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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Sacrificing the Basics for Babel

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T his weekend I listened to a panel of chefs from Texas who brought national attention to Southwest cuisine. They were Robert Del Grande ,...
Sunday, April 19, 2015

What young Americans can learn from an old German ~ The Rudi Wiest register

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R udi Wiest will turn 79 this year. But as he likes to say, “I have a long ways to go to catch up with your mom. She’s going to be 101 thi...
Sunday, April 12, 2015

Making the Case for Darker Rosė Wines ~ Countering the "Brangelina" Effect

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I n no small way, we all need to thank the Perrin family (and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) for resuscitating the rosė wine category. Befo...
Sunday, April 05, 2015

Meditations on the '51

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S ooner or later we encounter the mirror. As much as we try, with makeup, with dye, with dark glasses and soft focus, time ultimately wins...
Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Penetrating Magic of Burlotto

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R unning into Fabio Alessandria in the Piedmont Hall at Vinitaly, he called me by my name. How he remembered I cannot imagine. But in such...
Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Why this might be our last Vinitaly in Verona: A Dear Giovanni letter to Veronafiere

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D ear Veronafiere, We have been coming to Verona and Vinitaly since 1967. We have watched it expand over the years and have endured the...
Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Wine to Come: Observations from the Langhe on the First Day of Spring

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Photo: European Space Agency A well-dressed group from around the world milling around an open courtyard in the Langhe on this first da...
Wednesday, March 18, 2015

"Vineyards Barolo lovers should seek out, without getting bogged down in tar and roses."

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W hen I recently took a week off, it was to take time from work so I could get caught up on a few writing projects. One that I am particu...
Sunday, March 15, 2015

"Venice was the Dubai of the 13th Century"

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O n a nippy winter night, while having a quiet meal in a dining room in Venice overlooking the Grand Canal, the subject of Dubai arose. A ...
Tuesday, March 10, 2015

On the Wine Trail in Italy in other places – Solid advice for Italians looking to enter the US market and a primer on Italian wine for young sommeliers

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I n the almost ten years that I have been writing this blog, there has been, more or less, a natural development of it. My blog voice, I’v...
Sunday, March 08, 2015

The Master Class

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O pportunities abound for learning about Italian wine and culture. All it takes is time. There is no fast-track. No amount of cramming, memo...
Sunday, March 01, 2015

Comfort me with Nebbiolo

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T he waking world is fraught with disappointment, large and small. From the land mine of the news cycle to something as simple as overexpo...
Sunday, February 22, 2015

An Italian-American mantra: "My grandfather made my life possible today."

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To Kalon "I" Block C oming home from a week at the 11th annual Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Vall...
Sunday, February 15, 2015

France by way of Italy

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Avignon - 1985 W hen I was coming up in the wine business, there was this invisible wall between France and Italy, put there mainly by w...
Sunday, February 08, 2015

The Disneyfication of Barolo - The Queen of Jelly and Her Cannubial Bliss

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F or this observer, Italy is a source of endless fascination. They take rugged, sun scorched stone and turn it into a timeless beauty. The...