Amice sit tibi terra levis.
It’s with a heavy heart that I report the news that our friend, wine writer, and Italian wine and culture blogger Kyle Phillips has left this world for a better one.
I had the opportunity to taste with Kyle on a few occasions in Italy (where he lived with his family) but our friendship and my deep respect for him grew out of our correspondence on email and social media.
He was a superbly talented taster and had a profound mastery and knowledge of Italian wine and its myriad designations, the result of decades of traveling and tasting wines throughout Italy.
But he was also a prolific English-language ambassador for Italian culture and gastronomy: his pioneering work at About.com was a model and inspiration for my blog.
May the earth rest lightly on you, friend. You will be sorely missed. As Angelo Peretti wrote on his blog today, the next glass is for you…
Do Bianchi 
Very sorry to hear this. Was working on a project this weekend and his name came up. Too young…
This is sad news indeed. I really enjoyed reading Kyle’s writing and I took comfort in knowing someone else was writing about wine in English down the road from me in toscana. I agree with Alfonso…way too young…
This is very sad news. Kyle is one of the people I most enjoyed tasting with all these years. I’d think I was last to leave the room, then I’d look around and find the Kyle was still fervently typing away with flights of wine surrounding his laptop. That always gave me comfort.
He had a grace and inner elegance that was most precious and honest. Contrary to his quiet demeanor, he was a great voice of Italian wine.
Sad news, indeed. I have read many of his articles on About.com and always appreciated his approach, informed, educated, quiet and with just the right touch of lightness and humor.
Thanks for the comments here. Kyle was a great guy and he spoke Italian wonderfully. I felt such a deep connection with him as an American who has lived in Italy (Monica, I’m sure you know that feeling). I remember reading his work on About.com LONG before the blogosphere exploded. He was doing it — and doing a great job at it — long before any one of us even got to the party. Seems like yesterday I was sitting next to him or across from him at a tasting and he was grinning back at me with that big grin of his…
I remember being floored when I first heard that perfectly whispery Tuscan cadence of his. He was pure on all levels.
Monica, I kept thinking the same thing… he was pure… I’ll never forget when we were dining together in Puglia and a worm peeked its head out of me from an artichoke flower placed atop my cavatelli with mussels. He didn’t miss a beat before saying: “it just means that it was grown without pesticides.” I’ll never forget that bearish grin on his face.
He was a very talented writer, who can be held as an example of informed, witty, elegant abd clear writing. I never met him but have read his work with great pleasure and I salute his memory.
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