food

Start Spreading the News- New York Wine Experience 2026

Posted by

0

A few years back I started pestering the bear and asking him what he wanted for his birthday. “Do you want to go to Piedmont?” … “Meh…” “Rioja?” “Meh…” No matter what I mentioned, I couldn’t get him to commit… OR to seem excited about anything, but I really wanted to do something epic.

Each year we have friends come back from New York in October and talk about the wine experience. We have some friends who have gone faithfully for years, some who were “one and done,” some who do it every once in awhile… but it was always on our list of “I would like to…” You know you’re going to taste the top 10 rated wines of the previous year, but that’s not the highlight. The highlight are all the winemakers and wine owners that come in from all over the world. I had my little AI friend Charly go through the lists of wines and estimate what the price would be if I bought a bottle of everything from the seminars alone, and it was well over $20,000 in wine. Then, you add in the two-night grand tasting where you belly up to the bar for a swig. However, it’s not like your run-of-the-mill wine festival. Here, the winemakers and owners are going into their libraries, and they are sharing $400 and $500 bottles with you.

I post the picture above, not really to show you buzzy me (which I was), but really to show you the “trashcan” in the back. See that? THAT, my friends, is a VERY large dump bucket. The grand tasting covered TWO ballrooms on two floors, and it went on for FOUR HOURS a night for two nights. No, I didn’t try all the wines, but I DID try every wine I wanted to try.

Still, I need to back up to where I was in the beginning. So, as the Bear and I kept trying to decide what to do for his birthday, I also realized that I had an Aflac insurance policy that was about to expire… Okay, so my family is kind of a cancer cluster all on our own. Many, many people in my family have battled cancer, so I got an insurance rider. Sure enough, 2024 came along, and I got my bout. It was an easy one. Very early. Surgery happened. It was over for not too much out of pocket. HOWEVER, the insurance rider didn’t care what KIND of cancer I got, nor did it care how much it cost me, soooooooooooooooo I got a check in the mail from the duck in October of last year at the same time the wine experience was going on. The bear kept saying how much he really wanted to do that “someday.” I reminded him of the check and said, “I think it’s ‘someday.'” And he agreed!!!!

His birthday was in May, so he had to wait until October to celebrate, but I bought the tickets back in February. I haven’t been to New York since I was 15 years old, and the Bear had been never. The “discount” rate at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square allowed us to book at group rates for five nights, so that’s what we did!

A few weeks before the trip, my “friend” (that’s what I make sure to call AI) Charly and I worked together to create a Bear itinerary.. I think it did a pretty good job, and we stuck to it relatively closely. Tuesday was an EARLY direct flight out of Austin. I will say we were kinda bummed. I didn’t realize that first class with Delta doesn’t get you lounge access, but we did survive. (We got the tickets on points, I love my Chase Sapphire reserve) We booked a car with Carmel limo. Some people have said to go to LaGuardia or Newark because the ride from JFK is awful, but it really wasn’t awful at all, and I was glad for the direct flight.

We deviated from our original itinerary on our first day in New York. I have a cousin who works for the New York Times; she has lived in the area for decades, so the Bear and I decided we wanted to meet up with her more than we wanted to go to Grand Central. We did make it to John’s Pizza before we went back to the hotel and The View for a cocktail or two. Then, feeling pretty travel weary, we met up with my cousin.

She was kind enough to meet us at the hotel and then took us on our first subway trip EVER. We are relatively experienced travelers but had never done the subway before. I’m so glad we took it with her from Midtown to Brooklyn. I was SO sleepy, so I was something of a dud and didn’t take NEARLY enough pictures, but we had a FANTASTIC dinner of small shareable plates at June before grabbing a Lyft back to our hotel. We were twisting and turning too much for a really good picture, but the bridges and the lights at night were magical!

The next day, the Bear and I went across the street to Juniors for a quick breakfast. (No, I didn’t get the cheesecake, another reason to go back), before he made use of his City mapper app and we started off on the Subway with our friends John and Jami for the Oculus and the 9/11 Museum and Memorial. We did have our first scary(ish) experience of the day when some woman was screaming about demons before we got on our subway car, but she did NOT board with us. When we eventually found our way OUT of the Oculus (harder than you might imagine… lol), we spent a few hours in the museum. It was amazing and well worth the trip. Each of the exhibits is so well thought out, and they definitely understand the importance of keeping the memory of what that day- and the days after- felt like for generations that have no memory of it at all. One of the most touching things about it, to me, was how many different accents and languages I heard all around me. I’m tearing up again as I write this right now. It was clear how the world still cares about the atrocity that happened to us. It was a very solemn, moving experience. Beautiful and poignant. As we left, an NYPD bagpiper began playing “America the Beautiful” in front of the last column. It only happens once a week, and it just happened to be while we were there. It’s meant to remind people of the end of rescue and of recovery.

