Wine Travel Stories

In-depth Tales of Winery Visits Around the World

Ningxia Wine Auction and Banquet, China

August 31, 2012 – That evening we dressed for the formal banquet dinner and wine auction that was held at another hotel. Over 300 people attended, and once again we were seated at the main table, but this time it was long and rectagnal with 12 different courses served, including this lovely dish of prawns. We were were served the Best of Class White and Red wines, so I was very happy to drink the Xixia King Chardonnay NV and the Jiabeilan Grand Reserve 2009. The media were in attendance with more cameras flashing and video cameras rolling. The winning [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:22:38-08:00September 12, 2012|

Visiting Silver Heights Winery in Ningxia China with Winemaker Emma Gao

August 31, 2012 - After lunch we boarded the van to drive about ten minutes down narrow dirt roads past poverty stricken shacks to arrive at Silver Heights Winery. Once through the modest gates, we saw a large garden and were greeted by owner, Emma Gao, who had a huge welcoming smile on her face and was followed by her 5-year old daughter’s puppy – a very young and adorable winery dog (see photo). Silver Heights is a true urban winery in the sense that it is located in the city of Yinchuan, even though it’s vineyards are on the [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:21:53-08:00September 10, 2012|

Historic Tasting of 39 Ningxia Wines , China

August 31, 2012 – The next morning I awoke very excited because this was the day we were scheduled to do a blind tasting of Ningxia wines. Jancis Robinson, MW had flown in from the UK the evening before and I sat with her at dinner. I have met Jancis on three other occasions and had lunch with her in Napa, and have always found her very friendly and down-to earth. As she was exhausted from her trip, she declined going to the violin concert the evening before, but met us at 8am to walk over to the wine-tasting room [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:22:20-08:00September 10, 2012|

Opening Ceremony of the Ningxia China Wine Festival – Dancing Girls, Conference and Violin Concert

August 30, 2012 - The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet, we took a bus to the opening ceremony of the 1st Helanshan Mountains' East Piedmont Wine Festival. Again our delegation of around eight people was treated like VIPs. We descended from the van to walk on a red carpet and have a flower pinned to our clothes. Multiple photographs snapped many pictures of us as we continued to walk on the red carpet into the large convention center where two lines of more than 100 young women dressed in purple and pink sparkling dresses with [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:21:31-08:00September 10, 2012|

Grand Welcome Banquet in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China

August 29, 2012 - After time to relax in our rooms a bit, we were asked to meet in the hotel lobby at 5:15 in order to walk over to a formal reception with the governor of the Ningxia region. Most of us dressed in formal clothing and arrived at the reception room to find we each had a large white lounge chair to sit in with our name printed on a red sign in both English and Chinese. Translators assisted with the very impressive ceremony of announcing each official – around ten of them, as well as our group [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:21:05-08:00September 10, 2012|

The Ningxia Wine Region and Arriving in Yinchuan at the Yuehai Hotel, China

August 29, 2012 – The next morning we drove to Beijing Airport to catch an Air China flight departing at 10:30am to Yinchuan in the Ningxia Province. Yinchuan is located in the middle of China and is a 1.5 hour flight from Beijing. We met several other professors and wine experts at the airport and traveled in a group to attend the 1st International Wine Festival and Horticulture Conference where we all were scheduled to give presentations. The government of the Ningxia region had invited us and covered all travel expenses. The Ningxia Wine Region Ningxia is one of 8 [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:20:45-08:00September 8, 2012|

A Wine Tasting in Beijing and Dried Pig’s Ear for Dinner

Aug. 28, 2012 – As usual on my first few days in China, I awoke at 4:30 (even with the assistance of a sleeping pill) and couldn’t fall back to sleep. However, it was useful to have some extra time to have a cup of Starbuck’s Via in my room before heading to a tasting of the top 20 wines in the Beijing market priced between 200 – 350 RMB ($30 – 55 US). Qin organized the tasting as part of a research project with the university. It was conducted with wine buyers,sommeliersf and educators working in Beijing and included [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:20:11-08:00September 8, 2012|

Amazing Meal at Da Dong Restaurant in Beijing, China

August 27, 2012 – I am back in China again for the third time in the past six years. It is always enjoyable to arrive in this vibrant country with its ceaseless energy of millions of cars, people, colors, smells, and sounds teeming through the streets. My non-stop 12-hour flight from San Francisco arrived in Beijing at 3:30pm on Monday, August 27 and by 5pm I was already seated at Da Dong Restaurant in downtown Beijing. Qin and Shan met me at the airport and cheerfully pulled my luggage into Shan’s new SUV. Amazingly the traffic on the drive into [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T16:19:47-08:00September 3, 2012|

