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I recently was privileged to travel to Portugal for one week to visit wineries and vineyards. The main things I was asked about by friends and family as I was preparing to go were Vinho Verde and Port. In actuality I tried very little Port on my trip and no Vinho Verde. However these questions illustrate very well how little most of us know about Portuguese viticulture, to their detriment, but also to ours.

I’m sure many of you have dined at Frasca Food and Wine over the years.  You know the layout and the efforts they put into promoting and showcasing Friulian cuisine at its best.  They’ve been honored in various publications and continue to receive numerous awards across the country.  In short, they have a good thing going there.   

At this point in the year, my time spent traveling is starting to greatly out-weight my time spent at home.  Packing up my suitcase and leaving my wife behind never gets any easier.   But I consider myself very lucky to travel and race a bike professionally, and especially in an era when the internet and our smartphones help us stay so connected.

There are many appealing aspects in the world of wine - far too many to ever list. But for me, I love the fact that each bottle can transport you to a place or even a time in history without leave the comfort of your own home. To think that I can taste something that is much older than I am – that’s still alive and even improving – is just mindboggling.

I've spent the last few days traveling around Hong Kong, Beijing and Hainan Island in the South China Sea with my new cycling team, Champion System.  Along the way I’ve seen many different cultures and even though I haven’t had a drop of wine since I left the U.S., I’ve sampled nearly everything the culinary world has to offer here.

With my Thanksgiving trip to Spain still fresh in my memory, I’d like to revisit another one of my favorite dining spots with you.  Girona might be most famous for El Cellar de Can Roca, but there is another Michelin Star Chef, Pere Massana, that’s been cooking slightly under the radar for the past 25 years. 

Before I jump into my first blog for the Boulder Wine Merchant, I’d like to let you know a bit about myself.  What seems to keep defining me is the fact that over the last seven years I’ve been racing a bicycle professionally for a number of the top teams in the world.  Along the way I have built a second home with my wife, Courtney, in the northern Spanish city of Girona. Spending most of the year over in Europe has opened doors that I never knew existed, including those into the food and wine world.