One of my favorite foods is a simple one – bircher muesli.  It’s a concoction of whole grains, nuts and maybe dried fruits soaked overnight in a mixture of milk and yogurt and then topped with fresh berries and honey.  So simple, but packed with so many good things and so appealing that it was always easy to choose this over bacon and eggs.   It was created by a Swiss physician named Maximilian Bircher-Benner for hospital patients, but has since become a breakfast staple at top hotels around the world and I order …

A nice base for us visiting the Southern Rhone was the Hotel Bellerive in Rasteau.  It is “homey”, very quiet, with beautiful views of vineyards and the Dentelles de Montmirail.  It is within half an hour to Vinsobres, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Beaumes-de-Venise and the Cotes du Rhone Villages of Seguret, Sabelet and Cairanne.  Like most hotels in rural wine regions, don’t expect wifi or even a reliable wake-up call, but they do have the most hospitable cat I have ever come across, and good breakfasts. 
Favorite Restaurants:
Les Florets in Gigondas.  One of the best …

Barnyard rooster with chocolate scent

Ribera del Duero is about 70 miles wide along the banks of the Duero River, with the large city of Vallodolid to the west and Burgos to the east.  Valladolid is one of the biggest cities in Spain, and an industrial one at that with many highways converging onto it and therefore may not be the best choice to stay while visiting bodegas.   Once out of the city, the wine region is a very bucolic and beautiful area with most bodegas within easy access from the central highway of N122.  …