Alright, so I’ve been gone for a minute, and a lot of people have wondered if I fell into a wine barrel and got stuck. I promise it was all for a good cause… I’ve been off getting my MBA! Yes, going to graduate school while holding a full-time job, making sure my dog was properly fed and exercised (which is more than I can say for myself), and maintaining whatever personal relationships I had left, all while trying to keep up with all things Portuguese wine, has left me absolutely exhausted – and unfortunately, absent.

So, after taking a much-needed nap, it was time to come back and share with you all the fun adventures I’ve been on in the last year. Particularly, the life changing international trip I took with my graduate class. I got to travel to France and South Africa for school, and I had some delicious encounters in these amazing places, but I also managed to sneak in a couple of days in Portugal and Spain when I wasn’t eye-balls-deep in a Business Strategy book. Also in this last year, I was lucky enough to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday partying it up in northern Portugal. Trust me, Dad can get down!

In this series, I will take you on a journey through country, culture, family, food, and of course, vinho. Every place has its own flavor and its own lifestyle, but they all share the same passion and love for their local wine, and I can't wait to share it with you.  

Over the next few weeks I will take you to some of my favorite places: Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Paris, and Champagne! We’ll also take a dip to Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa – a wine region with a rich history and interesting wines.

But first, let me tell you about that time I went to Alsace...