Our very close friend Giampaolo Venica sent me these amazing photos today from Friuli (his ears must have been ringing because his Pinot Grigio was the wine everyone was talking about last night at Jaynes Gastropub in San Diego where I led a guided tasting and dinner paired with Italian wines).

Here’s what he had to say…

I am sending a few pictures of a [weather] phenomenon called supercell (similar to a twister). It’s very rare in Friuli but it allows you to witness how weather becomes unpredictable and capricious.

The 2013 vintage was difficult. Low temperature during flowering and a rainy spring lowered the crop in some vineyards. Later, heat during summer was manageable but overall the weather becomes more and more strange every year.

The good news is that concentration is good this year and chilly nights during September — which we have not seen in ages— will provide a leaner style to the wines like years ago. Or at least this is my prediction and wish.

I’m so lucky to do what I do for a living, writing about wine and food and traveling between the U.S. and Italy.

But one of the greatest gifts my career has given me is our friendship with Giampaolo and his family.

In him, I’ve found a true friend and intellectual comrade. Tracie P and I are thinking of Giampaolo today…

Solo nella tradizione è il mio amore.