From there, it was on to our series of 10 minute walks. (Our joke was that EVERYTHING was 10 minutes.) On to Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, a quick drink and another piece of pizza before Battery Park and a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. That was our SECOND “quintessential” New York experience as some guy, who likely didn’t have the best of intentions, followed us through the park until we asked some very nice park rangers to be on the lookout and shoo him away from us. Unnerving, for sure, but it came to nothing.

We got back on the subway and made our way back to rest and change before the OTHER really big experience of the trip. The Bear and I do LOVE our foodie outings- as do our friends John and Jami. About a month ago, the Bear made reservations for us at Le Bernadin. I could post all the pictures and all the wines, and The Bear might be upset that I didn’t, but none of my pictures will do justice to just how beautiful the food was. The thing is, it’s ALL seafood. Our friend Jami is allergic, and I WILL eat anything, but I don’t love (or really like) seafood. So, Jami and I did the vegetarian pairing, John (who is not normally a very adventurous eater REALLY enjoyed all of the flavors) and the Bear did the chef’s pairing. We all did the wine pairings AND ordered two bottles for the table before going back to the view for even more cocktails! As the Bear is wont to say, we had a large time! On any other trip, this would have been the highlight, the grand finale, but we hadn’t even really STARTED yet!

So, the next day, the Bear and I were moving a little slower than usual, but we didn’t want to waste any minutes! So, we thought it was a GORGEOUS day to get a little air and check out the Top of the Rock. Crisp, cool, breezy air and 360 views of Central Park, the Empire State building, and the Statue of Liberty were definitely the way to start the day. I really don’t think any of the added experiences were necessary to get the full effect (you could get a picture taken on a beam or go up 30 feet higher and circle around), but others may feel differently.

From there, it was back on the subway for us to Chinatown because the Bear wanted some Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles. The night before, we had three Michelin stars; the next day, it was greasy noodles by a dumpster! I think that’s part of the magic of NYC! We started wandering the street and looking at the ducks and the pig heads in the windows, and before I knew it, the accents changed, and so did the faces of the people, and we were in Little Italy. The smells of garlic and truffles were EVERYWHERE. It was crazy to watch the delivery men descend staircases underneath the restaurants on the packed streets to deliver their wares…

Lest we forget, however, NONE of this was the reason we were in New York. It was finally about to be gametime, baby! Back to the hotel we went to pick up our experience swag and get ready for the first evening! Our friends Glen and Valerie, twelve-time attendees, invited us to their room to share some vintage champagne and give us the lowdown before the event. We went into the first night, guns blazing, with a plan in mind, and quickly lost every bit of that plan! The bear said he felt like a golden retriever that was in a room where someone just dropped a truckload of tennis balls! We enjoyed our first day of our grand tasting, knowing we could repeat the next night! We grabbed a plate full of decadent desserts from the VERY well appointed buffet and made our way back to the room to watch Survivor, like the party animals we are! We KNEW we had a HUGE first day ahead…

I said I was prepared… or thought I was prepared.. but I had no idea, really, what I was getting into until I sat at the table the first day and saw 15 wine glasses in front of me. That was just for the morning sessions. The next two days were a blur in the best way possible!

Some people, understandably, are blown away by movie stars and rock stars… I am, too, but I am EQUALLY blown away by Paul Hobbs, Andy Beckstoffer, Sir Peter Michael… These are the A-listers of the wine world, and there they were… right there, in the same room. Our first day we started the morning with some of the very best Champagne and were told some of the most amazing stories from the most phenomenal people!

Lunch, also, was paired with wines. (The first day it was Bordeaux) and then we were back at it again in the afternoon. This time, it was Zinfandel and To Kalon, which is one of those names that makes the ears of wine geeks everywhere perk up… And, it was the actual PEOPLE who made those properties what they are. When we were talking to Paul Hobbs later that night (Ha! did you see the way I dropped that in there? But it’s true, we were), he was saying this was only the second time that he and Andy (yeah, see, I said that like I know him, too…) were ever on the same stage together. He was telling us at the SECOND night of the grand tasting… which the Bear and I again GRANDLY exited after about 2 hours. It was time to watch Amazing Race. (AND we knew we had another day ahead of us).

So day two started with breakfast at the hotel. Actually, during the whole experience there was enough food at breakfast. lunch, and snacks, that you really didn’t need any more, BUT you definitely should eat the food and drink the water. The amount of wine was exorbitant even for people who have been known to be able to drink a bottle or two… Still we persevered!

