I have been absent from the New York tango scene for many months. For those who don't dance tango, that may not seem to be a big deal, for those who do, it is almost criminal. I had forgotten the pleasure of listening to the slow, romantic and beautiful tango songs while trying to swirl... Continue Reading →
Italian Indigenous Varities: Albana di Romagna – Passito Version Is Worth A Try
This article orginally appeared on Altacucina Society's website. On my recent trip to Italy, I focused on tasting a maximum number of dessert wines, I found the passito version of Albana di Romagna to be interesting and unknown, at least to me. What I discovered with pleasure is that Albana is renowned for its honey,... Continue Reading →
Montalcino On My Mind – Laura Brunelli In NYC
I'm truly looking forward to seeing Laura Brunelli of the Gianni Brunelli winery this week in New York. I had the occasion to try the latest vintages of their great wines at Vinitaly 2009 and it will be nice to see how the wines have evolved over the past two months. I met Laura &... Continue Reading →
Georges Duboeuf Wine Tasting – Summer in a Glass
I wrote a long piece for the The Gourmet Retailer Blog about a tasting I attended in late April of Geoges Duboeuf's wines. It was a wonderful event where we were able to taste a number of the Beaujolais Crus. I wanted to post some photos of the event on this blog. Please check out... Continue Reading →
Emidio Pepe, An Iconic Winemaker From Abruzzo
The Pepe family has been making wine in Abruzzo since 1899. Emidio Pepe took over the winery in 1964 and has been promoting Montepulciano d'Abruzzzo ever since. His wines are made near the city of Teramo in a place called Torano Nuovo, very close to the border of the Marche region and not too distant... Continue Reading →
Remembering Abruzzo – Five Weeks Later
It has been five weeks since the devastating earthquake in Abruzzo. The earthquake hit on April 6 at around 3:38 am. I haven't yet written about it because I wanted to find the right tone but then I saw that some blogging colleagues were trying to drum up attention to bring people to the region... Continue Reading →
Filare 41 – Tenuta Casa Dei From Suvereto
Like many wine geeks, wine lovers, winos or however we like to describe ourselves, I drink a lot of wine. I always promise to write about wines I like but sometimes it takes me ages to do it. That is the case with this wine, tasted in December 2008 with Mike Reilly, a fellow recipient... Continue Reading →
Basilicata’s Aglianico del Vulture, A Wine Close To My Heart
I have recently started writing an A to Z of Italian indigenous grape varieties for Altacucina Society's website. My second installment is currently on the website. It is about Aglianico, a grape found in Southern Italy largely in two regions, Campania and Basilicata. This piece is about Aglianico from Basilicata, Aglianico del Vulture. Basilicata holds... Continue Reading →
Pinot Nero in Italy – Surprisingly Nice Wines
Pinot Nero has long been grown in certain areas of Italy such as the Valle d'Aosta, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and Oltrepo' Pavese. The Franciacorta region in Lombardy also has its fair share of Pinot Nero which it uses for sparkling wine. At Vinitaly last month, I had the occasion to taste a truly... Continue Reading →