12 Intoxicating Wine Tasting Vacations

A Vintner’s Dozen Top Wine-Tasting Destinations

Wine vacations can be — pardon the pun — intoxicating. You learn a bit, you have some wine. You take in the spectacular views or historic sites and then sip another glass. What’s not to love? Here are 12 top wine-tasting destinations around the globe.

California Wine Country


Visit both Sonoma and Napa in one trip. Doing so allows you to try the vast range of varietals available in the region. Beyond wines, Napa boasts some of the finest restaurants in the U.S., including the renowned French Laundry. Mud baths in the mineral rich, thermally heated waters of Calistoga’s resorts are another hedonistic treat.


Wines to try: According to celebrity wine and spirits consultant Michael Green, (www.michaelgreen.com) cabernets and chardonnays are “the anchor” of California wine country.

Willamette Valley, Ore.


Stringent zoning laws have kept the look of the Willamette Valley blissfully bucolic and restricted the construction of sprawling resorts. That, in turn, has kept the region affordable, even though the pinot noir here is considered world class.


Wines to try: Yes, the pinot noir is primo, but Green is a fan of the pino gris. “It’s pinot grigio, the same grape,” he said, “but the version here is more full-bodied and creamy.”

Tuscany, Italy


Great art, great architecture and great wines — what a combination. Visitors to this heady area of Italy find themselves with almost too many choices when it comes to crafting an itinerary. My suggestion: Get a map of Tuscany and a blindfold and just point to a starting point. It’s impossible to go wrong here.


Wines to try: Chianti classico and brunello di Montalcino are Green’s top picks in this area.

Niagara on the Lake, Canada


This perfectly preserved Victorian gem of a town is the gateway to 22 wineries, most of which offer free tours. In addition to hopping among tasting rooms, visitors come here for the famed theater festival, antique shopping, spas and the famous falls (only a half-hour drive away).

Wines to try: “You won’t find better ice wines anywhere,” Green said. “Those are dessert wines crafted from frozen grapes that are picked in winter.”

Maipo Valley, Chile


Just 20 minutes outside of Santiago — you can catch a cab to the wineries for less than $30 — this is the oldest, most famous and most prolific of Chile’s grape-growing regions. Thirty-five percent of the country’s wines are produced here. Encircled by the Andes Mountains, the region is also breathtakingly scenic.

Wines to try: “Carmenere is the great buy here,” Green said. “It's like cabernet sauvignon in silk pajamas.”

Burgundy, France


Burgundy is the ancestral home of pinot noir and chardonnay and, of course, of the ducs de Bourgogne who once ruled this province. Their castles dot the landscape, along with Romanesque churches and centuries-old villages. Base yourself in Vezelay, a lost-in-time medieval town and major pilgrimage site. The tomb of Mary Magdalene is said to be here.


Wines to try: Green favors the chardonnays.

North Fork of Long Island, N.Y.


In the last 25 years, this region has hit the big time, going from one lone winery to 30. As for quality, several North Fork wines have won major awards in international, blind tasting competitions. The North Fork is an easy drive from New York City, allowing one to pair a visit to this relaxing, rural area with the bustling, wine-bar-laden Big Apple.



Wines to try: The merlot, which Green describes as “elegant and oh so food-friendly.”

Champagne, France


Champagne is famous for its bubbly, but important cathedrals and historic battlefields also keep tourists busy. Most visitors stay in Reims, which boasts some of the splashiest champagne houses in the area and an important cathedral where every king of France was crowned from 814 to 1825.


Wines to try: Does one really have to ask? Just try a lot of them, Green said. “Champagnes can vary from light (chardonnay-based) to fuller versions with higher percentages of pinot noir.”

Piedmont, Italy


Literally translated as “at the foot of the mountains” — those would be the Alps — most of the region is quiet farmland. Its capital, Turin, however, is a top museum city and home to the famous shroud.



Wines to try: "This is my favorite wine region in the world," Green said. "It's famous for two of Italy's most age-worthy wines: Barolo and Barbaresco. Crafted from the nebbiolo grape, these wines have tremendous structure and grip. Bring on the white truffles!"

