Miami, Los Angeles… Houston.

It seems like just yesterday that you wouldn’t see those three toponyms paired together in the greater Italian wine world.

Only a few short years ago, the only hitching post that anyone knew in Texas was the capital. Yes, that’s Austin, the Groover’s Paradise, where the music flows and the guacamole and beer are still cheap.

But today, it’s Houston, my adoptive city, where all the European winemakers want to pour and sell their wines.

I couldn’t be more thrilled that the Chianti Consortium is coming back to my big small home town on Wednesday, May 17.

Please join me at 11:30 at the swank Hotel ZaZa for a seminar and walk-around tasting. Here’s the link to register.

I’ve done a tasting for them before. One of the most amazing and wonderful things about these events is the oohs and aahs that emanate from the tasters when they realize how much glorious Sangiovese is out there.

I hope you can join us! Thanks for the solidarity and support.

New Yorkers of a certain age will remember the moment that the “Prince’s wines” came to town.

It was an auspicious moment for Italian wine.

The Italian wine renaissance in full swing by that point. But few Italian wines could command the prices that these new arrivals could. Even more impressive was the fact that these were white wines with considerable age on them: Sémillon and Malvasia from the 1970s and 80s.

Eric Asimov, writing for the Times, noted that at least one of the wines he tasted in situ seemed “impossibly young.” That’s how fresh and vibrant they were. He compared another to white Burgundy.

By all accounts (both anecdotal and authoritative), Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, prince of Venosa, was a pioneer of organic farming and spontaneous fermentation in Italy. He was perhaps the first Italian grower who purposefully made “natural” wines, however ante litteram.

Today, that legacy is quietly and brilliantly nurtured by his nephew Alessandrojacopo Boncompagni Ludovisi at Fiorano, his uncle’s farm outside Rome.

What only a handful of New Yorkers, current and lapsed, will remember is that in an era before the new wave of Italian wine, Fiorano was also renowned and perhaps even more famous for its red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grown in Lazio’s volcanic soils.

On day 3 of my Vinitaly, the current prince received me for a tasting of the new vintages of his wines.

This is Italian Cabernet Sauvignon in one of its greatest expressions imho. The wine was fresh and lithe in the glass with elegant notes of tar and earth balanced by restrained but deliciously present red and slightly underripe red and black fruits.

These wines don’t evoke Bordeaux, however facile the analogy would be. Instead, they are extremely Italian, or should I say Latian, in their nature.

If any allusion can be made, they call to mind the great Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon made by its more judicious purveyors.

My favorite story to tell about the prince came about when he and I presented a flight of older wines from his cellar at a dinner in Los Angeles many years ago now. He had flown in especially for our event. When I asked what he planned to do with his free time in the city, he told me he was heading to the Getty to view a portrait of one of his ancestors — a pope. For us it’s history. For him, it’s like looking at an old family album.

Check out the wines. They are fantastic.

Anyone who speaks more than one language will tell you the same thing.

Every time you encounter another bilingual interlocutor, a small but usually polite dance begins: which speaker has a better command of which language will determine what language you will use to converse.

Especially for young second language learners, it’s always a point of pride when the conversant allows the dialog to continue in a “destination” language.

Here’s what was revealed to me on my trip to Miami last week: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English, Neapolitan, Venetian… It doesn’t matter to Miamians as long as you like great food and wine!

Miami is a genuine linguistic paradise where no one seems to care where you came from or what language you speak. Restaurant and wine professionals are constantly switching between the many tongues spoken there.

As weird as this sounds, it made me feel like I was linguistically free. And I loved the whole vibe.

My last night in the city, my ride withs took me to eat at the swank and wonderful Portosole in Coral Gables where the food was fantastic and the banter was a medley of English, Italian, and Spanish with some Neapolitan thrown in for good measure.

Have to give a shoutout to sommelier Alfredo who share his last bottle of Ca’ del Bosco 2013 Dosaggio Zero with us. What a wine!

I also have to give a shoutout to Graziano’s Market in Coral Gables where we hosted a supplier meeting earlier in the day. This place is like a dream come true for me: a Cuban-focused menu in a casual, self-serve setting with a broad offering of Italian wines — from Borgogno to Emidio Pepe. Nebbiolo and croquetas de jamón? I’m in!

I also LOVED Macchialina in South Beach. Great pastas and a wine list with broad strokes that make bold statements.

Mosaico in Key Biscayne served me a super vitello tonnato.

And one last place not to miss was River Oyster Bar. Get the ceviche.

There are so many other places I didn’t get to check out. But I’m supposed to be headed back next month.

I can’t wait. Non vedo l’ora. No aguanto las ganas…