I considered switching over to Substack. They have better analytics and push from the platform, versus the necessary pull from the legacy platform, Blogspot, which even its owners AI representative (i.e. Gemini) claim has become a digital ghost town. Maybe so. Or perhaps it's like a vintage sports car that just needs to be cared for. While it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the newer models, it still can get up and go and eventually get you somewhere. That's where we've been going for the last twenty years on the wine trail in Italy.
2025 was a year of reckoning and remembrance. I wrote on average, a post a week—each one a conversation I needed to have, either with myself or with you. Looking back, they organized themselves into five distinct streams, which I am re-sharing with you below.
This almost year-end piece organizes some of my more notable posts from 2025 into five thematic streams. It's a way to see the full range of what I tackled this year.
I'll be back next week on the official day, the 20th anniversary date, with some thoughts and reflections and possible directions (maybe even some predictions) I plan on taking in 2026. In the meantime, enjoy the encore presentation, and Merry Christmas, y'all.
The Personal Trail: Wine, Life, and Looking
Some essays weren't about wine at all, except that everything's about wine when you've spent forty years in it.
"What Photography Taught Me About Wine
Appreciation" (September 7, 2025)
Photography informed my wine journey from the start. Wynn Bullock taught me to
be "always looking, with or without a camera"—a philosophy that
shaped how I approach both crafts.
"Trebbiano and Chicken - A simple meal which might just
save the world" (August 24, 2025)
The world burns, and I went to the kitchen. Sometimes the most radical act is
making something simple and good.
"The Stages of a (Wine's) Life"
(August 3, 2025)
I sat in my wine closet with the ancients—25% of my collection is 25 years or
older. They had things to tell me about aging, about time, about what lasts.
"Love - Wine Appreciation's Secret Sauce"
(August 17, 2025)
The wine-writing class kept harping about the sky falling. Meanwhile, actual
people in actual shops were still buying wine, still falling in love with it.
Turns out that matters more than all the bloviating.
"In Service of Italian Wine" (July
6, 2025)
Forty years in the trade. I survived. Not everyone did. Here's how I dodged
those bullets.
"Midnight in the Cellar: Wine, Sleep, and the Slow
Burn" (November 9, 2025)
Bucita, 1977. The scent of fermentation woke me at midnight. Sometimes memory
works like that—reaching through decades, pulling you back to the cellar.
"The Most Important Meal of the Day"
(November 16, 2025)
Marion Nestle doesn't believe in breakfast. My grandfather's Sunday barbecues
under the grape arbor—those weren't marketed. They just mattered.
"Well, shut my mouth!" (August 10,
2025)
Lately when I'm out in the world, I keep getting this sense I had as a
youngster: stop talking and let the adults talk.
The Industry Reckoning: Calling Out the Bullshit
Some conversations needed to happen out loud, in public, with receipts.
"The Economics of Bullshit: Wine's Junket Folly"
(October 26, 2025)
Scroll Instagram—sun-drenched vineyard photos, perfectly plated lunches,
#blessed #sponsored (maybe). But here's the unspoken contract: you don't bite
the hand that flies you first class.
"Devotion, Direction and Dissent – The Divergent Mantra
of Contemporary Italian Winemakers" (August 31, 2025)
Change in Italian winemaking happens incrementally. But make no mistake—the
revolution continues. Why would anyone think it would stop here?
"Has Wine Lost Its Moorings? A Response to Eric
Asimov" (October 22, 2025)
Eric laid out prescriptions for an ailing industry. But reading through it, one
question kept nagging: Has wine lost its cultural moorings?
"The Great Inversion: How Italian Wine's Future Moved
South" (November 2, 2025)
Nobody's saying it out loud: northern Italy is dying faster than the south. For
the first time in modern wine history, the center of gravity is shifting.
"Haven't we been here before? A signpost on the wine
trail in Italy" (July 27, 2025)
Twenty years of writing. Looking back at the subject matter, I can't help
wondering if I've reached the bottom of the barrel. The jury's still out.
"Problem: Wine in Crisis? Remedy: Move forward, like an
arrow. Fearlessly." (July 13, 2025)
I've been working on a project in an Italian wine shop. I have good news:
people are still buying wine, still discovering, still caring.
"Ten Years After: What I Got Right (and Wrong) About
Italian Wine in America" (October 12, 2025)
A decade ago I threw some educated guesses into the wind. Looking back is
easier than looking forward, but at least now I have data.
"How Much Do Wine Expert Ratings Matter?"
(June 8, 2025)
Making shelf talkers for my local shop, I discovered the relative influence of
wine writers has shifted. There are more voices than ever, so the field has
been diluted.
