Greetings from Savannah, Georgia, y’all! I’m here for a couple of weeks visiting dear, recently-transplanted friends from the Bay Area. At their recommendation, I made a stop at their local wine shop and was blown away by the brilliant concept behind it and the selection of wines on display. It was a no-brainer that June’s wine-of-the-month had to come from Le Chai - Galerie du Vin.

To highlight proprietor Christian Depken’s eclectic taste in wine, we opted for this unique, crisp white wine hailing from southern France that works just as well on Savannah porches on a balmy summer’s eve:

Southern Italy is a joy to visit year round, but there’s something about the late spring and summer when the rich, less-populated lands of the South burst forth with an abundance of fruits and vegetables so full of flavor that little else is needed to make them into a perfect summer meal. Thanks to this, there are wonderfully simple recipes that, with a visit to your local farmer’s market, you will be able to effortlessly whip up in no time.

Having just returned to the States after an extensive period in Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily, these are the refreshing dishes my palate misses the most:

Lacrima means “teardrop” in Italian and refers to both the shape of the grape and the fact that it has a thin skin and therefore breaks easily, releasing drops of juice. Others, like Ian d’Agata, will tell you it is because drinking Lacrima will produce tears of joy. I will second that! While doing my sommelier course in Italy, this is one of the wines that blew me away—its aromatic quality was like nothing I had experienced before.