I am buzzed to announce the first Franciacorta Real Story tasting of 2016, which will take place in Miami on Thursday, January 21. Click here for details. And honestly, Miami is a market where I don’t have a lot of contacts so if anyone can give me a hand in spreading the news, there’s a bottle of Franciacorta in it for you! Thanks and please join me if you can!

It may seem glamorous and super fun to be on the road with a bunch of coolio wine writers in Italy. In fact, it means very early mornings and late evenings for me keeping up with all my work back home.

Having said that, this trip has been a lot of fun and it’s a truly simpatico group of folks with whom I’m glad to spend some one-on-one time.

Yesterday, my friend and client Paolo Cantele (who sponsored the trip) treated us to a private dinner at his family’s winery. Those are burrata-stuffed ravioli, above, topped with baby shrimp and broccoli raab. Unbelievably good. They prompted a lively discussion of the tabu of mixing seafood and dairy. I can’t reveal the name of the chef because Paolo doesn’t want to risk offending other local chefs. But man, he just friggin’ killed it last night.

Below is a snap of the homemade orecchiette with meatballs we had for lunch as we tasted through the wines at the winery (yes, they traditionally serve pasta with meatballs here in Puglia).

They were made by a famous local pastmaker aptly called L’orecchietta. I can’t share the website because it’s been hacked by an online prostitution page.

It was a game-changing dish, for reals.

I now have literally 10 minutes to shit, shower, and shave (as we used to say in my rock ‘n’ roll touring days) before heading downstairs to meet the group. We’re touring vineyards and Pierce’s Disease-affected olive groves today.

More to come… stay tuned!