Yak's Food & Wine Adventures
Recounting some truly amazing wining and dining stories...
March 2004 - Fabulous wine weekend at Gidleigh Park in Devon, England. Hosted by Steven Spurrier and devoted mainly to top Alsace producer Trimbach [including an amazing vertical tasting of Clos St. Hune) and to the illustrious 1990 Burgundy vintage.
Sep-Oct 2003 - Three and a half weeks In Asia-Pacific. Visiting my father in Austraia for 15 days (Sydney, Hunter Valley and Melbourne) and splurging in Singapore (before) and in Bangkok (after).
April 2002 - A wonderful Rhone Wine Weekend in England. Pierre Perin and Jean-Luc Colombo presented their best wines in an intensive weekend organized by Decanter Magazine at Hintlesham Hall, East Anglia.
August 2001 - A week in green and peaceful Ireland. Bustling up-beat Dublin, lakes hills and forsests of the countryside, the palacial Ashford Castle and an Irish Feast with incredible wines.
August 2001 - A week in breathtakingly beautiful Iceland. Active volcanos, vast lava fields, numerous streams lakes and waterfalls are only a fraction of what this dramatic northern island has to offer.
October 2000 - The rolling hills of Toscana. Leisurely staying in a 600 years-old villa in the heart of Chianti Classico. Fantastic food, great wines and beautiful weather - what more does one need?
April 2000 - New Orleans, New York and Washington DC. These three fine cities let us feel, see, eat and drink the best they can offer. YakFests abounded with magnificent wines to taste and wonderful people to meet.
September 1999 - Gaudi, Picasso, Miro and Dali are just a few of the names whose works we came to see. A week of fine art, amazing architecture and sure enough - wine & dine in beautiful Barcelona.
May 1999 - Three days of leisure & pleasure at Gidleigh Park in Devon, England. Gourment food, fabulous wines, beautiful scenery and more.
May 1999 - A wonderful YakFest put up by the "Wednesday Wine Club" in London. An unforgettable evening of great company, superb food and outstanding wines.
November 1998 - Celebrating Dorit's 50th Birthday with some bridge-playing friends at an excellent restaurant in Eilat. Fantastic dinner and some really great wines contributed to a perfect evening.
October 1998 - Five days in the charming city of Budapest. Extraordinary hotel, leisurly sightseeing, plenty of cultural experiences. Detailed recounts of the best dining and wining.
September 1998 - Five days in the spectacularly beautiful city of Prague. Serious sightseeing, cultural experiences and plenty of good food and wine. Recommended (and not so recommended) restaurants.
June 1998 - A week of 'hard-labor' traveling in Andalusia (and Gibraltar) in the south of Spain. Ancient grand cities, breath-taking moorish architecture, lots of sun, great food and wonderful wines - all made for a fascinating vacation.
February 1998 - Celebrating my 50th birthday was the pretext to
stage up the most wonderful wine and dine experience imaginable. Seven of the world's most
fabulous wines were served at a dream-dinner, especially prepared by the brilliant young Israeli
chef Yontan Rochfeld.
November 1997 - A weekend promised to be full of fascinating wine
events lured us to London. Organized by the Decanter wine magazine, a wine
exhibition, an annual gala dinner and eight amazing wine Master Classes - all took
place under the same roof. And what a roof it was...
November 1997 - Celebrating our 25th Wedding
Anniversary was the excuse for three days of the ultimate culinary
extravaganza in France. Both "La Cote St. Jacques" in Joigny and "Taillevent"
in Paris had the pleasure of pampering us!
July 1997 - A week of sun, beaches, easy-going
people, excellent food and some very interesting wines in the island of
Cyprus. The perfect summer-time short vacation!
April 1996 - Extraordinary ten days in France! Meeting some of the
most illustrious producers in Burgundy, staying in some of the best hotels, eating at some of
the finest restaurants, drinking some of the rarest wines, and generally having a great,
fattening and expensive time.
March 1996 - A wonderful wine weekend spent at the superb "Gidleigh Park" country
hotel in Devon, England. Mr. Hugh Johnson was the guest of honor. The weekend centered on
the Syrah grapes and culminated in vertical comparison between Jaboulet 'La Chapelle' and
Australian Grange Hermitage...
April 1995 - A two weeks visit to the U.S resulted in numerous lavish "Fests" - off-line
gathering of Compuserve Wine Forum members - held in my honor. They were held in New York,
Central Cost California, San Francisco and the Napa valley.
This is a Newsday reporter's account of the fabulous "YakFest" that took place in New York.
October 1992 - I'll try to share a few memorable dinners we (Dorit and myself) had in
*, ** and *** restaurants in France.
Unfortunately, we always paid with our own money, so no really fancy wines. Well, at least
not all the time ;-)
Don't get the wrong impression. This was once-in-a-life-time
see-how-the-other-half-live extravaganza. We sampled the following restaurants
within two weeks in October 1992.
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yak@yakshaya.com
Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.