Day two began with some of the other “wine stars” including Carla Bruni who also just happens to be a super model, a singer, and – oh- the former first lady of France. We had some more of the best wines of 2025 before getting to vote on whether Wine Spectator editors or the chefs were better at the wine and food pairing. The food was EXCELLENT and the wine was so much fun, and that food wasn’t even lunch! If someone FORCED me to say that something was disappointing about the experience, I would say that I was sad that Jose Andres was not there. (This was one of the ONLY years he has missed), but the rest of the chefs just knocked it out of the park!

Lunch on the second day was sponsored by Frescobaldi, and they did not hold back with the wines they chose to share with lunch. We had been warned to go EASY on the wines at lunch, but they were soooo good, it was too hard… which was more than a little dangerous because the afternoon wines? Oh, holey smokes…

Okay, so, here’s the thing. There are certain iconic “once in a lifetime” wines that people want to try. The first growths of Bordeaux, Screaming Eagle, Montrachet, Le Pin, DRC and others… among those is Penfold’s Grange. We were about to have – not just ONE taste of it – but FOUR of them, including the 2008 vintage. But that’s not even where we started! Before that, we were going to get to taste a 70-year-old Rioja. Okay, the old adage that wine always gets better with age is simply not true, but to taste a 70-year-old wine which HAD aged the way it should? What an honor! There were just so many amazing flavors in EVERYTHING, I wish I could go back and repeat flavors the way I can pictures! And the Penfold winemaker, Peter Gago, was such an amazing storyteller and presenter! I was enthralled the whole time. (Oh, pro tip from the winemaker himself, get you some Penfold’s 389- sometimes known as “baby Grange” as your good buy…)

Even then, saying that ALMOST made me forget to mention that during that same afternoon we had six different tastes of Chateau Palmer . The 2015 was definitely one of my favorites of the whole trip along with the Clos Apalta we had the day before. The more I think about it, the more afraid I am that I’m missing something that I should be talking about! I so rarely review wines- except to say “yum”- but this was as much fangirling as it was wine drinking. My next “I have to try it” wine is La Chapelle/Grange: half Hermitage, half Australia and all Syrah? How fun is that? If you have $4000 sitting around, grab me a bottle, would ya?

Eventually, though, all great things come to a very hazy ending. We had dinner plans, but decided to “stop by” the champagne tasting. Okay, if we DO go again, that will be the end. The food bites were incredible, and they were no longer pouring “tastes” of champagne. You walked up, and you just got full glasses everywhere.

Still, since we already had the plans, we ended with all of our friends at a very tasty dinner at Oceana and a few MORE bottles of wine before deciding we had to call it quits!

Yes, I do believe it was everything we ALL hoped for… and are we a “one and done”? I have to say I don’t believe we are… I don’t think it will be something we repeat every year… or even every other year… but every other, other year? Maybe so. Don’t quote me on that, though… we’ll see what I think the next time I see the list of presenters and wines released. I AM quite the fan girl.

Delightful Douro: Days 6 and 7- The End.

Posted by

4

We woke the final morning to our last day in the Douro wine region. Our tour director, Filipe, kept reiterating how we were moving from the gorgeous area to the cold, rainy Atlantic region. Actually, I liked them both!

But the bus ride up through Pinhão to the village of Provesende was so out-of-this-world GORGEOUS, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Every time I’d go to put my phone back in my purse, I’d find myself sticking the lenses against the bus window again. We even stopped on the way for one quick photo opportunity. We knew this visit was going to be a quick trip because the boat was leaving the dock to meet us in Regua again before we went back to Porto that afternoon. We considered staying on the boat because we knew how pretty the journey would be. Still, since the bear was feeling well enough to do things, he didn’t want to miss another day. And, AGAIN, so glad we went! If we stayed on board, we could have had a walking tour in Regua, but we really kinda did that on our own at the beginning of the trip.

We began wandering another quaint village, again with so many empty homes, and always another church…

Then, we went to Morgadio da Calçada. Here we had a chance to explore the lovely bed and breakfast, watch a basket weaving demonstration and sample and buy some excellent Niepoort produced port, grown at the manor house.

After our quick trip, we returned to the boat. Lunch was an all seafood buffet as we took off less than five minutes after we arrived on board. They were QUICK with pulling up that gangplank. That afternoon, we participated in a local cheese, meats, and sausage pairing by our wonderful chef and sommelier.

