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Cost per person (in U.S.$) of Heitz’s new top-tier wine tasting. After undergoing a two-year remodeling, the iconic Napa Valley winery has reopened with an ultra-premium experience which includes vineyard visits, a stop at the original 130-year-old wine cellar, and a tasting including library selections. Until recently, Heitz Cellar was one of the last remaining Napa Valley wineries to offer free tastings, which included the esteemed Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.

What famous painting was created in exchange for a vineyard?

A. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

B. Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet

C. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

D. The Scream by Edvard Munch

Not every barter deal works out well. But in 1498, the Duke of Milan, Italy. Ludovico Sforza, probably came out ahead. Sforza offered Leonardo da Vinci, the great artist/scientist/inventor, a small vineyard in return for a painting. Da Vinci, a great wine lover, accepted, and went about painting The Last Supper, which was subsequently hung in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Da Vinci’s vineyard survived until 1943, when it was destroyed by a fire that resulted from Allied bombing in World War II. In 2007, Italian viticulturists and geneticists began excavating the site of the former vineyard, which ironically had been protected by layers of ash and debris. Through DNA testing of the extant roots they found buried there, the scientists determined that da Vinci had grown Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, a white variety still grown in Lombardy.

Merroir

A play on words, merroir combines the idea of terroir with mer–the French word for sea. Oysters, for example, grow in many different merroirs. As such, the flavor of any given type of oyster is… Continue reading

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