There were a lot of people I already knew at Ethica Wines before I started working with the company as a media consultant in late 2019. After all, the owner and founder is a friend I met 30 years ago when I was touring in a cover band in Belluno province (no shit!). He’s been a wonderful friend to me over the years. And a handful of the sales and marketing folks have been my students at the Slow Food University of Gastronomic Sciences.

But before this January, I had never met the inimitable Alessandro “Sandro” Angelini, one of Ethica’s sales managers, whom I soon discovered was my Italian brother by another mother. That’s Sandro, above, donning his Cappello Alpino, the classic Alpine soldier hat (from his days during mandatory military service), a photo I poached this morning from his Facebook.

It only took one dinner (and a few bottles of Barolo) on a chilly night in Novello before he and I realized that we used to go to the same clubs and used to hang in the same bars back in the day, when I was a student and musician in Italy.

We weren’t surprised to learn that we also share a profound appreciation of great wine and food. He’s a true gourmet, in the genuine sense of the word. And he’s also a true mensch, a person of great humanity.

AND the dude can also tell a great joke in Veneto dialect (unprintable here, of course).

I’m super stoked that he and I will be meeting again in a live story today at 11 a.m. CST (12 p.m. EST) on the @EthicaWines Instagram.

We’ll be discussing and tasting wines from the La-Vis cooperative (that’s a photo of the mural that appears outside the winery, below, taken when I visited and first met Sandro in January).

I hope you can join us! Thanks for your support.