Italy’s seemingly unending chamber of wonders never ceases to amaze me.

From running along the farmland banks of the Tiber river outside Rome to devouring castraure artichokes of Venice paired with some natty macerated white wine… Italy always gives of herself effortlessly and tirelessly.

It’s no wonder that there are so many tourists here this summer — from all over. In Rome they were saying that they are expecting three times the number of people who actually live there. Out of the way hotels have been key to keeping cost down. But man, don’t ask about the rental car!

That’s a chunk of quartz, above, that I found in a vineyard high atop the Valpolicella valley. The soil types in Valpolicella are so variegated and distinctive. I had the most amazing day there yesterday.

Today is Festa della Repubblica, a national holiday that celebrates the founding of the Republic of Italy in 1946. But I still managed to get a winery visit in. Tasted some amazing Cabernet Franc in Piave this morning.

After I finish my week of teaching at Slow Food U next week, I’ll be sharing tales of my trips to Italian wine country at three events in the U.S. later this month.

Long Beach
Friday, June 16
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On Friday, June 16, I’ll be in Long Beach, California with the Dugans, America’s grooviest wine family (I’m so not exaggerating about that either!). Jeremy and I will be pouring some favorite Italian naturals as we try not to one up each other with Mel Brooks quotes. Seriously, we’ll be pouring some super compelling wines and the crowd and community at their shop is super lovely.

Miami
Wedsnesday, June 21
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On Wednesday, June 21, in Miami I’ll be pouring and speaking about Barbera and Nizza, including two wines by my client and friends at Amistà. I’ll be hosted by the amazing and inimitable Allegra Angelo at her super fun store Vinya in Key Biscayne. The vibe of her store is so cool and we’re going to be opening some truly benchmark wines that night.

Houston
Monday, June 26
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I’m super psyched about a dinner I’m hosting at Davanti in Houston where chef Roberto Crescini is creating an Abruzzo menu especially for us. It’s part of a new gig I’m doing with super sweet folks at the Abruzzo consortium. It’s only open to trade and media. But I might be able to snag a spot or two for you if we have space. Please email me if you’d like to attend.

Thank you for the support and solidarity! Hope to see you later this month!

Vanity Fair Italia, Corriere della Sera (one of the country’s leading national dailies), and some of Italy’s highest-profile food and wine blogs like Dissapore are all talking about it: the first issue of the Gambero Rosso magazine under its new leadership and the masthead’s June 2023 cover story on natural wine.

Natural wine in the Gambero Rosso, you ask?

Longtime reporter for La Repubblica (another one of Italy’s leading dailies), Marco Mensurati, shocked the media community earlier this year when he left his new position as the editor of the paper’s Rome desk and became the editor-in-chief of the Gambero Rosso monthly magazine, now in its 32nd year.

For its first issue with Mensurati at the helm, he asked editor and writer Lorenzo Ruggeri, who’s been with the outfit for more than a decade, to write a cover story (June 2023) on natural wine and to interview the popular singer-songwriter Vincio Caposella about his new album where he makes some highly controversial declarations on the world of natural wine in Italy today.

“I have seen the best minds of my generation,” says Caposella (quoting the American Beat poet), “lose themselves in natural wine while the extreme right has taken over the electorate and [our] country.”

On his new album, “Il Bene Rifugio” (“Safe Haven”; the title is a riff on the finance term “safe haven investment”), Caposella sings, you natural wines… are on the wrong side…” (from the track, “Il Lato del torto,” “The Wrong Side”).

In his long interview with Ruggeri, the artist makes his case that natural wine is a “cliché” of the “radical chic.” It’s the same hypocrisy, he says, as that embraced by the “populist right.”

Wow.

Caposella, whose style is heavily influenced by Tom Waits, is a well known lover of natural wine. He cites Gravner as one of his favorite producers, to give you an idea.

“Vinicio Capossela exploits the pretext of natural wine in an effort to criticize a Left that has lost touch with the people — just like him,” wrote one commentator.

The interview is accompanied by a truly fantastic piece by Ruggeri (a good friend, for the record) where he writes about “The Lesson of Natural Wine” (not yet available online for non-subscribers). Not only does he profile some of the leading producers in the natural wine movement. But he also speaks to top Italian enologists like Luca D’Attoma, who talks about the highly positive influence the radical natural wine movement has had on conventional winemaking.

Historically, the Gambero Rosso has been known for its generalized disdain for the natural wine scene. Ruggeri even quotes a scathing editorial on the expression “natural wine” written for the masthead in 2013 (“If there’s anything that’s really natural,” wrote the editor, “it can’t be wine.”)

If this month’s issue is a taste of what’s to come under Mensurati’s leadership, then I’ll take a double please!

Super congrats to my friend Lorenzo on his wonderful cover story.