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Drinking Our Way Through Sicily ~ 2014
Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, we didn’t drink and drive, and when we did, we always had a designated driver. But we always, always, had food with our wine. Unless we were tasting. Then we had...
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On the Nature of Being Sicilian in the Wine Business
Lest you think this will be the obligatory paean to all things Sicilian, after these last days spent on the island, many things are simmering. Yes, it is a Sunday, and to the millennials this might...
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Sicilian whites – Feeding the #HeatWave in the Cities by the Bay
Welcome to the New CaliforniaIf you had asked me, so very long ago, when I was a student in the Bay Area, trying to figure out what the hell to do with my life, if many years later I’d be in Oakland...
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Ancient Italy and the New California ~ An Auspicious Convergence
I had some unused vacation time and thought it might be a good idea to head out to California and “do” a wine dinner or two. I’m writing this as I am mid-week in a series of three wine dinners back...
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10 of my favorite off-the-beaten-path places to eat in Italy
In preparation for an interview, I was looking up places I have really enjoyed eating in Italy. Many of these places don’t even have a website, or a sign. I was lucky enough to be taken there be...
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High Cotton Uber-Dining in Gotham City
Posting from the road. In NY, the rain followed me from flyover country. Fortunately that wasn’t the only wet thing in my path.A quick lunch meeting at Marea and two stunning white wines from Liguria,...
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The “New” New Yorkers and the “New” Californians ~ Leaving Jurassic Park for...
Living in flyover country does have its benefits. You can get to either coast in a matter of hours. A recent weekend in San Francisco, I was able to spend time with the wine community there and get a...
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Why older men prefer higher alcohol wines and younger women
Over lunch, I was talking with an older friend. He’s a fan of California wine, really loves Pinot Noir. He’s not a beginner, heck he pulled a 30 year old bottle of wine from Napa out of his wine closet...
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When Wine Isn’t Enough
We all have things that propel us forward. For some it is money, power or fame. Even in our little rarefied world of wine, we all have those reference points that give us meaning. Maybe it is a good...
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A Serene Patch of Merlot in a Noisy World of Pinot Noir
His is a world very few of us get to enter. Yet the Count lives, some would say he thrives, in his world. I say it this way not to disparage his world. I know not his world. I only know him through his...
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Opposites Attract ~ Or My Evening with Fettuccine Bolognese, Sous Vide Steak...
Silly rules. Someone makes up something about which wine with which food and over time it becomes Gospel. Last night I was at a dinner, sipping on a white wine. I thought to myself, “This needs a...
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Annus Horribilis - Looking Back On the Toughest Harvest in Years
It must have been back in August. I was looking out over my garden, thinking about how wonderful everything was growing. My prize crop, the Hoja Santa, was poised to be one of the best and largest...
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Pippo, We Hardly Knew Ye: In Memory of Philip di Belardino
The world is a little less safe for Italian wine today. Dear friend Philip di Belardino has left us. A tireless ambassador for all things Italian, always with a smile, a joke and a way to reach even...
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The Last Parmigiana
Looking out my back window, I see all the plants that were alive last week are now dead or dying. Winter has arrived. Before the brutal but inevitable onslaught arrived, I gathered all the last of the...
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Our Selfies, Our Wines
Can a wine cellar full of 90+ point wines make your life more meaningful? Will a 30+ year vertical tasting of an iconic wine make you happier? Could any wine make one’s life better? If you believe what...
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fruit-Bomb
Last month I was communicating half-way across earth to New Zealand with my editor at Wine Searcher. We were going over ideas for a feature. Kicking around a few thoughts on Amarone, she casually...
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Wine After Death
Bibere umanum est, ergo bibamusHe knew her early on. Every year or so they’d meet, usually around a dinner table, sometimes with friends or family. He met her when they were both young and fell for her...
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What New World Sommeliers Need to Know About Old World Italian Wine
This came up last week over a bottle of Nebbiolo. I was in discussion with industry folk and the Old World/New World subject came up. With a recent surge of young people into the world of wine and with...
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Sunrise, Sunset
How wonderful this world of wine can be, if only in our mind’s eye. Earlier this month I was leaving wine country in California, heading back to the airport. It was early morning, the dew on the vines...
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Top 10 posts for 2014 and direction for 2015 ~ Year 10 of blogging on the...
2014 has been a year in which I have done the least amount of blog posts since I started this blog on this day nine years ago. On the positive side, this has been part of a plan to produce less but to...
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