‘Tis the season to toast — A LOT. Some of you have waited all year for this: I know, I’m with you! In past years, I have highlighted various Italian sparkling wines, but, this year, I am sharing five fabulous Californian sparkling wines made in the Classic Methos (aka Champagne Method). CHEERS!
Read moreHearty Tuscan Recipes
While Tuscany is famous for giving us both the momentous Renaissance and the musical Italian language, its cuisine is quite simple and austere. A variety of meats, beans, salt-less bread, seasonal vegetables, pecorino cheese and olive oil are the main staples of the Tuscan diet. The result is a rustic, but hearty cuisine that is especially welcomed in the cooler months of the year.
Read more9 Perfect Wines for Thanksgiving: Sonoma Edition
In past years, I have been thankful for Italian wines at Thanksgiving; This year, however, Sonoma wineries really need our love and support after the destructive Kincade fire this autumn.
It was a joy and honor to highlight these perfect Thanksgiving wines from fantastic small to mid-size Sonoma wineries that will make you the hero of Thanksgiving dinner this year—winter holidays too! Please note that these wineries ship, and I’ve included links, so please support Sonoma with your wine choices this Thanksgiving and let’s all be thankful for the thousands of first responders who contained the Kincade fire that could have otherwise devastated the region.
Read moreWine of the Month | A Mushroom Risotto's Best Friend
After island hopping the past couple of months, November’s wine-of-the-month hails from Piemonte in Northern Italy. It is not only a stellar pairing for a mushroom risotto, but it’s also a delicious Thanksgiving wine and goes well with autumnal fare in general, making this the ideal month to showcase (drum roll, please):
Read moreA Brief History of the Spritz
Wow your friends with the origins of this beloved cocktail!
Read moreWine of the Month | Summer Vacation in a Bottle
Sardinia’s stunning coast
Last month’s wine was from one of Italy’s two regions that are islands, Sicily; this month’s wine hails from the other, Sardinia!
Read moreWine of the Month | Coastal Flavor
A couple of weeks ago, I was hanging out in coastal Maine, visiting a a good friend who I met the first week of our freshman year at Sarah Lawrence College and has been a pen pal—with REAL letters!—ever since. (Heart eyes emoji.) On my last night, we stopped in at Maine & Loire, a curated natural wine shop in Portland which celebrates, as the owners put it, “alive and soulful” wines. This month, I really wanted to feature a red wine that would be delicious chilled, so Peter Hale, one half of the husband-and-wife team, directed me to this juicy, adult-fruit-punch kind of Sicilian wine that would be perfect on its own (as my friend and I tried it), or paired with chicken on the grill and vegetable salads. Your call!
Read more6 Wine-Infused Summer Event Series in Sonoma
As if you needed any more reasons to visit Sonoma, the summer comes along and gives you another thousand by way of festivals, concerts, markets, dinners, races, and, of course, wine events! While checking the Sonoma County Events Calendar for your specific dates is always worthwhile, here are eight summer event series in Sonoma hosted by wineries that I absolutely love.
Read moreWine of the Month | The Gallery of Wine presents...
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:
Read more4 Effortless Summer Dishes from Southern Italy
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:
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