Consider culinary indulgence from a Mexican point of view at the Food & Wine Festival in Ixtapa Zihuatanej March 22 through 24, 2012.

Celebrity chefs Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelsson plus wine expert Mark Oldman be on hand to explore local cuisine with Mexican masters, including Guillermo González Beristain, Patricia Quintana, Alfredo Oropeza and José Ramón Castillo.

Cooking demos will explore classic regional dishes, tequila, mezcal, wine and chocolate. There’s a culinary tour of Zihuatanejo and a street food party also on the schedule. Each event is priced separately; tickets are available online.

For more information on the area, check out the tourism site.

(Photo courtesy of Food & Wine Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo)

The seventh annual Wine & Jazz Festival takes place this weekend in Laishley Park, Punta Gorda, Florida.

It runs tomorrow (February 17, 2012) through Sunday (February 19, 2012).

The admission price includes entertainment, a welcome bag with wine/beer glasses and show directory, a food passport to visit every food vendor once between 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (food service will close as the last act goes on stage), all wine, beer, sodas and water. Please bring a folding chair. Umbrellas are allowed provided you are seated to the sides of the audience and do not block people behind you. No coolers or pets are allowed.

(Photo courtesy of Punta Gorda Wine & Jazz Festival)

Special to Road Trips for Wine
By the Austrian Tourist Office

The historic center of Rust, just one hour south of Vienna, Austria, in Burgenland, is lined with stately Baroque and Renaissance façades with beautiful portals and heraldic stucco decorations. The source of the city’s wealth is a golden, sweet wine that is so exquisite that it has been sought the world over by kings.

The historic center of Rust in Burgenland is lined with stately Baroque and Renaissance façades with beautiful portals and heraldic stucco decorations.

Contrary to other historical towns, houses still maintain their original function as homes and family wineries. The source of the city’s wealth is a golden, sweet wine that is so exquisite that it has been sought the world over by kings. “Ruster Ausbruch” is the unique and prestigious wine with which the city of Rust purchased its right to self-govern from Emperor Leopold I in 1681.

Long warm autumns lavish the vineyards of Rust with morning fog and afternoon sun allowing grapes to shrivel with spicy noble rot on the vine. Suitable grapes are hand selected or “broken out” (Ausbruch) of bunches to produce a wine with aromas and flavors of honey, spice and exotic fruit nectar.

Schröck, Feiler-Artinger, Schandl, Wenzel and Triebaumer are just a few producers in Rust where you can taste and purchase wines on historic premises.

(Photo courtesy of Cercle Ruster Ausbruch)

For more information on this region or other parts of Austria, go online.

Special to Road Trips for Wine
By the French Government Tourist Office

The Beaujolais area, to the north of Lyon, France, is recognized worldwide for its wines. Indeed, wine production is a major industry in the area, which boasts 12 main appellations covering 96 wine-producing villages and including ten famous “crus”.

The Beaujolais reflects four distinctive landscapes. On its eastern flank along the Saône valley, rolling hills are covered in vines and views stretch over the countryside, sometimes as far as Mont-Blanc. Glowing, golden-hued stone dominates in southern Beaujolais, just outside Lyon, where you’ll find villages such as Bagnols, Oingt and Chatillon d’Azergues.

In the hillier, tree-covered area to the west, farms offer produce tastings and there are ample opportunities to enjoy outdoor activities such as biking, walking and horseback riding. And in Villefranche-sur-Saône, you’ll be welcomed by the hustle and bustle of a charming county town, with Renaissance houses and courtyards, shops, a covered market, restaurants, and museums.

Continuing on from the Burgundian wine route, the Beaujolais wine route stretches over 140 km through 36 communities, from Chânes up to the portal of Greater Lyon. You won’t lose your way as you travel between the vineyards’ main tourist attractions, since the new trail helps visitors find their way and explore Beaujolais to the fullest.

Meander through the heart of the 10 Beaujolais Crus, visit Vaux-en-Beaujolais (aka “Clochemerle”), Salles-Arbuissonnas, and Villefranche-sur-Saône, or the historic capital of Beaujeu.

And don’t miss the Pays des Pierres Dorées (country of golden stones) including Oingt, which is classified as being one of the most beautiful villages in France. The course selected for the new Beaujolais wine route brings you across the highlights of each of our 12 appellations.

The interactive wine tourism map is available online.

Made with the visitor in mind, the route will transport you from each of the region’s main attractions to the next, helping you to explore Beaujolais to the fullest.

