Italy, the birthplace of pizza, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance, is exalted for its numerous cultural and historical achievements. Its winemaking heritage spans centuries of traditions, beginning with the Etruscans and Romans, and continuing to this day. Whether it’s a crisp Bianco (white) or a rich Rosso (red), wine is as much a part […]
Pairing food with wine can be daunting. On the one hand, there’s science. Those who take that route will pore over acid matches and all that. But in the simplest terms, the best way to pair foods and wines is to remember one helpful rhyme: what grows together goes together. Translation? Eat foods grown and […]
Not to be confused with Tuscany’s Montepulciano region, the Montepulciano grape finds its home in warm central and southern Italy, most famously from the region of Abruzzo. Its wines tend to have plenty of color and body, with ripe fruit and earth, offering great ability to pair with a range of foods or sip solo. […]
Welcome to the edge – the eastern edge of Central Italy, that is. This is the region of Le Marche (Lay mary-Kay) and it is a wine region to be taken seriously, not just because it birthed the founder of one of America’s most famous wine dynasties, Cesare Mondavi. Although sometimes overshadowed by it’s better-known […]
Rosé, the official wine of summer. This delicious beverage has gotten more and more popular as the years have gone by, with wine shops and restaurants touting the pink juice as soon as the air starts to turn warm and the days become long. Unfortunately, with all our touting of rosé, we actually do the […]
The summer before last, I met some friends for what should have been the perfect vacation. It was August in Italy and we were being graciously hosted in a beautiful fourteenth-century stone farmhouse. You get the picture: Red shutters, tall Cypress trees, a bocce court, and a swimming pool. When you opened a window and […]
I’m frequently asked this question at In Vino, my little Italian wine and food cave: What does the DOC and DOCG name on the neck of a wine bottle or appended to the name of a wine on our wine list mean? Is the wine better if it has it? Not necessarily better, but guaranteed. […]
Owning an Italian restaurant and wine bar, I see a lot of anxious eyes darting up and down and all around the pages of my wine list. OF COURSE! Italy is a very daunting place for vino. There are twenty regions on the boot and each region is its own “country” of food and wine. […]
