three of Sicily’s top wine producers, Valledell’Acate , Tasca d’Almerita and Donnafugata . The itinerary had us on eight planes and in the car quite a bit, but the positive side of that was that I would get to see a lot of the land my grandfather’s family was from. It was a rough start to the trip as the cab I ordered didn’t show up and I came as close as one could get (the plane door about to close) to missing my plane. Had I been at a larger airport, there proba

I woke up early, had a quick yoga workout and then went up to the Reincarnation Room at the Hotel Monteleone for breakfast. The sponsor of the day was cognac (the spirit) and samples of cocktails and the straight stuff were everywhere.  I decided to pass, opting instead for a croissant, fruit and tea. Before I headed upstairs to get organized for the day, I stopped at the pool, where they were sampling some tea cocktails. Somehow a chocolate tea smoothie – even if it was spiked – seemed more logical at 8:00 am. My first event of the day was the I Love/Hate Cocktails Seminar. It was being led by Belvedere Mixologist Claire Smith, whom I had gotten to know a bit at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic . Claire was monitoring a panel of six mixologists/liquor representatives who were divided between loving and hating cocktails. It was by far the most fun seminar I had ever been to and I was really glad it I had chosen it for my schedule.  I had some time so I did a bit