Visiting Southern Oregon Wineries – Rogue and Applegate Valley AVAs

August 2012 – This week I’m visiting Southern Oregon to participate as a judge in their World of Wine Festival. Though most people think of “pinot noir” when asked about Oregon wine, here in the much sunnier and hotter region of Southern Oregon I encountered some big and muscular reds, and was especially impressed with the tempranillo and malbec wines. Southern Oregon (www.sorwa.org) is home to 70 – 80 wineries including virtual wine brands. The area includes the 3 AVA’s of Umqua Valley in the northern region near the town of Roseburg, the Rogue Valley near Medford, and the Applegate [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T18:57:48-08:00August 21, 2012|

Iowa Wine: Visit to Cedar Ridge, White Cross and Ackerman Wineries Plus Amana and Amish Communities

July 2013 – Iowa is now home to 81 wineries according to www.Iowawineandbeer.com. I am in Iowa City for one week to attend the Summer Writer’s Festival, but had a free afternoon and morning to visit some of the local wineries and the unique Amana and Amish communities’ near-by. All are within a 20 or 30-minute drive of Iowa City. Cedar Ridge Winery – Celebrating Iowa Grapes In the afternoon I drove to Cedar Ridge Winery first because it has the largest vineyards in the area, boasting 10 acres of 10 different varietals. The winery itself is also big by [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:44:25-08:00July 23, 2012|

Route of the Cathars: Carcassonne and Renne Le Chateau With Wines of Limoux and Maury, France

June 2012 – Before leaving the US, I read several articles on the Cathars and their unusual and tragic history in the Languedoc-Roussillon area of France. Therefore, I was anxious to visit some of their territory, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Route of the Cathars coincided with my planned visits to the wine towns of Limoux and Maury. (Wine was introduced into this region in 600 B.C. by the Phoenicians and Greeks.) The Cathars were an usual sect of Christians who were vegetarians and believed in reincarnation. Some of the ancient rumors – picked up by Dan [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:44:46-08:00July 15, 2012|

Charming Collioure France: Banyuls Wines & La Balette Restaurant

June 2012 - We have rented an apartment for a week in the seaside town of Collioure in the far southwestern region of France only 20 kilometers from the Spanish border. I visited here once before 15 years ago and fell in love with the charming little village with its calm bay surrounded by church, tower, chateau and stone seawalls. It has narrow streets with houses and stores painted in pastel colors and flowers are everywhere. It is the place where many famous painters came to paint including Matisse, Picasso, and Derain. In addition to sunbathing on the pebbly beaches [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:45:08-08:00June 21, 2012|

Loire Valley: Chateau Cheverny & Romorantin Wine

We are spending a week in a French gite an hour south of Paris in the tiny village of Thourey-Ferroutes near Fountainbleu. The gite is quite spacious with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen and living room. It is within the grounds of a large chateau, and the owner Sylvie, is very gracious and speaks perfect English. We are relaxing in the area and also taking day trips. So far we have visited Chartres, Monet’s garden in Giverny (stayed there the first night at a B&B), and took the train to Paris (leaves every 30 minutes from the delightful town [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:45:30-08:00June 9, 2012|

Port of Dubrovnik, Croatia – Plavac Mali and the Island of Peacocks and Cicadas (Lokrum)

As I drew back the curtains that morning, I’ll never forget the sight of the beautiful Croatian islands that appeared on all sides of the ship as we sailed into the port of Dubrovnik. We sat and sipped coffee on the balcony as we marveled at the beauty of the rocky islands with small fir trees – some deserted and some with houses along tiny sandy beaches. Equally impressive was the port with the large bridges as the ship sailed into the narrow inlet outside the old city walls. Dubrovnik was the main city was had come to visit on [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:45:50-08:00January 3, 2012|

The Port of Bari, Italy – Burrata Cheese and the Famous Primativo Grape

Sept. 2011 - The ship docked in Bari two hours late because of a strike going on in the city that day. Apparently all the transportation workers were picketing so there was no way to obtain taxis, buses, etc. However, when the strike was over we were allowed to go into the city around 1pm. This is another port where you can actually walk from the ship to the old city of Bari (about ½ mile walk), but as the day was very hot, we decided to pay to take the bus. Bari is located in the Puglia region of [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T20:46:12-08:00January 3, 2012|

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