Are You Kidding Me? Rosé for OTBN? #WinePW

iOTA Cellars "phyllis" rosé

Wine Pairing Weekend and OTBN16 This year, our Wine Pairing Weekend group is getting together to share our individual experiences with #OTBN 2016. Please take a look further down in this post to jump to links for all our posts! Quiet Start to OTBN 2016 Are you familiar with “Open That Bottle Night“? OTBN is … Continue reading

Franco Rocca: Our Barbaresco Winegrower Friend

A Great Deal on Single Cru Barbaresco Have you heard of cruzu.com?  Check them out, crowdsourcing for wineries looking for American exposure. A Barbaresco winegrower friend of ours, Franco Rocca, has an offer open until July 5, and he is looking for support.  I don’t have anything to gain from this support, except that I … Continue reading

Langhe e Roero Primi: Tajarin al Sugo di Gorgonzola

Week 2 Challenge: L’ouvo e il Primo (Egg in the 1st Course) We’re on to week 2 in this year’s food blogging/photography challenge from the Tourist Union of the Langhe and Roero (details here, in Italian). Our week 2 challenge this year is to use eggs in a Primi course.  The natural choice here is … Continue reading

Ahhh… The Sweet Life of a Wine Importer

Protocol Wine Studio, Justin Gallen and Rinascimento Wine Company One of my favorite wine books is Kermit Lynch’s account of his early days as an importer.  Wouldn’t it be exciting to travel all over Europe, searching out great wineries, meeting the winegrowers and soaking in all that wine culture? Thanks to Protocol Wine Studio , … Continue reading

You’ll fall in love with Piemonte

Judging by recent posts, you might think we’ve gone off the deep end for the Piemonte (or Piedmont), and you’d be right.  Julie and I spent six days in the Langhe (an area inside the Piemonte region) last September. Why would we fall in love with a wine region, thousands of miles away from home … Continue reading

Hazelnuts, Squash & Barbera d’Alba

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Hazelnuts & Ancient Grains We’re back in the hunt in the TuLangheRoero photo/recipe contest.  This week’s ingredient? Hazelnut or Nocciola Tonda Gentile in Italian.  A first thought would be a dessert, and there are many fine traditional Piemontese desserts that feature hazelnuts. This main dish is non-traditional, but the hazelnuts shine.  … Continue reading

Barolo visits Minnesota: Podere Ruggeri Corsini

I met Weston Hoard (the Piedmont Guy) at a Barolo class he hosted at Sunfish Cellars about a year ago.  I was excited to see that Weston was coming back to town, this time bringing the winegrower from one of the Piedmont wineries he represents, Podere Ruggeri Corsini.  In addition, this was to be a … Continue reading

Our Piemonte Wine Dinner

Barbaresco, Barolo and Much More Just back from a wine touring week in the Piemonte (Piedmont) region of Italy, Julie and I were eager to share a glimpse of that area with our wine dinner group.  We prepared a Piemonte menu we hoped would be both authentic and tasty.  How did we do? The White … Continue reading

Piemonte Training

In just a few days, Julie and I will be spending a whole week touring the Langhe, a district within the larger region of the Piedmont (or Piemonte) in Italy!  I had the opportunity to do some on-site “research” earlier this summer during a weekend stop mid-way through a business trip.  Over the last few … Continue reading