Wine and Spirits Travel

I have been on many different cruises on various cruise lines. I have to admit, however, that I knew nothing about MSC Cruises . As soon as I did, I was immediately intrigued at the concept of this European line who had one ship in the U.S. I was also fascinated with their Yacht Club idea which gives a luxury “ship within a ship” experience. It didn’t take me long to say “yes” and before long Mom and I were off packing to head off on the MSC Divina. The ship leaves out of Miami for the Caribbean, while the other ships of this Italian owned line travel throughout the world. ( MSC is in the process of bringing two additional ships to Miami in the next few years.) It’s a fairly large vessel with 1,637 cabins that can hold nearly 4,000 passengers. I’d like to say that the check-in process was all quick and easy, but there was a bit of confusion as to where the MSC Divina Yacht Club passengers were to go. Once that was settled and we were in the right place, we had ch

I enjoy attending events in Chicago whenever possible and I’ve learned to stuff my trips to get in as much as possible each time I go. When I received an invitation to a wine pairing luncheon I had just the excuse I needed to plan what would be a delicious trip. The first stop of the day was for the luncheon. It was at Baffo, the Mario Batali restaurant that’s a part of the Eataly plaza in Chicago.  The meal was being paired with Consorzio Carignano del Sulcis wines. I didn’t know much about this region on the island of Sardinia, nor had I tasted this red grape. It sounded like a perfect accompaniment to Batali’s Italian specialties and it certainly was. I brought my friend Lisa along and it was a fun event as we learned about the region and tasted some incredible food at  Baffo : Salumi Misti with Gnocco Fritto with 2011 Calasetta Tupei This antipasto and fried bread worked well with this rich wine. Farfalle con Gambieri (without the shrimp for me