Wine regions in the United States are synonymous with the West Coast, with some of the most fertile areas in California and Oregon. Although much popularity still resides in the west coast region of the country, the eastern seaboard has a claim to fame in the wine industry as well. New York’s Long Island is an increasingly favorite region of the state that produces world class wines. What started out just a few decades ago with a single vineyard, Long Island’s eastern region is now a much expanding wine connoisseur’s paradise, with over 50 wine producers across thousands of acres of vineyards. With close proximity to the bustling New York City, Long Island has become a popular destination for both the experienced and novice wine lover.

The vineyards across Long Island produce a stunning array of wines for all palates. Jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean provides Long Island with a unique location, where bountiful soil and expert producers create both clean white wines and flavor layered red wines. The region mostly plants vinifera grapes, which create varietals of chardonnay, cabernet franc, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. While those varietals are the most widely produced, others that are planted include riesling, pinot noir, and sauvignon blanc.

A visit to the North Fork’s Croteaux Vineyards is an excellent way to enjoy this establishment’s production of rose. Croteaux Vineyards makes it their mission to produce only the most stellar pink wines, based on planting and harvesting principles practiced for centuries in the South of France. This vineyard produces rose encompassing fruity undertones as well as dry wines. For a rose that has a solid medium body, The Croteaux Jolie Cabernet Franc Rose is a promising option, with hints of red cherries and dark chocolate truffle flavors. The brightness of the color shines in pink tones and the hand picked grapes assure personalized harvesting for all of Croteaux Vineyard’s wines.

Louglin Vineyards is one of the closest in proximity to New York City, and produces a variety of grapes including merlot, chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon. The 1999 Louglin Vineyards Merlot is a richly produced red wine that contains its signature ruby red hue. This Merlot is perfectly dry and its tannin inclusion gives this wine an extra hearty dimension. For a more medium bodied wine to pair with a meat entree, the 2000 Louglin Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is an exceptional choice.

The Peconic Bay Winery is one of the oldest on the North Fork of Long Island. With masterful craftsmanship, the Peconic Bay Winery produces some of the most sought out wines in the region. With a wide variety of white, red, rose, and dessert wines, this winery offers an exciting range of flavors from artisanal grape production. The 2010 Polaris is a beautifully layered white wine that allows the palate to explore the fruity flavors of pears, papayas, juicy peaches and apricots. The crispness of this white wine exudes a cooling component as its acerbic characteristics are well balanced with the sweetness of the fruits.

With dozens of wineries to choose from on Long Island, sampling favorites at an ideal, picturesque location is a perfect opportunity to relax away from the busy New York City streets.

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For tourists around the world, going to Barcelona could be a dream vacation. When they hear about the famous architect “Gaudi”, “Colon”, “La Ciutadella”, “Las Ramblas” and “Plaza Cataluña”, they will automatically think about Catalonia’s capital. Travelers get to know the city while visiting the most popular monuments, but from a local point of view getting to know the city takes longer.

Art, literature, and history are important reasons for visiting a city. However, Barcelona is not only known for cultural wonders. For football supporters, follow the Football Club Barcelona Tour. Only one ticket grants entrance to the New Camp, Barça museum or any VIP area popular among tourists.

Barcelona’s nightlife is breathtaking. There are clubs, bars, pubs or even karaoke bars for any age and style. You could find a wide range of bars and clubs:  House music, R&B, Latin music, Techno or Dance, whatever you feel like dancing.

One way to get a feel for the city is to check out a local party or tradition in town or around the city. Loriana Mitova, a Latvian girl coming from Ireland said, “The best way I could know the real lifestyle of the city was enjoying the best traditions and local parties. I also lived with a Spanish friend and that helped me to get different holidays which I have never expected to have.”

She also admits she “didn’t want to be a normal tourist. That is why I looked up the most amazing tours I could find”.

Being in Barcelona on St George’s Day is unusual for tourists. On that day, the tradition is special for couples. The girl must give a book to the boy, and the boy must get a red rose for the girl.

Because of this, the streets are full of small stores selling books and roses. The popular tradition has grown up and nowadays they even sell Barcelona Football club roses and any book that is on the market. People go crazy and look around for the best book for their boyfriends or the nicest rose for their girlfriends.

It is also very easy to keep children entertained in Barcelona, due to the amount of amusement parks in the area. “Port Aventura” stays in the memories of tourists, as well as “Tibidabo”. In summertime, aquatic parks are the best decision.

Because of the usual hot weather it is very enjoyable for kids being inside a swimming pool the whole day. Also, every family is free to go around the most beautiful beaches of “Costa Daurada” and “Costa Brava”.

In the winter, Christmas lights of “Plaza Cataluña” brighten the sky. In spring, indulge in buying books or roses for your partners on St George’s day. In the summer, the wide range of beaches offers many choices. Finally, fall is the perfect season to enjoy the different landscapes of colorful trees.

Clearly, it is not possible to visit Barcelona in one or two weeks. But if time allows, it is possible to really visit and experience the authentic life style of the city.

Being a tourist in Barcelona means following any situation that might come up without hesitation. Whether it is winter, spring, summer or fall, any time of the year is perfect for a Barcelona vacation.

