Bon Voyage.

On saturday I headed up to Santa Barbara to join my friend Isabelle's monthly wine tasting party. She and her fiance, Brandon, are moving to Napa at the end of July and this was their farewell final party.

Riesling was the wine of the evening and at the suggestion of our resident sommelier, Brandon, it was paired with an array of Asian foods. We started off with a semi-dry bottle from Northern California, and as the evening progressed moved south to the sweeter, fruitier tastes from the Santa Barbara vineyards.

The whole night was so much fun and very educational. Brandon walked from table to table explaining about vineyards, vintages, and fermentation and Isabelle even demonstrated the proper techniques for tasting wine. "Taste with all of your senses" and "Feel the swirl" were my two favorite suggestions.

The night was full of good conversation, good food, and good wine. As I began my drive back down to LA I realized how blessed I was to have such a good friend in my life.