Above: “Tuscan producers who order their own wines at restaurants never drink them at home,” notes celebrity sommelier Andrea Gori. Is it good or poor form for winemakers to order their own wines when they go out to eat?

Sunday evening, my friend and client Luca Ferraro, who produces Prosecco DOCG and Prosecco Col Fondo DOCG in Asolo, asked the following question on his Facebook: What prompts winemakers to go to a restaurant and order their own wines?

At last count, the post had generated nearly 70 comments and had even inspired a humorous post on one of Italy’s most popular wine blogs, Intravino, “Six Good Reasons that Winemakers go to Restaurants and Order Their Own Wine.”

Reason number 6? “Because they secretly hope the sommelier will tell them, ‘I’m sorry, we’ve run out of it,’ and multiple orgasms will ensue.”

Author and celebrity sommelier Adua Villa chimed into the Facebook thread with the following explanations: “A unbridled ego; B insecurity; and C (and above all) a lack of curiosity. And this last reason is the worst.”

Noted consulting enologist, publisher, and author Maurizio Gily weighed in, writing that “the only justification is that it’s a horrible wine list. But in that case, the producers have to ask themselves why their wines are the list.”

I love how he echoes the Marxist paradox: “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”

But he added, however, that “obviously, if the producer is with clients, it’s a normal thing to do.”

With classically acerbic Tuscan wit, celebrity sommelier and blogger Andrea Gori quipped: “Tuscan producers who order their own wines at restaurants never drink them at home.”

In scrolling through the comments on Facebook (hilarious for the most part), it occurred to me that there is a sizable disconnect between Italian and American attitudes on this topic.

In the U.S., it’s common to see winemakers who order their own wines when they go out to eat.

In my experience, there are a number of reasons for this.

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Above: a view from the Brescia (Lombardy) side of Lake Garda yesterday. Click for a panoramic view.

When I arrived in Italy on Saturday, I expected the weather to be hot.

From August 5 until August 14 (the day I departed from the U.S.), the highs in Franciacorta (Lombardy, northern Italy) were in the mid-90s; the lows in the mid-80s.

But on August 15 — Ferragosto, a national holiday in Italy (Italian speakers, see this tragically comic video post by Diego Abantantuono that trended on Saturday) — temperatures began to drop and it began to rain.

Yesterday (Sunday), nearly .5 inches of rain fell in Erbusco (in the heart of Franciacorta) and the actual high was 76°. It’s currently (as of 9:40 a.m.) 66° in Erbusco and nearly an inch of rain is forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday.

When I went jogging in Franciacorta early yesterday morning, there were just a handful of pickers harvesting. Nearly everyone in Franciacorta had finished picking by Friday of last week.

Last night, when I sat down to a dinner of homemade pizza and Franciacorta on the banks of Lake Garda, one of the dinner guests asked rhetorically, didn’t they use to harvest in September in Franciacorta? I’ll let the reader draw her/his own conclusion.

During the summer’s prolonged heatwave, some growers were forced to resort to emergency irrigation in Franciacorta and the markedly early harvest is owed to an extremely warm summer in Italy.

I’ve read reports of emergency irrigation in Tuscany and Proseccoland as well.

You can see stormclouds in the photo from Lake Garda above. Shortly after I took a swim, it began to rain there. And rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday in Franciacorta.

Yesterday in Siena, it rained enough that the Palio dell’Assunta was canceled (it’s been rescheduled for today) and rain is forecast in Montalcino this week.

It’s not clear how this harvest is going to turn out. But there will be a mixed bag of results across Italy.

I’m spending this week in Franciacorta tasting with and talking to growers. And next week, I’ll be in Montalcino, Chianti Classico, and later in Proseccoland where I’ll be checking in with winemakers there as well.

Stay tuned. And in the meantime…

Above: Billy the Astronaut was a stowaway in my computer bag.

A lot of people have been asking me and commenting about the little astronaut that keeps appearing on my Instagram.

His name is “Billy the Astronaut” and he comes from NASA in Houston. We still have no idea why Georgia P called him “Billy” and I’m not sure how he found his way into my computer bag before I left the house on Friday.

But I am missing my girls terribly and I’m glad to have some company and a souvenir of the place where I long to be.

