A Taste of Wine

A few items on my short list of things exquisite:Sunset off Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard Michelangelo’s “Pietà” Musical counterpoint of JS Bach I am, however, inspired to make an addition to that list. Having recently attended another event celebrating wines of Italy’s Lugana …

Approaching Volterra by car from the north, the countryside slowly takes on the sparse character of a lunar landscape. The panorama is at once strange and compellingly beautiful. Stepping out from the car into intense sunshine, I am surrounded by …

As a wine region, Friuli is arguably better known for its wonderful white wines. With grape varieties such as Friulano, Malvasia Istriana, Pinot Grigio, Ribolla, Verduzzo and Picolit, Friuli white wines epitomize a style one might describe as clean, lean …

The head of the traffic snake pushes out from Boston, slowly squirming its way westbound along the Massachusetts Turnpike deep into the Pilgrim state. Rain continues to pour down in amounts that, judging from the inability of my car’s windshield …

You know that old Star Trek episode where Captain Kirk is buried up his neck in Tribbles? That’s what I feel like right now, because my tomato plants are producing baskets and baskets of Roma and San Marzano tomato every …

Digital technology has made it possible for anyone to share an opinion about wine. This is not a bad thing. Nor are the many opportunities for quality wine education available to wine consumers and professionals. But, I wonder if either …

When psychedelic rock great Jimi Hendrix wrote “Purple haze, all in my brain “, I am pretty sure that the distinctive pomegranate-toned foam of Gragnano, a frizzante red wine hailing from around its namesake town on the Sorrento Peninsula south …

Her: This is going to sound pitifully shallow. Him: Go for it. Her: I like this wine. A lot, actually. But, I don’t like talking about it. Nobody has heard of it. Him: You’re right. That gets the pitifully shallow …

Winemaker Nicola Cantoni has a handshake you remember. His grip communicates his sturdy frame, giving one the sense that he is rooted to the ground like his grape vines at Fattoria Fibbiano. One quickly understands Cantoni as a winemaker committed …

Dolcetto is an indigenous Italian grape variety from the region of Piedmont that makes traditional, easy to drink red wines of incredible versatility at table. Dolcetto also grows in Sardinia and in Liguria, where it’s known as Ormeasco. But as …