That’s a shot by @anniemulligans Times photographer who happens to live in our neighborhood. See her feed for more images. Thanks to everyone who has written to make sure we are okay. We are. Our neighborhood was just east to the worst part of the storm. But we were also hit bad. We haven’t had power for two days. I’m in Italy working but Tracie and the girls are safe and just minimal damages at our house/on our street. Now it’s time to help those who were less fortunate. Thanks to everyone who checked in. Thank G-d the girls, Tra, and the dogs are fine. I can’t wait to get back but I wouldn’t be able to fly back today anyway because the airports are closed. I’ll be back soon.

When I was 25, if you would have told me that my job would require me to travel to Italy nearly every other month and sometimes even more frequently, I would have told you that it would be a dream come true.

It is a dream come true. But it’s also increasingly hard to be away from Tracie and the girls, especially as the girls are doing more and more competitive music and they will soon become teenagers. And the dogs become more and fretful when they see me pull out my roller board.

I spent a month in Italy in May and June including 11 days the girls and Tracie spent with me. But now it’s time to say goodbye again.

I’m heading to Abruzzo next week where I’ll be leading a stellar group of sommeliers through the wine country. We have some extraordinary visits ahead of us, including one of Abruzzo’s holy grails. Stay tuned.

But first I travel to Irpinia for some visits and then on to Rome where I have some really cool visits lined up as well.

I’m looking forward to Roman wine country because I’ll be leading a guided pairing of wines for Chef Steve Samson’s ancient Rome dinner at Rossoblu on Wednesday, July 31 in Los Angeles.

Here’s the link to register. The menu is very reasonably priced and the wine pairing (including generous pours) is priced aggressively so as to make it accessible to all. It’s a great deal and I have some awesome wines lined up.

I can’t wait to share my Roman adventure with guests that night. And added bonus: Tracie and the girls will be there that night as well (not at the wine dinner but at the restaurant).

Wish me luck and wish me speed. See you on the other side and thanks as always for being here, the support and the solidarity. It means the world to me.

Across the world of wine, everyone is talking this week about Eric Asimov’s opinion for the Times, “In Defense of Wine.” Even the Italians are parsing his words as if Holy Gospel.

Eric is right to point out wine’s cultural and historical value. And he’s also correct in pointing out that wine, beyond its use as a religious totem, has shed its status as a necessity in contemporary life.

His words evoked those scribed nearly 700 years ago in Italy.

Giovanni Boccaccio, humanist and author of the Decameron, writes in the epilogue of his collection of stories:

Like all other things in this world, stories, whatever their nature, may be harmful or useful, depending upon the listener. Who will deny that wine… is an excellent thing for those who are hale and hearty, but harmful to people suffering from a fever? Are we to conclude, because it does harm to the feverish, that therefore it is pernicious? Who will deny that fire is exceedingly useful, not to say vital, to men and women? Are we to conclude, because it burns down houses and villages and whole cities, that therefore it is pernicious? And in the same way, weapons defend the liberty of those who desire to live peaceably, and very often they kill people, not because they are evil in themselves, but because of the evil intentions of those who make use of them.

Boccaccio was writing as a pandemic — an ancient one — cast its long, dark shadow over the Western world, the Black Death. It’s no coincidence that he mentions fever in his afterword.

Writing at the outset of the Renaissance, Boccaccio lived at a time when perceptions of wine were shifting radically. His generation represents the first in Italy who embraced wine as a necessity, a commodity, and — perhaps most importantly for us — a source of pleasure and cultural meaning.

We may be returning to the Dark Age of wine. But I believe wine will retain its cultural value. Just like stories and fire, wine’s meaning will be found out by the listener.

Above: “A Tale from the Decameron” by John William Waterhouse. Image via Wikipedia.

From the island of Ischia off the Neapolitan coast to the Alpine valleys of German-speaking Alto Adige, the red thread that emerged on my recent month-long trip to Italy was that il tempo è impazzito — the weather has gone crazy.

In Turin, I witnessed the most violent and rapid-forming hailstorm I’ve ever encountered, with golf ball-sized stones that were so abundant they looked like a foot of snow — in May!

