Farmstead Cheeses and Wines: Jeff’s Blog

We traveled back from the Estancia tired but happy, and arrived at the hotel a little after dark (we’re in the height of winter, and have about 10 hours of daylight - from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). After a wee siesta, some of us gathered in the hotel and wandered around in search [...]

Hello. I’m writing from the Santiago airport where I am enduring an eight hour layover. Our Miami-Santiago flight was late and we missed our cross Andes flight by ten minutes!
One of my new wine pals, Paul from Top Ten Wines in Columbia Mo and I paid the day fee to enter an airport [...]

Today was a “non-wine” day, with the exception of a dinner with the folks for MAN Vintners, we were done with our wine duties. for the trip.
We left at 9:00 a.m. for our two hour trip to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point on the African continent, and the supposed meeting point of [...]

Boo hoo, it’s raining!
Tuesday was a busy day, three wineries - a trip through Stellenbosch and then to Boekenshoutscloof (easy for you to say, Cheesemonger!!) in Franschoek.
First stop, Man Vintners, a partnership between Fairview, Stark-Condé and a large cooperative, that produces quality wines at a very attractive price point. Our host for most [...]

South Africa - Day Two
We packed into our bus - with trusty Mario at the wheel- to go visit Walker Bay, a beautiful spot on the coast, and the home of Hamilton Russell, maker of South Africa’s most elegant Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.
We took a non-direct route to Walker Bay, over the ridge [...]

The journey to South Africa took 30 hours - I left SFO on Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. and I arrived, shagged, dragged and bagless, in Capetown, Saturday night at 11:00 p.m.
I’d never flown for so long a time before. Believe me, it wasn’t fun. Compression socks, Ambien, and lack of [...]

I was lucky enough to tour the major wine regions of Spain with Jorgé Ordoñez, one of the folks who has transformed the Spanish wine industry, in March of 2007
The Jorgé Ordoñez Death March is legendary among wine buyers, and for good reason. In ten days we covered 2000 miles, visited dozens of DOs (wine [...]

When we were in Italy in ‘05, Carol and I visited Selvapiana, arguably the best producer in the Chianti Rufina region northeast of Florence.
Chianti Rufinas are a bit more fruit forward and ageable than other Chiantis, and the Selvapiana style is indefinitely more New World in style.
Here, Carol and owner Federico Giunti are [...]

Last Summer, we scored a reservation at the famed St John Gastro-pub in London. St. John is famous for it’s old time British fare, what they call nose to tail eating.
According to its chef-owner Fergus Henderson, St, John is where “chefs, foodies, food writers and cooks on sabbatical, traveling [...]