The landscape of Barbaresco is a viticultural text. The newly opened viewing station atop Barbaresco Tower is a tool for reading it.

Above: the new viewing station atop the historic Torre di Barbaresco, the iconic tower of Barbaresco village (image by Barbaresco producer Giovanna Rizzolio).

The view from atop the newly restored Barbaresco Tower “is spectacular,” writes leading Italian wine blogger Alessandro Morichetti in a post for Intravino this week.

“It gives you a 360° panorama and if you really want to look really cool when you visit, be sure to bring your Enogea map” (the meticulously detailed Barbaresco atlas by celebrated enocartographer Alessandro Masnaghetti).

He is referring to the fact that the now-open-to-the-public tower offers visitors an unparalleled tool for studying the viticultural landscape of one of the world’s greatest appellations and its highly coveted wines.

Visit Alessandro’s post for a breathtaking video on the restoration (in Italian).

Once a medieval fortification, the former ruin is now a destination for wine lovers and visitors to the UNESCO Heritage site known as the Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato.

It includes a tasting room, a wine cellar, a multi-media “history of Barbaresco” exhibit, and the viewing station (above), which is accessible via elevator.

It was opened to the public for the first time earlier this month.

As of the publication of this post, a Google search did not reveal hours and visiting information. Contact information for the offices of Barbaresco township, which manages the site, can be found here.

Image below via the Barbaresco township website.

Today I am a fountain pen…

Cousin Amalia (my niece, brother Tad’s daughter) sang her Torah portion and Haftarah brilliantly on Saturday at Temple Beth El in La Jolla (where I was bar mitzvah, too). And she gave a wonderful speech about commitment and faith.

It was really lovely to see her on the bimah with her parents (her mom Diane also sang a Torah portion!).

A lot of people asked me about the wines that we selected for the party that evening.

The white was the Bianco Latimis Isonzo del Friuli by Ronco del Gelso (in the Italian region of Friuli, for those who are not familiar with Italian geography, in northeastern Italy). It’s a blend of Friulano, Pinot Blanc, and Riesling Italico grapes. It showed beautifully on Saturday evening. Great freshness, nice fruit and acidity, and great value.

The red was Carema by Produttori di Carema cooperative. It’s made from 100 percent Nebbiolo grown in Italy’s western Alps in the region of Piedmont. Even though it has nice tannic structure, it was lithe in the glass on Saturday and again, its freshness and acidity made it pair wonderfully with the Neapolitan-style pizzas that were churned out of an onsite mobile pizza oven.

Great party and I’m so glad people enjoyed the wines.

Whenever I attend a Jewish event, I am invariably and inevitably asked what I think of Manischewitz “wines.” Most are disappointed when I tell them that it’s not exactly the most wholesome “grape product” that you can put into your body.

In southern California, where healthy eating and living are practically imperative, it’s easy to find organic produce, cage-free chicken, heirloom beef, and “housemade” ketchup.

But the nostalgia of Manischewitz is so powerful that it was served on Saturday for Kiddush after services only to be followed by organically farmed microlettuces later that evening.

I wrote about Manischewitz a few years ago here for the Houston Press (for those curious, you might be surprised by what goes into Manischewitz).

All in all, this has been wonderful trip and visit for me and the girls.

They’ve loved grandma’s house with its many treasures.

They’ve loved getting to know their cousins Amalia, Abner, Oscar, and Eli.

Everyone has been so welcoming and sweet and the girls have had a blast.

That’s Tracie P and Lila Jane, below, watching the sunset yesterday evening from grandma Judy’s apartment at Seal Rock (La Jolla Cove).

Sadly, our short family vacation comes to an end tomorrow. I’ll see you on Wednesday…

Above: a weed flamer or weed torch. Increasingly, organic grape growers in Italy are using weed flamers for grass management between rows (image via BeleCasel.it).

Here are the most recent entries in my Italian Wine Terms Glossary:

Grapevine yellows, aka flavescence dorée, is a bacterial disease that affects many growers in northern Italy. Its vector is the Scaphoideus titanus or leafhopper.

Weed torches or weed flamers are currently gaining favor among organic grape growers in Italy who have found weed torching to be an effective approach to herbicide-free grass management.

The updated glossary follows. I hope you find the index useful. Thanks for speaking Italian wine!