While most people think of Australia and New Zealand wine, they think of them as new destinations. However, a lot of the wineries in both Australia and New Zealand date back to the 19th century. Many of the early European settlers planted grapes, and while a lot of wineries don’t date that far back, the […]
Buenos dias! Today we’ve moved on to the South American wine regions, specifically those in Argentina and Chile. These two countries are the star players in South American wine, and they produce a huge amount of the global wine industry. Mendoza alone produces nearly 60% of South American wine; you could spend years here and […]
Today we’ve hopped the pond from the European wine regions to the North American wine regions. While most people think of North American wine as being from Californian or Washingtonian, I’m here to tell you there are wineries across the whole of the continent! California, Washington, and Oregon do have the most well known wineries, […]
To kick off this week’s series on wine regions around the world, I thought I’d better start with the European wine regions. This part of the world has the world’s oldest winery, despite the oldest evidence of wine in China. European wine regions range from the sunny shores of Portugal all the way into Georgia […]
The leaves are changing a bit late this year, at least where I am (Pennsylvania). I came back from a trip to find that only one of my trees has turned red; the rest remain green. (Still, I’m eagerly awaiting when my lawn is littered with golden leaves.) Seeking out fall foliage is a time-honoured […]
Wine, the nectar of the gods. Civilisations have been drinking wine for millennia. The Chinese were the first to drink wine (7000 BCE) and it shifted westward through Iran/Mesopotamia, Georgia, Armenia, and Italy. The ancient Greeks drank it, the Romans devoured it, and both Judaism and Christianity incorporate it into rituals. Even Islamic culture, while […]
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way might draw visitors to the small island, but the myths and legends of Ireland’s Ancient East certainly keep them there. There’s ancient burial tombs, remote stone circles, stories of Robin Hood-style robbers, and crumbling castles with plenty of scandalous history.
Last week, I headed to Chicago to visit a friend. While there, and while they were at work, I took the opportunity to meet with seven of my Virtuoso hotel sales reps and one non-Virtuoso property. These eight Chicago hotels are concentrated between River North and Gold Coast neighbourhoods of downtown. They range from boutique […]
I decided to highlight one of the most popular road trips in the world for today’s destination series. We’re still in Ireland, this time on the Wild Atlantic Way. This 2,500km long route takes you through nine counties and six diverse regions of Ireland. It highlights the spectacular scenery, small town charm, and ancient Irish […]
We’ve moved north from Dublin today to explore Northern Ireland. (While not part of the Republic of Ireland, the tourism board markets to the whole of the island.) The capital city is Belfast, a once-powerful shipbuilding and industrial centre. In fact, Belfast was, at on point, the leader in shipbuilding across Europe. It remains an […]