Penedes, Spain


Champagne may have the reputation, but the largest sparkling-wine production on the planet takes place in Penedes in Catalonia. Half an hour outside of Barcelona, this region of rolling green hills and medieval villages has become very popular with cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, who has trained in Catalonia over the past few years.



Wines to try: Cava, the area’s sparkling wine, is a must, but Green said that still wines, including lovely versions of tempranillo and chardonnay, are also sip-worthy.

Stellenbosch, South Africa


The first vineyards were planted here more than 300 years ago. In fact, the oldest structure in the area, built in 1689, is on the historic wine farm Muratie. Today, about 140 wineries populate the area, in addition to a respected university. Day trippers come from Cape Town, just an hour away, for tastings and to attend the area’s well-respected theaters.


Wines to try: Fans of sauvignon blanc and cabernet will enjoy what they find here, Green said.

Marlborough, New Zealand


Not one winery in this area was founded earlier than 1973, but they’ve earned an international reputation, producing what some think of as the top sauvignon blanc anywhere.



Wines to try: “Yes, you’re going to want to try the sauvignon blancs,” Green said, “but it’s the under-the-radar pinot noirs that truly need to be experienced. There’s not much that’s produced, and many haven’t been exported, so you go here to get something really special that you can’t get at home.”

Melting Building

This Melting Building mural, a trompe-l’oeil, is located in Georges V Ave. in Paris, France. Trompe-l’oeil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for “trick the eye”, from tromper - to deceive and l’oeil - the eye.

Richard Murphy helped me remember of a mural I had intention writing more about. It is the same principle all those pavement artists like Eduardor Relero and Julian Beever are governed by. It is derived from French for “trick the eye“, from tromper (to deceive) and l’oeil (the eye). These surely prove that the site wasn’t photoshoped, like some of you thought. Yes, this is add-on to the original melting spot illusion. Richard added:

“This building is on King George V in Paris, we found it by accident on way to Champs from tower and not seen it or heard of it before, hope you can use, its an amazing site to see.”

I would also like to apologize because of the short down-time. We had some server problems, so the site was unavailable for few minutes. All is proper again. Enjoy!















Source : Mighty Optical Illusions

Costa Coffee Toast Marmite on a Canvas

Nathan Wyburn A Welsh artist has created a series of portrait of celebrities using jam and marmite with toast as canvas.

Nathan Wyburn from Ebbw Vale created his tasty collection based on celebrities Britain's would most like to have breakfast with.

The unique works of art, which include X Factor host Cheryl Cole and football hero David Beckham, are on show at Costa Coffee's new store in Towcester.

The toast was applied to boards and from a crib sheet for each celebrity Nathan used Marmite to create the artwork.

In the end celebrities included David Beckham, Cheryl Cole and Stephen Fry on the right hand side with Alan Carr and Rowan Atkinson featuring on the left.

The artwork marked not only the opening of the new Towcester store but also the nationwide launch of the new breakfast menu.

Nathan worked away one slice at a time and seemed quite happy with all the press attention that he was getting.

The artwork will no doubt further confound people on how to pronounce Towcester, or perhaps it will help. Toaster.

The new Costa Coffee opened last week and is open 7 am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday and 10 am to 5 pm on Sundays.











Source : Mirror via About My Area

Human Powered Aircraft

Todd Reichert has achieved what's believed to be an aviation first. The University of Toronto PhD candidate built a human-powered aircraft with flapping wings which he hopes has set a world record.

Leonardo da Vinci, of Florence, dreamt of doing it. Todd Reichert, of the University of Toronto, actually did.

On Wednesday, Reichert, a PhD student at the U of T Institute for Aerospace Studies, announced he had completed the first continuous flight of a human-powered aircraft with birdlike flapping wings, a device known as an ornithopter.

The creation of a craft that would allow humans to fly like birds has captured the imagination of inventors for centuries, but few working models have been built. Da Vinci drew up sketches for a flying machine in 1485, but never made one.

“Some people just dream about flying, at night in their dreams. I do,” said David Greatrix, a professor of aerospace engineering at Ryerson University. “Even though we have flying airplanes, it’s not the same.”