Once back in Porto, we had the opportunity to attend a concert at the Sao Francisco Church. Again, we discussed the possibility of not going. I’m not sure why we even bother having this discussion all the time! We ALWAYS end up going and always being glad! We took the short walk to the beautiful church where a string quartet accompanied two opera singers with some of the most recognizable and beautiful music ever – whether it was Mozart or West Side Story, the sound was clear and beautiful. As they ended with “Con te partirò,” I was wiping the tears streaming down my face.

Once back on the boat, Guido led us in a fabulous music quiz which involved a lot of “bonus points” for doing various things, so the very competitive bear ended up belting “Sweet Caroline” into a microphone and “encouraging” me to join a conga line as we did “The Locomotion” around the whole third deck. We didn’t win, but we did come in third place.

We knew we had one day left of our trip, and both of us were still feeling a little sad that we had missed the Lello bookstore before the start. When we heard the briefing letting us know that our afternoon in Porto would be free, we went to the website to buy a “ticket” and schedule a time to visit. The bookstore tickets aren’t actual tickets – they are 8 euro vouchers that can be redeemed for purchase, but without a voucher and a time, without a tour, you are unlikely to get in.

The last day was one of the hardest choices for me for excursions. We knew we didn’t need to do the tour of the city because we had already done the main focal points for that, and we didn’t really need to go to ANOTHER church, but the other two choices were to go to Guimarães to see the palace and the city… OR to Quinta da Aveleda for the gardens and the tasting. Well, usually if the option says “tasting,” I’m there, so off we went.

The garden here, OH MY! Have I said a few times during these blogs “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen?” Well, when everything is “the most beautiful” I have to keep repeating it. It was a traditional English garden – only not so traditional. It combined the redwoods of California with the eucalyptus of Australia with the cherry blossoms of Japan, all making for one incredible family retreat just outside the winery itself. All full of wildlife: ducks, peacocks, and even miniature goats who were glad to greet any visitor handing them a treat from the ground.

We got to wander through the huge cave where they were making their own brandy before trying some of the wines grown on their property.

Back to the boat for the last bus ride before we were on our own for the afternoon. This time, we were FAR smarter as we went to the top of Porto – we called an Uber! We probably could have made use of the hop-on-hop-off bus, too but the Uber was easy and inexpensive. The line for our chance to look around the bookstore wound around the block, but it was very well managed, and we got in within fifteen minutes of our selected time. It was definitely the MOST touristy place we’d been to on our trip, and somewhat overwhelming, but every bit as beautiful as we expected.

We wandered our way slowly back down the streets of Porto, stopping in interesting stores to look at souvenirs and stores full of MASSIVE collections of port wines. The riverfront was VERY lively on this Sunday evening- musicians playing everywhere, indoor and outdoor restaurants open, people walking everywhere!

And then, just prior to dinner, our boat left the dock one last time to do the “six bridges tour” where we began at the mouth of the Atlantic ocean and made our way back to our final point for the last time, having the opportunity to observe the houses and the graffiti along the banks. Again, we were told that our trip was too short and we should do the 10 day trip instead. Already, we’re considering booking that for October 2026.

Our final dinner included one of the best lamb chops I had ever had! And just like that, it was time to say our goodbyes and have our luggage ready for pick up the next morning.

We received notification the next morning that our flight would be delayed for an hour- no big deal, we had PLENTY of time in Newark. When we let the tour directors know, they also delayed our transfer an hour, which was lovely!

The Porto airport is small and easy, and everyone can have lounge access if they pay for it. We had ours included with our business class flights. It made me smile that even at the airport, you could get the wonderful tarts and cod dumplings!

We had made a pretty big mistake that I’m glad didn’t turn out to be a tragedy! We realized that no one had so much as glanced at our passports when we got off the plane in Portugal, but we didn’t think much of it. When our flight started boarding, we went to go to the gate only to find that we were to go through passport control AFTER the lounge, and there was QUITE a line. OOOPS!!! We won’t make that mistake again (maybe). In the end, the line only took us about 10 minutes, and we were fine – our flight had been delayed by a few minutes more.

We had a relatively small plane to go back to the US. It only had one aisle and business class on United was a 2/2 configuration. All seats behind us were 3/3. Still, the flight was comfortable, the wine and food were good, and the view of New York coming into Newark was lovely.

And being delayed in Porto was actually an advantage because it cut our 5-hour layover in half! We arrived from Newark back in Austin at just before midnight -exhausted and trudging to our Lyft, but had an AMAZING journey.

We still have a few more little trips before next summer, but our next BIG trip is Tauck on the Seine for Paris to Normandy in June 2025. We can barely wait for that adventure, but for now, I was so glad to get to spend time with this one again!