March has started off in a very odd way here in the Big Apple. Cold and snowy is not my idea of the beginning of Spring but then again, everything is unpredictable. The Dow drops 300 points on a daily basis and the only way I find to distract myself from this and other frightening things is to think BIGGER than the last few weeks. One lovely accolade came my way this week from the American Squirrel Blogging Awards. A very funny consolation prize for not even being considered a potential to enter the contest for American Wine Blogging Awards.

It used to be a big thing when your byline was listed second or you didn’t get one at all, now all I want is to be on someone’s blog roll…how things have changed. Consolation comes in many forms and in many grape varieties lucky for me. Yesterday, oddly enough I had a lovely grape variety that I never find in the United States. Rossese di Albenga from the Riviera di Ponente in Liguria and which reminds me of the beach and the Summer.

It was very different than the Rossese I remembered drinking on my trips to Alassio, a lovely seaside town I used to be partial to in my previous incarnation. I found it much meater than I remembered despite its light color which would lead one to think of a different flavor profile. Bio Vio is an organic winery and they use no pesticides. I truly enjoyed this wine at Aroma, a great place to have a drink, meet a friend or dine.

In other news, on Friday of last week I was lucky enough to sit and chat with a fascinating bio-dynamic winemaker, Olivier Cousin.

Maslow 6 is a very interesting wine community started by three lovely ladies, two of whom I know from the International Wine Center, Mollie Battenhouse and Keri Jackson Kunzle. Maslow 6 organized a fabulous dinner with natural wine makers from Jenny & Francois’ portfolio. As a recent convert to organics (except for Joly who I have followed for years), everything is somewhat new and exciting to me. Cousin’s wines were exceptional and deserve their own post. More to come tomorrow.