After touching down in Bilbao, we made our way into the land of wine legends - Rioja. We came over the crest of a hill and there it was. Sprawling rolling viney...
"We make wine we like, because we might have to drink it" explained Judi, who serves as vineyard manager and assistant winemaker. It's advice they took to heart from Wes Hagen from Clos Pepe Winery. He told them early on to only grow and produce what they really like. Wine is really hard to sell if you're not passionate about it, he explained.
Winemaker Joe Hurliman has an exceptional challenge on his hands. He is not Jewish and rules of kosher winemaking is that only a Sabbath observant cellar crew may touch the grapes.
It's a treat to sit down with her, enjoy her wonderful wines with some bread and cheese and just visit. Sandi doesn't just grow grapes. She has fruit and vegetables galore and more often than not she'll send me off with some freshly picked produce.
After their humble beginnings with one acre in Bryan that grew to thirty, they own 150 acres in West Texas and altogether there are more than 900 acres that are part of Messina Hof. In the late 80s and early 90s they started winning some major awards.
Sascha La Russo is the tasting room manager and a classically trained opera singer. You never know when she might break into song. Visitors can taste all six of Estate d'Iacobelli's offerings for $10.
Yliana Stengou
What's the first thing you think of when you hear Greek wine? Retsina? That's what I would have thought until recently. On a sunny spring aft...
The fruit simply exploded from the glass. I thought this was an exceptional wine. Ken called it "luscious all the way through." Sue called it the perfect Merlot.
We began the next morning with a visit to Mas Tinell. Mas Tinell's new home also features an ultra-modern 11 room hotel with windows designed to resemble cava bubbles