Pictures From The Road

So my buddy Michael Sullivan, the man and the palate behind Beaune Imports, (a company that imports many of the wines you read about here) is prancing around France on the second leg of his buying trip. The trip used to be much longer, when I went it was 25 days, when ex Wine Country staffer, Kelly McHugh went it was 30…needless to say that can be pretty grueling, not to mention the strife that can occur when you spend almost a month, “living” with people you did not choose to live with…rough is an understatement. I was lucky in that our group was a pretty easy going bunch, I might even be willing to say, (since Michael doesn’t really read this blog) that we were the greatest group evah, it would be a lie of course but a girl can dream cant she? Anyway, the trip has been cut into two trips with a month in between, each time I learn that he is about to leave for one of these trips I get green with envy and wake every morning wondering what they are seeing, eating and most importantly, drinking….kills me as I have wanted to go on that trip again the second I got home from it….six years ago.



Now I will be the first to admit that I bug the shit out of Mr. Sullivan, not that he would ever say that, but I write a lot, ask a billion questions and pester him to no end, but when he is on those trips I try to keep it at a minimum, writing only once in awhile…you know, to see how things are going and to try and pry a little story or two from him. He tolerates me and does so with infinite kindness and patience, even finding time once in awhile to snap a photo, often a picture of a cocktail, plate of food or half drunk bottle of wine, and sends them to me via email. I love that and look forward to those photos more than I can say, they make me feel like I am a fly on the wall and I get to relive parts of my trip through them, so imagine how happy I was when an email landed in my mailbox asking if I would like to be included on a mass mailing of photos from the road…um, duh!


Turns out that some people on the earlier part of the trip convinced Michael that many of us would love little updates from the road…see I’m not the only one! In true Michael form he kept the email short and to the point, letting us know that there would not be a travel journal, mostly just photos and asked that we all contact him to let him know if we would like to be included. In true Samantha form I wrote back something like;

Michael,

I for one know that I am far too busy to have my email boxed stuffed with daily reminders as to why your life is better than mine.

I then told him that it was silly to ask and of course I want to be included, he then told me he knew he was going to get crap for that and was not surprised that I was the first to give it to him….pester, pester, pester.



So I have been logging on in the mornings to find anywhere from 2 to 10 photos every couple days…so much fun and some of them are truly fantastic pictures so I asked him if it would be okay to share some of them by posting them here on my blog. Got the okay this morning so here are some of my favorites! (Pictures taken by Michael Sullivan of Beaune Imports)