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Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon is rolling out in theatres on June 29, 2011, but will it live up to the hype? The first Transformers movie was an enormous hit. Even people who do not like Michael Bay’s blow’em up action style had a pretty enjoyable time watching the first movie. It was clear and had a straightforward story that had nice, subtle comedic tones to it. The following movie did well in the box office, but did not have the story to back up the numbers. Recycling the plot with the Allspark and lacking depth in the characters led to many people feeling angry and unsatisfied when coming out of the theatre. With two Transformers movies finished, and with polarizing outcomes for both, the third and final film will be the wild card of the three.

Michael Bay has had his fair share of criticisms. Some say he is all explosions and no talk. Some say he cuts shots too quickly. No matter what the criticisms he receives, he sticks by his style. Complete with robot monstrosities, big explosions, and a beautiful damsel in distress, it feels like a Michael Bay flick. So, if you hated the last two Transformers, or any other Michael Bay movie, then this movie is not for you.

Speaking of damsels in distress the movie franchise has a new romantic interest replacing Megan Fox. Playing the new female lead is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a Victorian Secret’s model turned actor. This is her first movie she has acted in, and it seems like a gamble. Will she have the necessary expertise or feel for acting in movies? In an interview with Access Hollywood, Huntington-Whiteley said she did not know much about Transformers, but Shia LaBeouf had held her hand  through the whole process, answering her various acting and transformer questions.

With the rise of 3D movies, Paramount/DreamWorks wanted Transformers to jump on the bandwagon. Although, Bay believes that 3D movies are gimmicks, he reluctantly agreed. He shot the majority of the movie on James Cameron’s 3D camera (the PACE) on the set of Transformers 3. This is a marvelous thing for 3D fans. When shot on a 3D camera, the images have a better quality to them than when converted to 3D during post-production. This is mainly because when converting to 3D in post-production, it is harder to get a visual for the left eye. So there is a picture for your right eye, but not for your left. Doing this is difficult, so the image quality usually suffers. Shooting with the PACE is an excellent camera to capture 3D. In fact, it is the same camera that James Cameron used to shoot Avatar, so the 3D images will look phenomenal on the big screen.

With many people bashing Micheal Bay’s film style and the risk with having a rookie film actor, Transformers 3 raises a lot of questions. The movie seems to be walking a very fine line between landing flat on its face or its feet. The pros and the cons seem to balance each other out. Having a rookie film actor on set can be a challenge, but with a veteran on set like Shia LaBoeuf helping Huntington-Whiteley every step of the way it may turn out well. This goes for the visuals as well. Even with Bay’s over the top explosions and effects, the 3D will look extremely crisp if done right. What it comes down to is that the movie will have exciting energy and enticing effects, but will the story be powerful enough to pluck the audience’s heartstrings?

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The NBA lottery happened tonight which means the draft itself is a month away. I could care less about ping pong balls deciding the future home of future ball players, but this actually got me thinking about the state of the NBA right now; The young talent in the league right now is exciting and to be honest I’m tired of these who older players who don’t seem to want to retire, mainly half of the Celtics and Lakers roster.

So this idea of young talent leads me to ask myself this very important question, a question that can divide a house whole of sports fans.

Lebron, Durant or Rose…Yes that is the question and I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide which of these superstars I would build my team around if the draft were today and I somehow owned a basketball franchise.. Who knows, it could happen.

But after what seemed like hours of research which turned out to be just minutes and relentless debate which I probably lost, I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t know. To make things easy I tried to eliminate one player right off the bat.  That didn’t work either so it was time to use what I know and what I can prove; you can’t argue numbers so here we go.

When you think about the numbers, age becomes a big consideration and that automatically puts Lebron at a disadvantage in this tough argument giving the fact that he is the grizzled veteran at 26 years old.  An old 26 when you also consider he has been in the league for 8 years out of high school.

Yes the mileage is there but the body of work brings him back into the argument because of what he has accomplished and his lack of any serious injuries.

I can make a great case for young Rose as I’m sure my younger sister who knows little to nothing about sports can.  The fact is he at 22 became the youngest MVP in NBA history, which alone can make him the wisest choice to lead my imaginary team.  He has led a team with no offense besides his constant assault on guards to the eastern conference finals.

Most importantly, Rose came in the league with no jump shot.. His weapons of choice were a quick first step and a relentless will to get to the basket.  This past season his shooting improved dramatically and opposing guards can no longer afford to give him space.  The guy works hard at his craft and that is more important than any other factor in sports.

Kevin Durant is a 6’11” guard slash forward and at 22 years old has led the league in scoring for two straight seasons also becoming the youngest scoring champion in NBA history.  Now that’s nothing to sneeze at, he also has improved his game and his quickness allowing him to play the guard position while also getting stronger which will benefit his longevity in the league.

So where does that leave us..In a guard driven league can I really pass up on a 22 year old MVP guard? , Can I pass on a 6’11” forward like Durant? The answer sadly is yes to both questions.

My pick will not be Derrick Rose or Kevin Durant.

I have to go with Lebron James, the most hated man in Cleveland; in fact they should be happy after the lottery tonight.

To be honest with you The Man who calls himself King James offers more to me as an owner.    He is Durant and Rose in one. He is Magic Johnson in terms of his abilities on the floor because of the versatility he brings.

Yes there are better shooters, smarter players, stronger, quicker and those with bigger hearts in willing their team to wins, but no one offers the package that this 6’8” 250 pound small forward brings to my franchise.  No one is more consistent on the court, averaging 27 points 7 rebounds and 7 assist every season with relatively no help up until the past two seasons.  I see many more MVP’s in his future and 2 or 3 championships to cement his hall of fame career.

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