First travels for 2024 are in the agenda. This made me reflect on the travels of the past year, 2023. On the beautiful journeys I made and on all those people who made it possible. The countries I visited, the wines I tasted, the people I met… so happy and grateful for those opportunities! A recap…

🇩🇪 It started in February when I took part as a juror in the MUNDUS VINI wine competition in Germany and had the pleasure to visit  Weingut Frank John and Heim’sche Privat-Sektkellerei.

🇫🇷 In March I visited the IGP Pays d’Oc wine region during a press trip after the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Rosé Wine Session.

🇮🇹 During a private tour in March in Piedmont organized by Mario Ferrero for  IViniDelPiemonte I tasted my first Erbaluce wines and many other interesting wines and met the Vaira family for the second time, which was amazing again.

🇹🇷 In April it was time for a family vacation in Turkey. In our hotel lots of Turkish wines were brought for me to taste thanks to Ezgi Atilsin Korkmaz. Fantastic and very diverse! Article will follow.

🇵🇱 In May I travelled to 8 (!) countries! It started in Poland for the International Rosé Championship in the beautiful Dwor Sierakow.

Then the amazing Balkan trip, organized by Elena Mladenovska Jelenkovik of Wines of Macedonia took place: visiting 6 Balkan countries in 5 days: 🇷🇸 Serbia, 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇲🇪 Montenegro, 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇽🇰 Kosovo and 🇲🇰 North-Macedonia were scheduled. Thank you Ghislaine Melman, for the introduction.

🇷🇴 Last but certainly not least this month was the Vinarium International Wine Contest in Bucharest, where I was happy and proud to be invited as a judge and presenting the International Federation of Wine and Spirits FEIJV. After the competion we visited several wineries in the Romanian Dealumare wine region. Amongst them DAVINO, Budureasca, Crama Apogeum and Viile Metamorfosis,

🇭🇷 June stared with a visit to Croatia, where in Osijek the GROW wine competition and event took place. GROW stands for Graševina, Olaszrizling, Grašac, Welschriesling – a variety of rich history, known under many different names and carrying the great importance for the wine growing regions of Central Europe.

🇪🇸 After Croatia, Spain was on the program. For the project #ASharedPassion I was invited by the Union Española de Catadores, a for trip to Madrid from where we visited the wine DO’s Cariñena, Campo de Borja and Calatayud. Articles in progress.

🇩🇪 In August Hermen Jansen visited the German Pfalz wine region for Anne-Wies.NL, invited by Duitsewijn.nl  and in September Caroline Cocheret Calmel & Joseph in the Pays d’Oc IGP, invited by Michèle Lainé.

🇮🇹 Oktober started with a visit to the Italian Maremma wine region, invited by Studio Cru for Cantina Vignaioli di Scansano, where the focus was on Morellino di Scansano. In the meantime Hermen Jansen took care of the press trip with a conference about sustainability to Sicily, invited by AB-comunicazione for Anne-Wies.NL.

🇮🇹 Last, and again certainly not least, in oktober I enjoyed a press trip to the other side of Italy: the Marche wine region, hosted by Michèle Shah for voor FIVI (Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti and LINFA (Azienda Speciale Camera de Comercio delle Marche – Agroalimentare).

🇲🇩 In November the National Wine of Moldova Contest, a competition only for Moldovan wines, took place in Chisinau. I was happy to join as a juror though it was a short visit with only 2 winery visits, so hope to be back soon!

🇷🇴 A very important event is the Rovinhud Wine Show, which takes place in Timisoara, Romania. I try to visit it every year, and was happy to be there this year too. It is about tasting quality wines, participating in master classes held by international experts but moreover to raise money to support adults with disabilities to make our society more accessible, open and empathetic.

🇷🇴🥂 My wine travel agenda ended in December with, what else…. bubbles at the ‘Concursul de Vinuri Spumante Romanesti’ in Bucharest, organized by Tiberiu Onutu (Viesivin.ro), a competition for only Romanian sparkling wines. Check the results here.

Thank you all very much for the opportunities you gave me to visit all those lovely places and wineries, for sharing your wines and stories and made it possible to meet lovely and interesting people.
So happy and grateful for those opportunities!
You made my year!
Really looking forward for the 2024 trips!