Reichert’s ornithopter flight, which lasted 19.3 seconds and covered 145 metres, is the first entirely powered by a human being. “This is the last first in aviation, and in many ways the most significant one,” said James DeLaurier, who oversaw the project.

“It was unreal,” Reichert, 28, said in an interview.

The flying craft, named the Snowbird, weighs just under 43 kilograms and has a wing span of 32 metres, comparable to a Boeing 737, though its weight amounts to approximately that of the pillows onboard a commercial jet. The Snowbird is made of carbon fibre, foam and balsa wood.

It took Reichert and another graduate student, Cameron Robertson, over four years to make the craft, and cost $200,000.

DeLaurier, a retired Institute for Aerospace Studies professor who is one of the world’s leading experts on ornithopters, devoted his career to birdlike flight. In 2006, he built and flew a motorized ornithopter called the Flapper, another aviation first. But a purely human-powered craft was his life’s ambition.

“(Reichert’s) ornithopter has since landed, but I’m still hovering a couple feet off the ground. It was a moment that’s difficult to describe,” DeLaurier said.

Over the summer, Reichert lost eight kilograms, went on a special diet and trained daily, especially his leg muscles.

He took 65 test runs before the Aug. 2 flight date in Tottenham, Ont. “I didn’t sleep the night before the flight,” Reichert said. “My mind was just racing.”

A representative from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world body governing aeronautical records, was present to witness the event.

A tow line tugged the craft into the air and then released it, and the Snowbird was off to its history-making flight. “It was such a neat feeling . . . you kept pushing and it kept maintaining altitude,” Reichert said. “All of a sudden, it clicked and we were able to stay up there.”

The Snowbird works by pumping a set of pedals attached to pulleys and lines that bring down the wings in an elegant flapping motion, a feat that requires both engineering and physical prowess.

“He combined brilliance with athleticism,” DeLaurier said. Part of the team’s goal was to promote sustainable and efficient transportation.

Greatrix said he was impressed with the team. “I’ll give them full marks for persistence. It’s all very promising from an aerospace engineering viewpoint,” he said.

Reichert’s mother, Majel Vye, was thrilled. “This is awesome, he worked so so hard for this,” she said.

The team is in talks with the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa to donate the Snowbird for display.







Source : Arbroath Via The Star

Boiling water evaporating at -45 F

What happens when boiling water is tossed into the air at -45 F (7.2 C -42 C)? Apparently, it evaporates almost instantly. Watch the video after the jump.

Disabled Couple

True Love Stories Disabled Couple - She has no legs, he has no arms. But they are happy together and live a usual life of people who love each other. The man does everything around the house using his legs.

Dad makes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

A Hampshire man has spent three months turning a clapped-out 1976 Land Rover into a replica of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Stuart Wallis stripped the 34-year old wreck down to its chassis, engine and wheels before transforming it into his own version of the famous flying car.

Mr Wallis, 52, of Ringwood, took on the project after his eldest daughter, Lily, watched the classic film and challenged him to make a similar one.

After visiting Beaulieu Motor Museum to take photos and measurements of a separate replica, he set to work at his New Forest Metal Works business.

Stuart and a six strong team have worked over the past three months turning the Land Rover he paid £1,000 for into a copy of the world famous car.

Stuart said: "My kids have always enjoyed the film so I thought 'why not?'.

"The children all helped with the building of the car so they were all aware of how it was progressing but now it is finished I don't think they can quite believe it."

The vehicle features a 1,000 watt amplifier under the bonnet and loudspeakers so it can blast out hits from the film, as well as eight sets of air horns to create animal noises and police sirens.

In keeping with the film, it has red and yellow wings attached to the sides - although making the contraption fly for real was a step too far, even for Mr Wallis.

His children, Lily, 10, Tom, nine, and Zoe, seven, and their young neighbours Chloe and Elise Collins now love nothing better than a spin in the truly scrumptious machine.

Source : Orange UK

Hearing Tweet Bird Singing Contest

A man hangs up a bird during a bird-singing contest in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat on September 21, 2010. Thousands of bird owners from Thailand and neighbouring Malaysia take part in the bird-singing contest.