I arrived into Asheville after an 'interesting' flight from Birmingham. I am now slowly getting used to delays, gate changes and sitting on tarmacs for no particular reason.

The first evening I was taken out by Josh to a great little pub that served local food and local beer. As my interest in these topics is high, I enjoyed the evening, and naturally, the taste of the local beers. It was then an early night as the effects of a long flight from Australia were finally taking hold.

The next morning was a early start in this strikingly beautiful region where the autumn colours were just starting to turn. Our first visit was to see Marco at 'Curras', a really great modern Mexican restaurant. As Marco was occupied with somebody else I walked across the road and visited a farm shop selling local produce from their own farm. What a great sight to see - freshly picked produce right in front of us. As there is a large emergence of such shops in America I do hope they start to pop up in Australia in the near future. Luckily, the Barossa is blessed with a great Farmers Market that gathers every Saturday morning in the old Vintners Winery sheds.

Curras Restaurant had one dish that caught my eye - a Gazpacho of tomatoes, pineapple, cucumber and mangoes. Interesting. We had a good tasting of our wines here with Marco, who was enthusiastic about the style of my Barossa wines, and particularly enjoyed Christa's Riesling.

We then moved on to Stoney Knob Cafe to meet John. This is a Greek tavern that was started by John's father in the early 60's. It was great to see such an establishment that has blended old fashioned ideals and values with modern new ideas. The restaurant was open, comfortable and very relaxed.

We now ventured back into Asheville to visit the Appalachian Vintner. This is a large wine shop which is in an old night club venue and has interesting artwork on the walls. What a great use of an open space. This peice (on the left) really caught my eye for its intensity, so I had to take a photo of it.

Next stop, just across town, was the Wine Guy, run by Steve Nelson (on the left), an efficient and friendly store. Josh (right) was good friends with the owner and we had a really fun time.

We saved ourselves for a late lunch at Blue Water Seafood where first we tasted my range of wines with Keith. This was followed by some very satisfying and well cooked crab cakes for lunch. This was good sustenance as we were about to embark on a long drive up to the Highlands Wine and Cheese Shop for a group tasting.

The journey was interesting as Josh told me all about his passion for rock climbing. Just before we got to Highland we stopped at a great vantage point where I was able to take in the amazing scenery and take some spectacular photos of the views. Josh quietly claimed to have climbed the rock face in front of us!

The tasting was organised for 'groupies' of the Highlands Wine and Cheese Shop, and it went very well to an enthusiastic crowd of about 20 people. Highlands is an interesting town where people come from all over America to live as it is very pretty and cooler in the summer months. The wine was well-received (as were my jokes!) and I have high hopes that the locals will continue to enjoy my wines.

After the tasting we drove back to Asheville and had a great dinner at Curros where I was finally able to taste the interesting Gazpacho, and I loved it!