Chevalier du Mérite Agricole For all the years of my wine tasting passion, in-depth studying in multiple countries and traveling to hundreds of vineyards firsthand; I found that you can truly learn something so important out of the blue that it strikes like a lightning bolt! Why did I not know that? Why had something so profound withered into obscurity. How is that possible? Any wine enthusiast knows it was a tiny American microscopic, yellow, sap-sucking insect that was the

Acacia Talk about having a Defense Department, there is a tree on the East Africa savannah that could teach us some amazing defensive tricks. I was out on a walking safari with Secluded Africa’s Richard Corcoran, who pointed out a small tree called the Whistling Acacia and as we gathered around, he explained that there was more than a symbiotic relationship here – there is true communication between flora and fauna. The whistling thorn, Vachellia Drepanolobium, is one of the

Wines that touch more than the heart. Maybe eighteen years ago when I was attending Rendezvous France, I met with the sales manager of Chapoutier Wines to set up a visit to the winery, she handed me her card which was in Braille. It was a surprise and I mentioned it and she just merely smiled. It was a first for me and I did not understand the significance of it, but I did not forget it. Shortly thereafter, I traveled through the Rhone Valley sailing down the Rhone River; one