Expo2015 is finally here. Food and our planet are the theme of the Expo and it looks like it is off to a good start with a concert in Piazza Duomo by Andrea Boccelli, a fashion show by Armani and good wishes from Pope Francis.

I had the pleasure of living in Lombardy, in Milan, for 10 years from 1995 to 2005. It was a fabulously interesting place to live and I still feel that it is my third home. My first being New York and my second, Florence where I spent the first years of my Italian life and left a little piece behind. Milan though is where I lived 2/3 of my 15 years in Italy.

Today I am reflecting on all the years I spent in Milan and how often people overlook not just Lombardy (Milan is the capital) but the wines from the region, the food and well, almost everything.

I have a number of clients in Milan, colleagues, and many friends there and go very frequently. This has allowed me to keep an eye on the evolution of the city, the region and all things related to Milan. When living there, I almost never drank or even saw any wines from Lombardy, except those from Franciacorta and Valtellina.

I have had the pleasure of discovering just how wrong I was in thinking that the selection was limited. Lombardy has great wines produced from some local and more international varieties.

In addition to my usual weekly series on indigenous grapes or women in wine, I’ve decided to spend the next six months writing about Milan, the wines from Northern Italy and my travels around during those years and the ones that have followed. I will also be posting news from the Expo but the official news service to follow about those events is Winenews.it. and the website of the wine pavilion from Italy, Vino2015.com.