Above: wine writer Stefano Cosma, editor at Vini Buoni d’Italia (center) with Friuli president Debora Serracchiani (right) and Collio consortium president Roberto Princic (left).
What better way to start off a talk about the wines of Collio than an anecdote about a bat mitzvah?
One of the highlights of my Vinitaly this year — the annual Italian wine trade fair in Verona — was a panel and tasting of Collio wines organized by Vinarius, the Italian association of wine shop owners.
Wine writer Stefano Cosma, Vinarius president Andrea Terraneo, and I each shared our thoughts on a superb flight of wines together with a lively group of wine writers and a retailer or two. And Collio consortium president Roberto Princic and Friuli president Debora Serracchiani (!!! she is super cool!) presented the panel.
For my talk, I remembered fondly my duties as sommelier at my niece’s bat mitzvah reception last summer in La Jolla, California (at Temple Beth El). It was a major wedding-sized affair, with a pizza truck and motivators, a disco ball, and nearly 200 guests.
I had selected a Collio white blend and Nebbiolo from Carema for the red. All things considered, I was sure that the southern California crowd would lean red. My experience in such matters has always been that the average bar or bat mitzvah-goer prefers red over white. But before I could say mazel tov, the caterer told me that she was concerned we were running out of Collio.
According to the latest WineBusiness.com survey of consumer trends, Chardonnay remains the favorite variety among average consumers. And even though Americans still like “fruity red wine” more than any other, more and more white wine drinkers are starting to emerge (at least anecdotally in my experience).
I believe it’s part of a trend that’s owed to the fact that wine awareness has been growing and expanding rapidly in this country for nearly a decade. And we are moving away from the market dominance of red wine.
The focus of our tasting was Ribolla (fresh, youthful Ribolla, not macerated Ribolla), Malvasia, Friulano, and classic white blends.
And while the monovarietal wines were impressive, it was the flight of three 2013 blends that really blew me away. The wines were by three producers I’d never tasted before: Renato Keber, Bracco, and Pascolo.
All were excellent but the Pascolo in particular really wowed me with its freshness, transparency of fruit, and nuanced depth.
One high-profile wine retailer in attendance called the flight a “cannonball.” And he was right on.
WineSearcher.com shows a small amount of R. Keber in New York and a few skus from Bracco in Massachusetts. Nothing comes up for Pascolo.
There is so much fantastic yet undiscovered wine being made in Friuli in general right now. And for a nation ever more thirsty for well-priced nuanced white wine, it would seem that importers have nothing to lose when it comes to sourcing an untapped lake of great whites.
I’ll actually be in Friuli weekend after next and Friulian wines are going to be the focus of a new project that I’ll reveal shortly.
In the meantime, U.S. wine importers: please bring us some more of this groovy stuff!
And thanks to Vinarius and the Collio consortium for including me on the panel. It was a lot of fun and I was thrilled to taste some great and new-to-me wines. Stay tuned for more reports from my tastings at the fairs…
How is your Passover? Today, on the third day of the Passover, we ask not how was your Passover? but how is your Passover?
The bitter herb and salted water will be especially acidic and savory this year. 
Twenty years ago, before there were a Babbo or an Eataly, you would have been hard-pressed to convince me that the world would see monographs devoted to the Italian traditions of aperitivo and spritz, enogastronomic phenomena that I discovered as a student in Italy and largely took for granted.
Writing in a hurry this morning before heading out for another long day of tastings and business meetings but just wanted to give a shout-out and send thanks to everyone who came out for my Franciacorta seminar and tasting yesterday.
The first time, you go for the wines. But then you keep going back for the people.
Another one of the highlights from my trip this week was dinner with a group of American colleagues at my client 
New Yorkers, please join me and Franciacorta consortium Vice President Silvano Brescianini on Monday, April 18 at L’Apicio in lower Manhattan for an exclusive tasting of Franciacorta wines. All are welcome to join. And please feel free to share this invite with whomever you like.
About to board a flight in Frankfurt back to Houston today.
Just when I was feeling down-in-the-dumps on the first day of the Vinitaly fair (after a wine writer friend of mine told me that I looked “terrible”), my good friend Adua Villa (above, left) and my new friend Alejandro Mazzo (right) lifted my spirits. 
Sex was in the air at the annual meeting of contributors to 
And yesterday ended with a sexy celebrity encounter when I had the fantastic opportunity to chat and taste with legendary Italian winemaker Giorgio Grai (left) and one of my best friends, Francesco Bonfio (right), who had graciously included me to be part of a seminar panel on native Collio grapes for 
Above: Franco Biondi Santi 
Do Bianchi 