Author Archives: Bill

Great Spanish Wine Tasting Trip

I have done some earlier posts on the wine tasting trip my wife and I took in September.  It was an 18 day wine tasting itinerary in northwestern Spain with 19 other people. It was organized by an importer of Spanish wines, Howard Freedman, who accompanied us on the trip. The picture below is theContinue reading “Great Spanish Wine Tasting Trip”

Visiting the Rhine Christmas Markets

Beth and I did the Viking Christmas on the Rhine cruise in early December, visiting 10 Christmas Markets.  One was in the Netherlands, one in France, one in Switzerland, and seven were in Germany.  We very much enjoyed the trip but quickly had our expectations reset on what to expect in a European Christmas market. Continue reading “Visiting the Rhine Christmas Markets”

Spain Wine Tasting Trip, Saturday Sept. 24 – The Guggenheim Museum and the Nerua Michelin 1 Star Restaurant

If this is the first of my posts on the Spanish Wine Tasting that you are seeing, it is the 8th one in a series covering each day of the great wine tasting trip that we did in September/October of this year.  The first post is a summary of the entire trip and you canContinue reading “Spain Wine Tasting Trip, Saturday Sept. 24 – The Guggenheim Museum and the Nerua Michelin 1 Star Restaurant”

Spain Wine Tasting Trip, Friday Sept. 23 -Cidery, Cantabria, Basque Country, Bilbao

If this is the first of my posts on the Spanish Wine Tasting that you are seeing, it is the 7th one  in a series covering each day of the great wine tasting trip that we did.  The first post is a summary of the entire trip and you can find that at https://billwinetravelfood.com/2022/10/10/two-week-spanish-wine-tasting-trip/ TheContinue reading “Spain Wine Tasting Trip, Friday Sept. 23 -Cidery, Cantabria, Basque Country, Bilbao”

Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Thursday 9/22 – 2nd vineyard tour and steak for lunch

When the bus stopped for us to visit the Casar du Burbia vineyard in Bierzo, we were a little surprised.  We were on a small two lane road, that became a one lane road when our bus drove down it, and there were no winery buildings anywhere in sight.  When we got off the busContinue reading “Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Thursday 9/22 – 2nd vineyard tour and steak for lunch”

Thanksgiving Roast Turkey

Beth and I got married Memorial Day weekend of 1971, a week after she graduated from Georgetown.  I was halfway through my MBA up in New York at Columbia.  Beth was an Ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps and our sole breadwinner.  She had the 7 AM to 3 PM shift on Thanksgiving in 1971Continue reading “Thanksgiving Roast Turkey”

Spain Wine Tasting Trip Wed Sept. 21 – First Vineyard Visit

We left the beautiful Parador in Baiona Wednesday morning and had our first visit to a vineyard on our way to Leon, where we stayed the next two nights.  That vineyard was Bodegas Do Campo which is in the Ribiero DO.  I will cover what DO means and the organizational levels for Spanish wine atContinue reading “Spain Wine Tasting Trip Wed Sept. 21 – First Vineyard Visit”

Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Tuesday Sept. 20: Shellfish Farming, Lunch at Michelin 1 Star Restaurant, Wine Tasting and Dinner

We had a very full day on Tuesday: a boat trip to see the extensive shellfish farming in the Galician estuaries, a wine tasting followed by lunch at a Michelin 1 Star restaurant, a wine tasting back at the hotel that Howard had arranged, and a welcome dinner hosted by Howard.  We took at shortContinue reading “Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Tuesday Sept. 20: Shellfish Farming, Lunch at Michelin 1 Star Restaurant, Wine Tasting and Dinner”

Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Sept. 19, Day 3 – Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, and Baiona

Monday Sept 19 was our first full day as part of Howard’s group of 21 people plus Antonio our guide, Ramon our driver, and Howard.   We stayed in the NH Collection Santiago de Compostela Hotel only one night, the only part of Howard’s trip where we were not in a hotel at least two nightsContinue reading “Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Sept. 19, Day 3 – Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, and Baiona”

Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Days 1 and 2 in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela

The first two days of our trip to Spain were both half-days so I am combining them for this first post that gets into a little more detail on all the things that we did on this trip we enjoyed so much.  I have also included one of the interesting lessons that we learned onContinue reading “Spanish Wine Tasting Trip – Days 1 and 2 in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela”