I embarked on a mini-winemaking adventure three years ago. I bought grapes in New Jersey from a local purveyor, Corrados, although they get them from California so our collective carbon footprint is not small. I press, rack, and filter the grapes with help from my family. I use cultured yeast and mature the wine in glass containers for a brief period before putting it into my mini barrique. I decided to try my latest vintage again today. It is a blend of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. Highly alcoholic with too much harsh tannin, this wine wouldn’t even get an 82 on a good day. I think it needs some Merlot to round it out or perhaps I shouldn’t have put it in the barrel at all. I haven’t quite got the hang of this yet but I have hopes for the future. Christmas is around the corner and perhaps I can palm off a few bottles as a recycled gift, watch out Italian wine guy. In Italy, we used to have a recycled gift party after Christmas where we played tombola or bingo. It was quite the rage for many years followed by hours of card playing. I truly miss Italy these days. I haven’t been in almost 5 months, one of the longest periods I have been away in the last 20 years. Today I have been thinking a lot about a dear old friend who is no longer with us and I wanted to share her picture. This is Francesca, a true tuscan, she lived in the Mugello, a beautiful part of Tuscany between Florence and Bologna, more or less. She would have hated this wine and laughed at my attempts to make it but she would have been supportive in any event. She also would have made me a beautiful label for the wine bottles. She was a true artist. I met her in 1991 and spent countless hours with her, Stefano and their kids in her beautiful family home.

Today’s rainy November weather really reminds me of that area of Tuscany, chestnuts, sangiovese and old friends. Mostly, I miss Francesca.