Ride to Live, Live to Drink Wine

by Iva Skoch on

There are only a few things better than firing up the Harley Heritage Softtail (with a Springer front fork, rented this weekend) and heading out for a motorcycle ride through Napa and Sonoma Counties in now-sunny California, where I happen to be right now.

It’s the middle of the wine harvest, most of the tourists are gone, and the weather is perfect, so the locals head out to see the harvest in action. Although Napa only produces 4% of California’s wine by volume (according to the Napa Farm Bureau), it’s definitely the heart of the wine industry here, and accounts for 27% of it’s wine sales volume. The trees are just starting to turn and you can smell the sweet smell of grapes in the sun. Just don’t get squashed by the massive trucks hurtling by, carrying juicy grapes.

Word for the Travel Wise (04/19/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here’s a pretty cool event to pencil in this summer if
you’re anywhere in or around Sonoma this July. Gloria Ferrer Winery will celebrate 20 years of making world-class
sparkling and still wines during their Catalan
Festival. Featuring food, wine, entertainment, music, and dancing with a whole lot of Catalan flavor visitors can
get small taste of Spanish culture during the two day bash. Specific details for the July 22-23, 2006 event are still
in planning stages, but if last year’s festival sounds mouth-watering enough go ahead and get your tickets now. It’ll be a great place to
practice your Catalan to be used later on in the big trip to Spain.

Today’s word is a Catalan word used in Spain:

Em dic… – My name is…

You would think this would be pretty similar to the "mi llamo…" used in Spanish to provide another with
your name, but it’s quite different. So now you know. Practice, practice at the wine festival or anywhere for that
matter, then take it to the Spanish streets on a summer night for the full effect. Just remember not to spill your
wine.

Resources on the web are many for Catalan. Check out Ominglot first for history and a fantastic list of links to keep
you chugging along in your studies. Some of the best in my own opinion include this Intercat site which has a University conversation guide with
audio, a section titled " 30 Tips Catalan
in Catalonia," and other additional tools. BBC has a short summary about
Catalan and a few helpful phrases.

Past Catalan words: sisplau