Home-field advantage matters, whether it’s sports or whether it’s wine.

In the small French village of Rivesaltes, located in the southern tip of the country in Pyrénées-Orientales, I recently spent an afternoon at the winery and restaurant of Domaine Cazes, a family-run operation since 1895. With over 220 hectares of vines, Cazes is the largest certified organic and biodynamic estate in France and one of the biggest in the world. They produce 15 wines annually, grouping them into the categories of “Pleasure”, “Prestige”, “Icon”, and “Natural Sweet”, the latter of which, like many wineries in Roussillon, the Cazes family consider a specialty.

It was a cool, breezy afternoon blanketed with blue skies, the kind of day that comfortably teeters between summer and fall, the kind where short sleeves or long sleeves are equally comfortable. Lunch was served outdoors in the shaded courtyard of Restaurant La Table d’Aimé, which is housed in a peach-colored brick villa with terracotta roof tiles. The day’s menu, as well as the wines available by glass and by the bottle, were neatly scrawled in chalk on two small blackboards, which the busy manager took from one folding table to the next.

My three-course meal (22 euros) began with a colorful, acidic quinoa salad, served with raw pieces of orange and purple cauliflower, a green tomato wedge, thinly sliced radishes, and a dash of spices. The main, a generous hunk of sea bass served on a bed of red peppers, and complimented with a dollop of apple compote, light mustard cream, and small mound of mint-green zucchini cream, paired well with a glass of Cazes’ Le Canon du Maréchal 2010 white, as did the light dessert, warm peaches drizzled in raspberry sauce with a scoop of sorbet.

With the romantic courtyard setting, an artful presentation, and well-balanced flavors, this proved to be one of the more memorable meals of my travels through the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

After lunch we headed to the tasting room, but our regularly scheduled programming took an unexpected turn when Bernard Cazes, who’d managed chief winemaking duties since the early ’70s before gradually passing the torch to his son, Emmanuel, invited us to join him for an impromptu tour of the facilities and cellar.

It was the last day of the grape harvest, which was done by hand during the day and by machine at night for weeks. Bernard told us, through our wine-tasting host cum translator, that this is the happiest he’s been with the harvest in at least 10 years. Everything has been just right, in his view, particularly the amount of rain in this the driest region of France.

First, we watch grapes shaking down a conveyor belt with 5 people on either side sorting through them and picking out the best ones for Cazes’ top-shelf wines. It’s rare to witness this part of the process–even our tasting host says he’s never seen it before. These grapes will go to new French oak barrels, where they’ll ferment for 5-6 weeks then be transferred to other barrels for longer-term aging. During that initial fermentation period, Cazes says the juice/grapes are sampled every day and checked for temperature, density, alcoholic content, and tannin levels, after which temperature and mix adjustments are made as needed.

From there, we walk to the harvest reception bay, where the grapes are de-stemmed and where we see the long, cylindrical “crushers”, which are slowly inflated to press the grapes. Then it’s down to the mature red wines cellar, where we’re briefly joined by Emmanuel, who smiles and poses for a few quick photos with his father, but clearly has more important work to do than mingle with journalists.

Afterwards, finally, comes the wine-tasting, which takes us through each “class” of the Cazes wines, from the Ego de Cazes 2009, a soft red with a hint of spice on the nose and blackberries on the palate, to the Rivesaltes Ambre 1998, a (very) sweet wine made from 100% grenache and carrying a warm, butterscotch finish. My favorite was the Notre Dame des Anges 2009, a well-rounded red from the “Prestige” category of which only 5,000 bottles were produced–a pity, then, that we tasted from one of the last ones left.

At that point, after a gourmet lunch at La Table d’Aimé, and a tour of the wine-making facilities led by Bernard Cazes himself, those tasting-size pours of wine had become something greater than their label. They had developed character, a historical context, a face. The wines were colored with shades of an idyllic late-summer afternoon in southern France, tasted like a fresh piece of sea bass, and smelled like freshly harvested grapes in their earliest stages of fermentation.

So did I like the wine? Some more than others, but yes. However, like Budweiser always tastes better in St. Louis, and Jameson’s goes down smoother in Dublin, the home field, at least a little bit, was certainly in play in here… and Cazes took full advantage of it.

_{All photos copyright Brian Spencer}

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for the purpose of review by Atout France, Pyrenees Orientales Departmental Tourism Office, and the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Tourism Office. While it has not influenced this review, Perceptive Travel believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.

This was my dinner last night at King of Thai Noodle in San Francisco – yellow curry with seafood, plus a small cucumber salad and a Tiger beer.

I ate it by myself, at a long bar-style table along the purple painted wall of the restaurant, after finding the place by standing out in the street near my hotel doing restaurant searches on my phone with Yelp and Foodspotting.

Awww, how sad, right?

Actually, it was one of the more pleasant meals I’ve had lately.

The waitstaff was smiling and friendly. The food (delicious!) arrived so quickly that I had no time to do a little project that I’d pulled out of my purse to work on. I was in my own little undisturbed bubble sitting on a bar chair, chowing down and making sure that I bit off the hard tails of the “shrimps” that the menu said were in my food.

Eating alone is one of my favorite things to do. Generally I have a magazine or something else to read, but if I’ve forgotten to bring it, I revel in the rare opportunity to simply focus on the food in front of me, without distractions.