The 2011 Beaujolais Wine Tourism Guidebook also is available online.

For more information, you can also download some free itineraries directly to your GPS device.

To help spread the word about all the great things they have to offer, the Beaujolais vineyards are continuing to invest in new technology by publishing a magazine available on iPads. This touchpad format allows the user a new and more interactive approach to information, using sound, video, photos, the web, and more. Use this e-magazine to find more information on art de vivre, meetings with winemakers, tourist trails and the Beaujolais wine route.

For more information on traveling in the region, go to the Beaujolais Tourist Office website.

And, you can watch Beaujolais TV here.

(Photo courtesy of French Government Tourist Office)

By Michael A. Norton
Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
Special to Road Trips for Wine

“Tasting wine should engage all your senses,” says winemaker Mark Johnson. “It’s not just about what’s going on with your tastebuds. What is your nose telling you? How does the wine look in the glass – how does the glass feels in your hand?”

As head winemaker at the Chateau Chantal Winery & Inn near Traverse City, Johnson knows that it doesn’t stop there. A wine-tasting experience can be shaped for better or worse by one’s surroundings – which is why Chateau Chantal’s tasting room was designed to evoke “a unique Old World experience,” with rich wood paneling, wide archways and plenty of enormous windows looking out over the lush vineyards, winding roads and breathtaking scenery of the Old Mission Peninsula.

Across the bay on the region’s other winemaking peninsula, Steve Grossnickle of Forty-Five North Vineyard & Winery took a different approach. Like Johnson, Grossnickle believes that wine-tasting is improved by “pleasant surroundings and personnel.” But as a native of rural Indiana, he thought there was something “contrived” about the faux German, Italian or even Californian décor of other tasting rooms.

His solution was to build a tasting room that looked like an antique barn. At one point, he even dismantled a 120-year-old barn from southern Michigan and brought it up to his Lake Leelanau winery in hopes of turning it into a tasting room. When that didn’t work, he hired Amish carpenters to create a new one.

There’s certainly a wide range of experiences available for the would-be wine enthusiast. If you’d like to pretend you’re James Bond sneaking into a European embassy party, there are elegant places like Chateau Chantal, Brys Estate, Circa Estate or Ciccone Vineyard & Winery. On the other hand, you could wander into an ultra-modern tasting room like 2 Lads Winery, which looks like it could be the secret lair for a Bond film’s super-villain.

At first blush, Bryan Ulbrich’s choice of a tasting-room site might seem completely devoid of atmosphere: he started his Left Foot Charley winery in a sprawling postwar brick building that once housed the laundry for the former Northern Michigan Asylum. But with its cheerful décor, mellow music and enormous windows overlooking the turreted buildings of the old asylum (now the bustling Village at Grand Traverse Commons), Left Foot Charley perfectly expresses its owner’s principles about what American wine is all about.

He’s not alone. Bernie Rink still sells his Boskydel Vineyard wines in an unpretentious utility building at the edge of his Lake Leelanau vineyard. What you get instead of continental atmosphere is the chance to check out the hilarious “bartered art” left by visiting dignitaries and celebrities over the years, and – if you’re lucky – to chat with the man who started the Traverse City wine industry four decades ago.

The vibe isn’t all that much different a few miles to the south, where Larry Mawby produces some of the best sparkling wines in the country but holds tastings in what could be a basement rec room behind his house – except that it’s a room with astonishingly pretty views of a little pastoral valley. Similar witticisms adorn the walls, and Larry is often around to supply thoughtful conversation.

The stylings of tasting rooms are as varied as the wines they serve, in fact. There are opulent movie-set places like Chateau Chantal, small-but-quaint spots like Bowers Harbor Vineyards and Willow Vineyards, and utilitarian outlets like Good Harbor Vineyards, Chateau de Leelanau and Silver Leaf Vineyard & Winery. There are tasting rooms that accentuate their agricultural roots (Black Star Farms is a real farm, and Shady Lane Cellars built their tasting room out of a remodeled chicken coop.) and even one tasting room – Peninsula Cellars – that was once an 1896 country schoolhouse.

In the village of Omena, just south of Northport, is one of the region’s oldest wineries, Leelanau Wine Cellars. The industrial heart of its winemaking operation is tucked out of sight on a hilltop away from the village, but its tasting room is in a former gas station on M-22 with sweeping views of the harbor and West Grand Traverse Bay.

“We created this to be a four-season room,” says winery manager Tony Lentych. “Staring out at Omena Point while you’re sipping a glass of our wine – even in winter watching a winter storm sweep across the bay — is an amazing experience. It blows people away.”

