"Vale più un rimprovero di un amico che un bacio di un nemico" Y ear after year, I've witnessed the Italian wine paradox in Am...

I t was finally a clear day in San Diego. I was visiting a friend whose brighter days were behind him. But he said, “Let’s take a ride aroun...

W hen someone you love dies—a mate, a pet—there's a hole. They don't stop loving you, but they're gone. The loss is indescribabl...

The three wines that began 2026 so well I ’ m plodding my way through the puddles in Southern California, on a personal mission. Before I go...

W ell, that twenty years went in a flash. Frankly, I really don’t want the next twenty years to go as fast, I’m already older than I want to...

T wenty years ago this month, I started this blog. Nearly 1,800 posts later, I'm still here. I was contemplating an end the blog at twen...

I was in my local Italian market last week, picking up olive oil and pasta. A woman nearby stood staring at the wine section, Brunellos l...

W hen I first went to Italy in 1971, I got my introduction to what people over there were calling the ugly American. Loud, overbearing, disr...

I keep seeing these bucket lists. Italy bucket lists. Five things, ten things, twenty things you must do before you die. And they're al...

From the "Oops!... they did it again" dept.    Apparently word hasn't gotten around yet.  This arrived in my inbox today.   ...

Family outing Old California circa early 1930's - Nonna bottom right M arion Nestle doesn't believe in breakfast . At 89, this nutri...

Retrieved from my spam file 😉*     Click images to enlarge   *  --- Editor's note: No actual consortia were consulted in the writing...

Wine, time and transformation T he scent woke me. Not an alarm, not a voice - just that yeasty, intoxicating pull of fermentation working in...

H ere's the thing nobody's saying out loud: northern Italy is dying faster than the south. Not literally. Not yet. But the vines a...

S croll through Instagram on any given Tuesday and you'll see them: sun-drenched vineyard photos, perfectly plated lunches in Tuscan cou...