"Wine on lists starting @ $100, concert seats @ $1,000,
cars that run $100,000, watches for $250,000 – Excuse me, what planet am I
on?" (June 22, 2025)
We all live in a yellow submarine now. Inside the bubble, not all is rosy.
"That ain't Italy, folks – Tourism in the 21st
Century" (June 29, 2025)
A country turns into a cruise ship. The billionaire's Venetian wedding
galvanized this concept into a gigantic, sparkling mess.
The Practical Guides: Still Teaching After All These Years
Some posts just needed to explain things clearly, without the noise.
"Your Essential Guide to Italy's DOC and DOCG Wines -
2025 Version" (October 15, 2025)
You're standing in front of a wine list. Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello—all those
B's swimming together. Someone asks what the difference is between DOC and
DOCG. Here's the answer.
"What Makes Someone an Italian Wine Expert? (And Why It
Doesn't Matter)" (December 14, 2025)
I helped a woman in my Italian market find wine. Walking away, I thought:
"She doesn't know she just got advice from someone who spent forty years
working with Italian wine." What a ridiculous thing to think.
"Don't Age Wine Longer than 10 Years!"
(June 1, 2025)
A longtime colleague launched into a prolonged jeremiad about aging wine. I
recorded it (with permission). The jury's still out.
"Prophecy and Perspective on the Blackland
Prairie" (October 19, 2025)
Ten years ago I wrote about 5 Italian wine regions to watch. The buffalos are
coming back. The crystal ball sits on my desk, a little cloudier, a little
wiser.
"Whispers from the Forgotten Frontiers of Italian
Wine" (September 21, 2025)
Beneath the surface lies a shadowed realm—wines yet unborn, waiting in the
dark. Nowhere is this more evident than in Etna, where thousands of ancient
indigenous vines lie dormant.
The Satire & Invention: When You Have to Laugh
Sometimes the only response to absurdity is more absurdity—but deadpan.
"Persona Non Grata" (November 12,
2025)
Retrieved from my spam file 😉
[The confidential memo that arrived after I became persona non grata in the
wine PR world]
"Spas, Tours, Golden Hour Too - We'll Be Blessed If You
Come" (November 18, 2025)
Apparently word hasn't gotten around yet. This arrived in my inbox today.
[Another press junket invitation, lampooned]
"A Hundred Years Wrapped in Etna's Fiery Embrace"
(October 5, 2025)
I enlisted my clandestine consigliere, ÅïΩfonso—an arcane ignis
fatuus who whispers tweaks. We traced the 2022 Terre Nere Prephylloxera
over a hundred imagined years, guided by Empedocles.
"Is Your Favorite Italian Wine 'Coded?'"
(May 18, 2025)
It got me wondering if Italian wine is coded in these days of disruption.
Almost anything can be, especially when one trawls the eddies of social media.
"The Bullshit-ification of the Italian Wine and Food
Experience in America" (February 23, 2025)
Sometimes you just have to call it what it is.
Italy Beyond the Glass: Travel Philosophy & Cultural Critique
Wine is a way into Italy. But Italy is so much more.
"Kicking the Bucket List Habit ~ Five Ways to Surrender
to Italy" (November 30, 2025)
I keep seeing these bucket lists. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But
that's not the Italy that's stayed with me for fifty-some years. Italy reveals
itself differently—not when you grasp at it, but when you open your hands.
"Go to Rome, go to Florence, go to Venice, but please
don't go here!" (September 14, 2025)
People go to Rome, to Florence, to Venice. But Liguria? Why in Heaven's name
would anyone go there? Liguria is one of Italy's best kept secrets.
"The Ugly American Has Come Home"
(December 7, 2025)
When I first went to Italy in 1971, I got my introduction to the ugly American.
Now the ugly American has come home to roost. There's no escaping their
thunderous ubiety.
"Examining Cultural Appropriation in Italian-Inspired
Cuisine: A Closer Look" (September 28, 2025)
A local chef opened an Italian-styled restaurant. One dish: Prosciutto e Melone
made with Texas cantaloupe, culatello, candied hazelnuts, figs, and basil. The
chef noted ironically, "We have a lot more of what people consider
traditional Italian," but couldn't skip chicken parmesan.
"Like Nothing Ever Before" (July
20, 2025)
How often have you opened a bottle of wine and thought you'd never tasted
anything like it in your lifetime? After thousands of wines a year, when does
that special bottle percolate to the top?
The Gift of Memory
Looking back at these posts, I realize they centered around paying attention to wine, to Italy, to the industry, to the absurdity, to what lasts and what doesn't.
Twenty years is a long time to maintain the discourse. But maybe that's the point—it's not about having something new to say every week. It's about showing up, looking closely, and trusting that if you pay attention long enough, the things worth saying will find you. More on this next week.