To learn more about visiting Traverse City, go online.

(Photo of Brys Estate Winery courtesy of Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Special to Road Trips for Wine
By the French Government Tourist Office

Every year, the third Thursday in November is named Beaujolais Nouveau day, which, according to a French law created in 1985, is the first day that the year’s vintage may be distributed. Falling on November 17 in 2011, this festive day celebrates the arrival of the perennial wine produced from twelve different Beaujolais appellations, spanning both the southern part of Burgundy and northern part of the Rhone-Alps.

As soon as midnight hits on Wednesday eve, towns around France, and now around the world, revel in the new harvest, with bottles flowing from restaurants and bars, and spectacles hitting the streets. In Lyon, the Beauj’olympiades festival is hosted, lighting up the city with fireworks, music and two days of wine tastings. In Paris bistros and restaurants, the new wine is served and celebrated as soon as the clock strikes midnight.

The most grandiose celebration takes place in the heart of the harvest area in the town of Beaujeau. Since 1989, Les Sarmentelles festival has been celebrating the new Beaujolais vintage with copious wine tastings, festive dancing, revelers singing French drinking songs in the streets, and nighttime street fairs.

The Sarmentelles festival, derived from the word sarment, meaning grapevine cuttings, launches on the eve of Beaujolais Nouveau day. Right before midnight on Wednesday, the festivities commence with an annual ceremony, marked by a torch-lit parade down the streets of Beaujeu, and the burning of the leftover vines. As soon as midnight strikes, the barrels flow with the brand new wine and the streets explode with conviviality.

Following this grand revelry on Thursday, the next three days welcome a Beaujolais wine fair, showcasing the winemakers from all 12 Beaujolais appellations. Other weekend events include a country ball, a French pop music performance, and an organic and sustainable development fair. During the festivities, a tasting competition is held, where participants must identify the Beaujolais appellations of the wines they taste; as an incentive, the winner will take home his or her weight in wine.

For information on touring the region, check out the website of the Office de Tourisme au coeur du Beaujolais.

(Photo courtesy of Les Sarmentelles)

Denver’s International Wine Festival takes place November 3 and 4, 2011, in the Wings Over the Rockies Museum on the former Lowry Air Force Base.

Hours both days are 4:30 to 9 p.m. It’s sponsored by Wine Country Network.

The 2011 “Pairsine-Denver Chefs Food & Wine Pairing Competition”
(Formerly known as The Taste Of Elegance) takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. November 3. At this event, hosted by Top Chef Season 5 Winner Hosea Rosenberg, more than 15 Colorado chefs will compete to create 30 custom paired dishes with gold medal winners from The Denver International Wine Competition.

A panel of food industry judges and consumer attendees will vote for the Best Chef, Most Creative and People’s Choice Chef Awards. New for 2011 is an early-access VIP ticket benefiting the Eat Denver Independent Restaurant Association.

The Grand Tasting on November 4 showcases more than 400 international wines from 18 countries plus selected spirits, sake, a Belgium Beer Garden featuring food samplings created by Belgian chef Daniel Joly of Mirabelle, Beaver Creek, paired with Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Leffe beers, served in their custom glassware. Food samplings, produce and food products by Colorado Proud producers, Wisconsin Cheese and more.

(Photo courtesy of Wine Country Network)

The Wine Library of Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann has opened the Bordeauxthèque, a new 250-square-meter area designed as an “embassy” for wines from the Bordeaux region of France.

The Bordeauxthèque will present a range of more than 1,000 wines to satisfy both novices and connoisseurs. For Philippe Thomas, Food and Restaurant Director of Galeries Lafayette, this will be “the quintessence of Bordeaux wine at the heart of the greatest store in the world.” Twelve thousand bottles will be stored there. Nine exceptional Bordeaux grands crus (Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion, Mission Haut-Brion, Cheval-Blanc, Petrus and Yquem) will be presented in this showcase setting. For each of them, around 30 reference vintages will be available. These wines will include legendary years such as Mouton 1945 and Yquem 1899.

From vintage 2009, delivered in 2012, the “Bordeauxthèque Collection” case will each year bring together these nine grands crus of the same vintage in a magnificent wooden presentation box. A unique selection of special formats will complete the offer: half-bottle, Magnum, Double Magnum, Jeroboam, Imperial and Nabuchodonosor. White wines and Sauternes wines will also be suitably represented with a wide choice in the Bordeauxthèque.

