There is nothing better in a travel-foodie blogger's life than to receive an invitation to attend a special event involving a knife, fork, spoon and wine glass. I scored such an invite several years ago from Bottega S.p.A., an award-winning Italian estate built inside Villa Rosina, a renovated and expanded 19th century manor house surrounded by ten hectares of just-picked vineyards, in tiny Bibano di Godega di Sant'Urbino, just 45 km (27 mi) north of La Serenissima, Venice.

Encircled by miles of neatly planted vines that seem to stretch to the horizon, a large realm of the senses is overwhelming while lingering in Napa’s historic Bennett Vineyard with legendary winemaker Mark Herold.

Wandering the hilly, narrow cobblestone streets in our home base of Montalcino, Italy, a Medieval city of interlocking passageways, steps and alleyways curving around and through and behind and beyond the main square, I reminded myself I was walking through history spanning eight hundred years. Stopping for lunch, I ordered a glass of the house wine. A bottle arrived at …

For 85 days, between March and June of this year, my wife, Orna O’Reilly, aka Chef Double O, and I hunkered down inside Villa Allegra, our little bright-white house with Santorini-blue shutters tucked inside the Valle d’Itria just outside of Ostuni, as Italy imposed a nationwide lockdown of biblical proportions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Elsewhere I wrote about a more formal Monterosola red wine tasting but their whites simply lent themselves to an informal late summer brunch . . .

At a time when COVID-19 keeps us from traveling overseas, I enjoyed some travel vicariously by reading about a vineyard in Tuscany while tasting some of their organic wines. While it was a poor substitute for actually walking the rows, smelling the breeze blowing over the 25 hectare hillside estate, and touring the cantina, the experience was improved by tasting the wines.

I’ve stayed in lots of luxurious and unique hotel rooms around Southern California, but I’ve never stayed in one that sits amongst lush vineyards. That is until this past weekend when I experienced South Coast Winery Resort & Spa.

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While visiting the coastal town of Bermeo, one of the oldest towns in the Basque Country of Spain, I received a most unusual invitation to dine with friends of friends. It was unusual not just because it began in a seafood market or ended in a mountaintop bodega. No, this was a rare invitation to dine at one of the Basque male gastronomy societies.