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Review: Belisario “Il Picchio” Verdicchio di Matelica (2023)
There are certain rules to live by when shopping for budget wines from unfamiliar producers. Wine with horses on the label: Bad. Wine with chickens on the label: Usually okay. Wine with a kangaroo on the label: Eh, it depends on the day, mate. However well these guidelines have served me in the past, I…
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Local Sips: Bar Vino at Buon Vino Cellars (Plano, TX)
Want to drink great wine while feeling like you’re inside a secret club (because you kind of are)? Let me clue you in on one of DFW’s hidden wine oases, Buon Vino Cellars. Buon Vino Cellars is a concierge wine store and locker club located just off the Dallas North Tollway. Normally, it’s a bottle…
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Review: Regaleali Lamùri Nero d’Avola (2021)
The French Paradox has been mostly debunked, but has anyone figured out the Italian Paradox? Logic dictates that cheap Italian food and mediocre Italian wine shouldn’t add up to something spectacular. Bad wine usually makes an even worse pairing…but somehow Italy doesn’t have to play by those rules. You know how it is. You get…
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Review: Visionario Bianco Trevenezie (2023)
I made a promise back in April to review all 13 of the wines I got in a mixed Italian case from the Wall Street Journal’s wine club. Lucky me! I’ll be grabbing these bottles one by one, finding something in my pantry or freezer to pair with them, and giving you my honest thoughts…
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Bordeaux + Tuscany Tasting with Château Giscours and Caiarossa
Wine Wednesday got a serious upgrade with a selection of bold blends from Bordeaux’s Château Giscours and Tuscany’s Caiarossa. Reps from both estates were in Dallas this week and swung by The Wine Authority with some crates of their marvelous red elixirs. Giscours and Caiarossa had just been featured in a “Bordeaux Meets Toscana” winemakers’…
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Review: Berlucchi ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta
Celebrations require bubbles…even if all you’re celebrating is that it’s finally 5 PM. For At-Home Happy Hour today we have a lovely bottle of ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta by Guido Berlucchi & C. Franciacorta–as I’m sure many of my readers already know–is Italy’s answer to Champagne. It’s made in a similar style/method to French fizz,…
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Unboxing the WSJ Wine Club – Wine World Tour Italian Collection
I recently tried a new “flavor” of the Wall Street Journal Wine Club–the Wine World Tour. In this blog post, I share a peek inside the box, as well as my honest review. The WSJ Wine club sends me reams of direct mail offers. You know, the ones that look like this: They usually go…
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Come for the wine, stay for the salumi: Quartino Wine Bar (The Colony, TX)
Fresh-baked bread, artisan pork products, and Italian wine by the liter! If any of those things are calling your name, head on over to Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar in the Colony. The Chicago-based Gibsons Restaurant Group opened their first Texas location in 2023. It’s since become a popular spot in the “Grotto District” of…
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Local Sips: Tasting Tuesday at Antonio Ristorante (Addison, TX)
Do you like Italian wine and Italian food? Of course–everybody does, unless they’re nuts. Would you like to know a weeknight date idea that won’t empty your wallet or leave you so full you swear you’ll never eat again? Then check out Antonio Ristorante in Addison Circle. Antonio’s offers a seasonal 3-course tasting menu on…
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Review: Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva (2019)
I have a bottle of Chianti to talk about–but first, a magical oak tree story. Tuesday night I was out at dinner with my wife Sarah, and as we were leaving we got caught in a freak hailstorm. It was typical screwy North Texas early spring weather. Cool and sunny and then…bam! Blinding rain and…
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Under $12 Review: ALDI’s California Heritage Pinot Grigio
Our wine review of the day is…ta-da! A $5 Pinot Grigio from ALDI. Wait, wait–I can explain: I bought this wine to put in my Italian sausage and kale pasta. But then I remembered that drinking bad wine helps you appreciate the good ones more. So I put on a brave face, twisted that screw…
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Molto carino! These 11 Italian grape varieties are named after animals
The Italian language has a rich tradition of nicknames. Not just for people, to help distinguish one Giovanni from another–but for animals, places, and plants, including grapes. The names of some grape varieties reach back to Roman times, when viticulture was in its infancy. Farmers needed a way to differentiate grapes by their flavor, yield,…