Letter from a half-full bottle to an apostle of wine I see you, sitting there on the deck of your house overlooking the peaceful valley...

"For I have known them all already, known them all" - Eliot H ow often is it one can be with acquaintances, colleagues and fri...

I struggle with pork. If there is a plate of prosciutto nearby, I’m in trouble. “Waste nothing,” the angel whispers in my ear. And then I ...

"I'd suggest that many young wine drinkers do not have access to the great benchmark wines, the paradigms of profundity that are al...

W e took the back road up to the hilltop village. Peeking behind the sets. The road was in poor shape, potholes and missing pieces of the ...

F orgive me, dear readers. I have been in deep-brain storming meetings off and on for several weeks and my head is bursting with new and ...

A nyone who reads this blog, they know how I feel about bragging. That said, I do live in Texas, and bragging rights are part of our patrimo...

B y my purely unscientific reckoning I’ve participated in over 400 “winemaker” dinners over time. For the most part these have been pleasu...

C ars, women, beaches. Italy is downright sexy. Whether you are 26 or 62, the sensuality of living the Italian life is invigorating. And t...

L-R my Mom, sisters Josephine and Amelia and brother Felice. Mom and Josephine are living. T exas in the beginning of the 20th century w...

O ne of the conundrums for Italian wine is that with all of the varieties of grapes and styles of wines, there are essentially four wines ...

The Tree of Hope I n New York this week, meetings, end of year wrap-ups, annual trip. While the days are filled with meetings and tastin...

I t hasn’t been a year since Francis became Pope, but already signs abound for a new direction in Italy. After 25 years under the allure ...

S ince Italy aligned their wine regulations with the European Community in 2012 , the unbridled enthusiasm to rush wine towards the vaunte...

“There is a crack between the two worlds.” – Don Juan Matus I n time, the perception of things as they are and as they seem are two sid...