There’s no need to feel awkward or self-conscious; if you are happy with your own company, then don’t worry about what others may be wondering about your solitary self. We spend so much time wishing for “peace and quiet” – dining alone can be just that.

If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup link is at the top of the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!)

Musicians often challenge themselves by venturing beyond what their audiences might expect from earlier work. That may at times means going deeper into an idea and at times heading off in a direction listeners wouldn’t expect. Here, an Italian with a flatpick and a guitar takes on Americana music, a Scotsman who has made his home in the heart of Texas goes deeper into traditional Scottish songs, and a bluegrass singer explores her gospel chops.

Beppe Gambetta Slade Stomp
Beppe Gambetta may have started out on classical guitar in his native Italy, but soon he was drawn to sounds of folk, country, and bluegrass music, both in Europe and in America. He’s an adventurous, talented, original guitar player and composer who does two things in particular on Slade Stomp: he offers music, both original and covers, in tribute to the musicians who influence him, and he does it on his own, playing all the parts himself except for two pieces recorded live with David Grisman and Gene Parsons. Gambetta proves himself an adept singer of folk song too on several tracks. For a taste of the highlights, take a listen to 1000 Flat pickers at the Court of King Norman, Dixie Breakdown, and Ave Maria.

Ed Miller Never Frae My Mind
Ed Miller is a native of the Scottish Borders who has long made his home Austin, Texas. That’s a fertile combination for a musician of any genre. In making is way between the two cultures, Miller has made a good name for himself, but the there have also been been a few times when he has seemed to try a bit too hard to be a Scotsman in his music. There is none of that here: it’s all clearly heartfelt, whether the heart is one of fun, or longing, or storytelling.

Producer Rich Brotherton, who has worked with Robert Earl Keen and Caroline Herring among others, offers a clean setting that highlights Miller’s strong tenor voice and the stories he tells through the songs. Brotherton also plays guitar on the recording, and there’s interesting work on the pipes from E.J. Jones. Jill Chambless adds harmonies and well known Scottish songwriter and singer Karine Polwart guests on two tracks, including a Scottish version of song The Spanish Lady, a song more often found set in the streets of Dublin. This one, though, is equally lively, in a version that Miller discovered which is set in Edinburgh. Across the Hills of Home, written by Eric Bogle, is another standout track among a selection of traditional and contemporary songs. True to form, Miller never quite sings them as they were written, putting his own stamp on each of the piece he chooses in a natural way which serves the music.

Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike Wash Away Your Troubles
Valerie Smith has been promising the many fans of her old time and bluegrass music that she’d do a gospel album. This is it. Not foot stomping, shout out gospel, though — at least for the most part — but well presented, quieter songs of praise and faith with quite a bit of original material.Cover include songs by Mark Simos and Claire Lynch. Stand out tracks include Raise the River, Seeds, and the intriguingly titled song God’s Refrigerator.

Consider subscribing to Perceptive Travel through email or
RSS feed. thanks!

Calgary was full of surprises.

Not so hard, I suppose, since I didn’t have a clear picture in my mind of the Canadian city, other than I knew that the Winter Olympics had been held there in 1988 — the first of the Olympic games that ever really caught my attention, in part because the chorus from my junior high school sang in the opening ceremony.

So one afternoon a few weeks ago, I was wandering around what seemed just like a lovely downtown park in Calgary, actually once  the site of the Olympic medal ceremonies, now fitted out with an inviting fountain and people lounging about it,  but nothing particularly unusual about this park, until I looked a little closer at the wall just next to me.

What was this? I did not know. Google was consulted.

“pink tiny statues Calgary”

“pink chipmunks Calgary” (actually originally misspelled “pink chimpunks”, but Google got it right.)

Nothing.

Desperate now, I tried “pink squirrel Calgary park” and after a few more clicks, found what I was looking for.

What I should have been searching for was “fusia gophers”, excuse me very much.

What I was looking at was public art installation of 95 of these critter statues, erected last year to celebrate 100 years of Calgary’s parks.

Ah, I see.

But why 95 instead of 100, presuming one gopher per annum?

“Predators of gophers,” Mr. Google, if you please.

Perhaps Calgary is also paying tribute to its native cat, dog, owl, snake, wolf, coyote population?

It wouldn’t surprise me.

In New York City, there’s a story to be found on every street.

And now, thanks to MyBlockNYC.com, an ambitious interactive video mapping website, these stories are coming alive, not only at the recently opened ‘Talk to Me: Design and Communication Between People and Objects’ exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) but also on computer screens around the world.

Working on the assumption that these days everyone carries a video camera (be it on their cell phone or digital camera) in their pocket or handbag, the founders of MyBlockNYC.com have created a space where video clips of life on the city streets, subways, buses, shops, and restaurants can be uploaded and aligned geographically, block by block, within the city’s five boroughs.

As co-founder Alex Kalman explains, each new clip adds another thread to the tapestry that is New York City.  A continual work in progress, the user-generated video clips are starting to provide an intimate and fascinating portrait of New York City.

So far, more than 900 videos have been posted covering over 700 blocks in the five boroughs of the city.

With MyBlockNYC.com, anyone, not matter where they are, can get ‘up close and personal’ with the streets of New York City.

It’s the next best thing to being there.

Here’s hoping that this is the first of many such interactive video mapping sites around the world.