From the Sixes: A Surprising and Encouraging Start to 2026

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 got on the plane, we were invited to a friend’s house for New Years day celebration. It’s a yearly event, and lots of old friends show up, mainly from the Italian wine and food community. It was a pleasant day to sit outside and eat cotechino con lenticchie while sipping on Franciacorta and mature Barolo.

I used the day as an opportunity to liberate some of my older wines. Seeing as the new year ends in a “6” I opted for wines from years ending in “6,” namely 2006 and 1996. Three wines were picked.

20 Years of Wine Blogging: Now What?

Well, 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 be. But this is where I’m at, where we’re all going to be, one day. And instead of regretting it, I look forward to what this stage of life means.

Twenty Years In: A 2025 Retrospective

Twenty 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 twenty years. But 2025 brought a bevy of posts (and new readers) that were rewarding and widely read. Strange thing, for I really thought wine blogs and wine blogging were heading to the Smithsonian to rest next to the dinosaurs. It seems Substack has renewed the category, albeit in a different format, of sorts.

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.

What Makes Someone an Italian Wine Expert? (And Why It Doesn't Matter)

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 lined up like soldiers. She looked lost. I asked if she needed help. She did—looking for something specific. I found it for her, pointed out a couple alternatives, and moved on.

Walking away, a thought flickered through my mind: "I bet she doesn't know she just got advice from someone who spent forty years working with Italian wine." I laughed at myself and kept walking toward the eggs. What a ridiculous thing to think.

But it raises a question I've been chewing on for years: what actually makes someone an Italian wine expert?