Crus bourgeois of more recent vintages will be displayed in large quantities, thus constituting one of the largest ranges of Bordeaux wines ever placed on sale. More commonly consumed wines, priced from €3.90 will be grouped together in an area featuring regular promotions. Customers can also purchase wines in Magnum or Double Magnum sizes for themselves or as gifts. A team of wine experts speaking many languages will welcome and advise clientele.

The Bordeauxthèque is designed like a 17th-century library with its cabinets laid out in classical style: pilasters, painted wood capitals, polished brass bars and black and white checkerboard paving. Unlike in ordinary shelf arrangements, the bottle tops form a regular and geometrical vertical pattern, lending itself to the initiation of the novice while at the same time maintaining a reverent atmosphere for connoisseurs. The entrance, forming a corridor, accommodates commonly consumed wines. The passageway then opens out into a room surrounding a rotunda topped by a gilded cupola.

Located in the heart of Lafayette Gourmet, the 400 square meters of the Wine Library contain not only 1600 wines but also 700 spirits including brandies and liqueurs from every region of France and all over the world. All the diversity of regions and names, from the most private to the most prestigious, is here: 300 champagnes, from the greatest names to those produced by independent wine growers; a careful selection of famous Burgundies, and a choice of wines from the Loire, Rhone, Savoie and Jura regions and vineyards in the South of France.

The collection housed in the Wine Library is as carefully targeted as it is varied and serves as a for the latest trends in wine growing, including organic wine and biodynamics.

Finally, the Bar Rouge, located at the heart of the Wine Library, plays host to gourmets with a simple and refined menu based on the finest products sold at Lafayette Gourmet. Needless to say, a selection of wines served by the glass is available there.

(Photo courtesy of France Guide)

Special to Road Trips for Wine
By the Austrian Tourist Board

Visit the Esterhàzy Palace Wine Museum, regional wine bar and shop, and state-of-the-art winery. Known as philanthropists, builders, and passionate art collectors throughout history, the Esterhàzy dynasty’s tradition with wine is equally great. Empress Maria Theresia, composer Josef Haydn, and even the spoiled privy councillor von Goethe appreciated the fruit-driven wine that was vinified in the Esterhàzy Palace cellar.

Today the historic ambiance of the Esterhàzy Palace cellar houses the Burgenland Wine Museum. Discover over 700 objects for making and enjoying wine including Burgenland’s largest old carved wine cask and oldest wooden lever wine press.

After visiting the museum, taste exquisite wines at the Esterhàzy Vinothek and Wine Bar vis-a-vis the palace. Over 600 wines from the Burgenland’s current top producers as well as Austrian stemware and many other attractive wine accessories are available for purchase. Burgenland specializes in dry red, dry white, and luscious sweet wines. 35 of these wines are always available to taste by the glass or in educational “flights” and may be accompanied by a selection of small gourmet dishes and snacks.

The palace also invites you to visit their new vinification facilities which have been recently re-located to a stunning winery just outside Eisenstadt.

For more information on this region or the rest of Austria, go online.

(Photo courtesy of Esterhàzy Palace Wine Museum)

Carmel-by-the-Sea has launched a self-guided Wine Walk tour. Why? Because 13 different tasting rooms can be easily accessed within just a few blocks in this one-square mile village, making for an easy and delicious afternoon stroll in this scenic California coastal town.

Galante Vineyards opened the first wine tasting room in Carmel in 2005, showcasing one of the best Cabernets in Monterey County. Owner Jack Galante is the great grandson of Frank Devendorf, one of the two founding fathers of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Like Galante, many of these wine tasting rooms represent long time winery families in Monterey County such as Caraccioli Cellars and Scheid Vineyards. Additional wine tasting rooms, Cima Collina and Wrath Wines, showcase the wines of female winemakers which is still a rarity in the business.

Some of the wine tasting rooms help accent other businesses including Figge Cellars in the Winfield (art) Gallery, and Scheid Vineyards in Homescapes, a local home décor business. The Cheese Shop, famous for tasting of cheeses from around the world also features wine tasting. Tudor wines are available for tasting in Andre’s Bouchee Bistro and the Bountiful Basket offers wine tasting along with olive oil tasting.

Southern Latitude Wines, Vino Napoli, LaBicyclette Restaurant and Nielsen Bros. Market offer wine tasting from Australia, New Zealand, Italy and other international climes.

For more information about wine tasting and planning your trip to Carmel, contact the Carmel Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, 800:550-4333.