Even with the sun shining above, an outdoor event I was presenting in Turin was shifted indoors because the weather was so unpredictable (thank goodness because that hail storm arrived later that day).

In Ischia, the cab drivers and restaurateurs all lamented that tourism was down because of too much rain that scared away the beachgoers (it rained twice over the four days we were there).

But it was the grape growers who seemed the most forlorn and exasperated.

The 2024 vintage will be remembered for its early starts and stops.

Unusually warm weather in early spring cause the plants — across Italy — to jump start their vegetative cycles.

But the cool weather and rain that followed, with a repeated succession of cool and warm weather, has caused alarming unevenness in the vineyards.

Repeated rain has nearly exhausted organic farmers’ budgets for holistic treatments: when you spray and then it rains, you have to start over from scratch and spray again.

And then of course, there’s the catastrophic hail damage that has made its way like a checkerboard across the country. Some will be fine, others not as fortunate. It’s become a sort of Russian roulette for vineyard managers.

And now that warm weather has taken hold for the summer, growers in some regions are telling me that they are terrified of what could be a serious drought.

Whenever vintage comes into discussion, it’s important to remember that it ain’t over until it’s over. Remember the 2022 vintage?

I’m in contact every day with Italian winemakers and I’ll continue to share their notes here. In the meantime, let’s pray.

I’ll be taking next week off from the blog while Tracie, the girls, and I are vacationing in Italy. I’m sure I’ll plenty of adventures to share. In the meantime, here are some highlights from my week in Abruzzo for the consortium. See you in a few weeks. Thanks for being here.

Nic Tartaglia grows Montepulciano on clay-rich soils in some of the highest lying vineyards in Casauria. He and his team are working hard in the U.S. and the wines are awesome.

I really loved this barrique-aged, rich-style Pecorino from Guardiani-Farchione. It’s really cool to see how winemakers are experimenting with Pecorino and pushing its envelope.

Sara Tilli makes wine in the shadow of the Maiella massif. The peak in the photo is obscured by clouds. My visit to her winery and the Maiella valley were profoundly inspiring. Her wonderful Montepulciano is grown on 100 percent limestone.

The famed vineyard where Cristiana Tiberio developed her massal selection of Trebbiano Abruzzese, which many believe to be an avatar. Her wines have been making people rethink what they know about this amazing region.

Luca Paolo Virgilio of Caprera is one of the coolest people I’ve met here. His wines are awesome and he’s one of the faces of Abruzzo’s next generation. Don’t miss the ancient Roman vinification basins not far from his winery.

It was amazing to walk the vineyards in Francavilla not far from the sea with my good friend Valentina Di Camillo at I Fauri. Her family’s amazing story of resilience is so compelling. And I really like her fresh-style wines a lot.

One of the most fascinating visits was at Tenuta Antonio Fiorentino @tenutafiorentino in southern Abruzzo. I loved getting to chat with Antonio’s dad, Carmine, whose “historic memory” of Abruzzo viticulture is a treasure. Antonio also grows delicious saffron. I’m so glad I made it down there to see them. Great wines, great people.

The food in Abruzzo is extraordinary. Thank you to Davide and the consortium for a fantastic dinner at Isola della Piane on my last night here! See you soon.

On Monday, June 17, in Houston, and Tuesday, June 18, in Austin, the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce of Texas will be presenting celebrity mixologist Valentino Longo. He will lead participants on a guided tasting of Vermouth di Torino and a discussion of the aperitivo.

Click here to register for the Houston event, June 17. Here for the Austin event, June 18.

I regret that I won’t be able to attend (I’m traveling in Italy this month for work and my family is joining me tomorrow for a vacation here).

But I’ve been spending a lot of time in Turin, where vermouth was first made, thanks to my client Amistà, who makes a fantastic red wine-based vermouth (above) using their Nizza.

We recently hosted a group from Miami at the winery for a seminar by Fulvio Piccinino, the dude who literally wrote the book on Vermouth di Torino, “Italy’s most famous aromatized wine.”

The interest in vermouth continues to grow on both sides of the Atlantic. And it’s exciting to see programs like the one the chamber is presenting in Texas.

See the links above to register and happy tasting!