A typical visit to Paris elicits a pinprick of yearning to be Parisian. Who can walk under the

warmly lit apartment windows of Île Saint-Louis and not wonder what it must feel like to belong in one of them?

It’s possible to visit the city a dozen times and never push past the unassuming doors of a light-filled studio where breezy conversationists low over canapés and duck confit. Unless you use a service like Voulez-vous Diner, which pairs local hosts with dinner guests, it’s a world reserved for Parisians.

Visitors looking to make the most of their time in Paris can simply log on to Voulez-vous Diner and browse the profiles of the local artists and consummate hosts who’ve opened up their home for private dinners. Each profile includes photos, menus and pricing ($20 to $70). Simply pick an event, and purchase seats online.

Voulez-vous Diner is expanding its exciting dinner party activities of locals hosting visitors. Originally from France, it offers an increasing choice of hosts in Australia.

Some dinners are mini concerts with a sonata played between courses. Others end with a tour of the neighborhood. Menus are seasonal and offer everything from boeuf Bourguignon to a taste of Venezuela. Just as delicious arethe personalities at any given dinner. An entire week in Paris could be spent hopping from table to table, eating, sipping and making friends along the way. And suddenly Parisian life is realised.

The Frenchy dinner party concept extends to several other countries including Australia, with hosts active in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. A campaign, The French Ambassadors, is launching soon to increase the number of hosts.

There are places in the world that, upon arrival, you know that you want to return to again and again. The Musee Carnavalet in Paris – a place where curios, sculpture, paintings and general objects-of-envy sit with blasé elegance in two equally elegant mansions. The collections may not change, yet in the middle of the night, thousands of miles away, the ivy-lined garden will call your name. 

Or Swan Oyster Depot in San Fransisco. Less than 16-untrustworthy stools wait for you to take a seat-of-faith in front of a worn Carerra marble countertop. Men, big men, daintily pour muscadet and shell quarter-size Olympia Oysters. You can get half a crab anywhere in San Francisco but it’s the memory of the way the white aprons shine in the light, the distinct narrowness of the room and the family dynamics of Sean that cheers you on the dourest days. 

These places are perfect and not perfect. Perfect, because they glow with integrity and not perfect because they have heart. Things with heart are always not perfect. 

This is not to say Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen is flawed. It's not one bit. It has a fierce and passionate heart and from that heart steps a technically advanced menu and a wine list that elicits a jig. It’s a chef’s restaurant in the fact that the food is as elegant as it is simple. As simple as walking a tightrope with octopus and quail on the line. Octopus served perfectly to a packed room? Dang amazing. But add lamb, beans, flatbreads and quail – in the hands of many, the breadth of finicky items would go awry. Timing being everything in a restaurant and the timing in the kitchen – just as it was on the table floor – was precise and charismatic. 

I would suggest that if you go to the Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen, that you put yourself in the mood to enjoy the whole experience. The walls will shimmer, the wine will flow, the food will lead you down the evening’s path. Place the experience of dining before all else. After all the Musée de Carvalat is just an old house with dust-collectors and Swan is a hole in the wall with no credit card machine and Saffron is just a little jewel box. But if you’re willing to pause and listen to the heartbeat that leaps off the menu you’ll be loathed to leave the room and dream of your return. 

Breathtaking and Deep

Chelan Valley has it all: beautiful hills, a luscious, long lake, sun to bask in, fresh air, shopping, dining, music, four distinct seasons and wine. 

Really good wine. 

Unique

In geological terms, our soil is relatively young with volcanic pumice on top of a glacially aged scape. It’s the kind of soil vines love to struggle in under the blanket of hot summer days and cool summer nights. You can taste the efficiency of our winter, the quick thaw of spring, our intense summers and a gorgeous harvest in any glass of Chelan AVA wine. 

Patience You Can Taste

Winemaking is a lot easier with amazing grapes to work with and wine drinking is a lot more memorable when everything around you is beautiful. Even so, we’ve taken our time to tend to our vines. That’s why wine lovers have made the easy jaunt over the hills to return to us summer, winter, spring and harvest. 

Join us! Plan your trip online at http://www.lakechelanwinevalley.com/