I recently wrote about the cork trees of the Iberian Peninsula, those great, handsome figures so emblematic of the interior plains of Portugal and Spain.…
Posts published by “Alastair Bland”
Grape variety, place of origin, and price: These are likely the main factors that determine which wine bottle lands in your shopping basket, but perhaps…
We rode out of St. Julien, across the bridge over the Dordogne River and a mile down the other side of the river. We turned…
For ten years, Abe Schoener has been recording the unfolding history of California’s climate and geology — but he is not a government scientist drawing…
Cypress boughs dangle over the still, mocha-muddy waters of an Oklahoma swamp as a gaggle of drawling Southern country boys walks waist deep through the…
I previously served up a short listing of alcoholic beverages of the world — and I’m glad I’m merely writing about so much booze. For…
Where there is sugar, yeast will find it — and so we have alcohol. The natural wonder we call fermentation has been discovered and replicated…
People’s paths cross endlessly as they make their brief journeys through this world, but only occasionally do eyes meet and sparks fly. Even less often,…
Super Bowl Sunday is over up, and I’ve been asking local pubs here on the South Island of New Zealand if they caught the world’s…
The Turks were so patient for putting up with me this fall as I cycled around the western half of Turkey. I cringe now when…