~ True Story ~ T his time last year, I was traveling with a group in Italy. We were one day away from being finished and were in Grosseto ...

Two-stepping across Texas with Marco Bacci Marco Bacci with Damian Mandola near Austin, Texas H ow does one top a week of Italian wine...

From the "nothing to kill or die for" dept. L et’s take a imaginary scenario – trade between Italy and the USA is halted for ec...

T his week has been absolutely beautiful in New York City. Autumn is in full swing, with cooler weather, gusts of cooler wind with a scatte...

From the “life’s too short to drink bad wine or eat bad cheese” dept. A nyone who follows this blog for that last few years probably have ...

O ne has to know that the Italian influence has gone deep when the official wine of the 125th Texas State Fair is a Sangiovese. I never thou...

T here are those days when the wine business can be a real treat. Yesterday was one of those. In fact all week has been a textbook “perfect ...

I taly’s charm is her innate beauty. Art, architecture, music, food and the multi-act opera we’ve come to know as family. Youth, strength, p...

Where O-N-D meets O-M-G I figured it must be the holiday season when I woke up from a dream that had me arguing for Italian wines on a wi...

I came across a magazine article the other day that posed the question “What would you order for your last supper?” and it got me to thin...

Limoncello by symbiosis at Domenica N ew Orleans has a relationship with things Italian similarly as it does with jazz. While there is a ...

T his week finds me in Louisiana, starting in New Orleans, one of my great-great-grandfather’s haunts. Meetings in the morning and an aftern...

A s morning dawned, only five were left. After many wars and battles, they couldn’t claim victory. They had been left behind, without any en...

R egardless of the political or economic situation in Italy, there are some certainties that the Italians will faithfully address: When the ...

I t’s been a long, lonely summer, but the Italians are back from holiday. Two important new DOCG appellations now have received their well-...