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On the Wine Trail in Italy
Italian wine Ambassador, moving between Italy and America. Passionate about both of my countries. Sustained by the energies of California, Texas, Sicily and the Adriatic. Drawn to the open spaces of America and the small vineyards of Italy. Old soul with a young heart.
360 articles
The Master of Grignolino
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 2 days ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
?You need to go visit one of my student's dad the next time you go to Napa. He makes a hell of a red wine. Heitz is his name. Joe Heitz.? So my college art teacher, Phil Welch recommended. It would take me 6 years before I took him up on it. I don't know why I waited so long. Life, again, got in the way of a good time. But I made it up Hwy 29 eventually, the first of many treks up and down that not so lonesome old highway.It was the summer of 1976 and we had taken the Falcon wagon and the...
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Quattromila Diciotto ~ Giorni e Notti
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 5 days ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
Non dimenticher? maiPhoto by Domantis
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Great Meal Moment: "Feed me! Feed me!"
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 1 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
Folks who know me know I'm not a BIG MEAT kind of guy. I've been steadily progressing back to my hippie days in the ?70?s, when the life was simpler, more natural and meatless. But in Italy, that's a different story.After a harrowing couple of days in the Langhe, what with the snow and ice and the hassle of getting down the hill we made it to Franciacorta-land. Wonderful respite from the cold. I missed a couple of meals too. So when our host, Alberto, recommended we go to their Tuscan styled...
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Great Meal Moment: "I'll have what she's having."
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 1 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
One of the best things I have ever had was this simple dish of pasta, filled with a light cheese, and topped with a little butter and dusted ever so delicately with cheese. I think it was the ?Il Plin' con la ricotta di pecora da Murazzano e burro d'alpeggio. I wasn't paying too much attention when they brought the dish, which was served to me on my recent trip to the Langhe at Locanda nel Borgo Antico in Barolo. Only to say I had a ?When Harry met Sally' moment when I first tasted the ravioli....
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Recognition
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 1 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
There are many people who have dreams and once in a while their dreams converge with yours. It isn't really anything more than water in the river, but isn't it a good thing when one is recognized for their efforts' Brian Larky is one of those with a dream. And when I met him in the very early 1990?s, I honestly thought what he was talking about was just another scheme. Call me cynical, or distracted, or arrogant, but I never thought he would have the stick-to-it-iveness to do what he did. What...
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Langhe Report: The Back Story
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 1 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
I love my bed. And my pillows. I was born in July; I essentially revel in being home. But the life I chose has taken me on the road for quite some time now. I must admit after the events of September 11, 2001, it has been more difficult. But hey, after what my grandparents endured crossing the Atlantic, crammed into a ship with hundreds of other hopeful ?Americans to be,? it really is small change.Since being back I have been in the streets, selling and doing wine dinners. Folks who have read...
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Assembling a Rainbow, Brick by Brick
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 2 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
Imagine driving out of a pounding snow storm, ice everywhere, drifts of snow, soaked shoes and gloves, miserably cold. And then to arrive at a place where the sun is shining, the snow still cavorting in the upper ranges. A moment of respite, not from Nebbiolo but from Winter. Sure enough we'd be back in the thick of it the next day, but for now we are looking over the amphitheater-like plane leading down to Lake Iseo. It truly is a beautiful view on many levels. For the moment I am focused on...
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Italian wine in an age of self-consciousness
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 2 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
Traveling through Piemonte and Lombardia this past week, soul-searching is on the rise. While there is always a certain amount of healthy ego involved in the making of a product like fine wine, what I sensed on this latest trip is that the Italians are vigorously peering inside as to the nature of Italian wine. Winemakers and marketers alike seem to be probing for the next step in the evolution of Italian wine in the 21st century. William Gibson remarked that in these times Future Shock in no...
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Boca- From Noah to Moses
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 3 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
There are those places on the wine trail in Italy that really pay homage to a glorious past. But sometimes they don't have to shout. All it takes is a whisper, a caress, a memory. So it was we made our way back into the snow and ice to the hilltop town of Boca in Piemonte. Not in the Langhe anymore, but a place that more people have forgotten about than remember.Christoph K?nzli is a modern day Moses for this area. Technically a foreigner, from nearby Switzerland, over 20 years ago he came here...
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Langhe Report: Barbaresco at a Crossroads
From On the Wine Trail in Italy, 3 weeks ago, Read 0 times. Similar articles
The young in this world don't remember the past; the old can't imagine the future. As it goes throughout the world and history, this pattern keeps repeating. And in a place like Barbaresco, once again we are at a crossroads. Can the advances of the past be passed along to the new generation' Are they ready' Are there enough to pass it to if they are even receptive' Wine communities all over the world struggle with this passing of the baton to the new crop.Old people look around and shake their...
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