Thursday we said goodbye to the Villa Montecastello and headed east into Umbria and the town of Gubbio that would be our home for the next three nights.  Gubbio is built into a steep hillside and dates to the early 1400’s.  We have been staying at Relais Ducale, a charming old hotel that features beautiful patios and gardens.  One of…

Tuesday’s destination was Siena. I had a brief visit there three years ago and was anxious to return.  Siena is built on seven hills and to visit the city requires traversing many steep streets.  It is known for its magnificent black-and-white-striped cathedral and also for the bareback horse race called the Palio, held in July and August, and whose origins…

Last month I visited my home town of Cincinnati to visit friends and attend the Western and Southern Tennis Masters tournament. The culinary highlight of the trip was a wine tasting dinner at The Summit, a restaurant operated by the culinary arts program at  Cincinnati State.  The wines were presented by Vintage Point, a distributor with an eclectic collection of…

In June I made a short trip to Frederick, MD to visit my daughter and son-in-law.  We had dinner at a favorite spot, The Tasting Room.  Conversation with the sommelier, Jarrett Walsh, led to the decision to “go out on a limb” just a little and try a wine made from 100% Cinsault.  This particular wine is made by Michael…

Sass Winery in Salem, Oregon, was founded by wine maker Jerry Sass in 1989 when he purchased 19.4 acres of land and began planting Pinot Noir vines. The production is small, approximately 4,500 cases per year across all of the varietals. Jerry is passionate about the land, the grapes, and the wine making techniques he employs and the results are…

May has been a tasty month.  A friend, who also has a May birthday, and I celebrated our special days at McCrady’s.  Once again, the four course chef’s tasting menu did not disappoint!  Lee was in the mood for Merlot and we couldn’t resist ordering the Velvet Devil.  The Velvet Devil is made by  Charles Smith, an interesting character who…

Hello and  Happy 2013. I hope the new year is off to an excellent start. The holidays were fun and wine-filled and several deserve special mention.  Some of our family gathered in Charlotte, NC, to celebrate Christmas and we consumed many bottles of Champagne and Pinot Noir.  Our Christmas Eve selection was Gaston Chiquet Rosé pictured here – gorgeous salmon…

The autumn season is upon us, even though it doesn’t feel like it here in Charleston.  We did have a “taste” of fall, but then the humidity set back in.  There have been a number of interesting events over the past few weeks.  One of our new local eateries is called Butcher and Bee and it has a unique format,…

A second visit to Two Boroughs Larder on August 3 proved to be as good or better than my first experience. The Larder was happy to allow me to bring in a bottle of wine and I selected a bottle of the 2008 Newton Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon that was mentioned in my post about the Newton Wine Dinner at Carolina’s….

Slightly North of Broad (locally and fondly known as “SNOB”) is offering a new Chef’s Table Dinner on Sunday evenings.  There are two seatings, one at 5:30 p.m. and one at 8:00 p.m.  My daughter, Hilary, and I occupied two of the six seats at the chef’s table overlooking the kitchen and were joined by two couples who were visiting…