From the department of “who said that Texas was flyover country?”…

What a week Wednesday last week Wednesday was!

In the course of twenty-four hours on the ground in Texas, I ate lunch with my buddy Ray (as in Isle, executive wine editor for Food & Wine), tasted with a Master Sommelier and one of my favorite Valpolicella producers, photographed the owner of Tenuta Sette Ponti for a client, and had dinner with one of the Italian wine importers I admire most, David Weitzenhoffer (above), owner of A.I. Selections, “the little Italian wine importer who could” (more on that later).

When I first moved to Texas, my friends in New York and California used to ask me alarmedly, what will you drink there? I even heard a few call it “flyover country.”

Nearly five years later, I’m happy to report that I’ve been drinking well, in part thanks to David’s superb portfolio which is now available in Texas (I’ll post my notes from the excellent tasting David organized for me as soon as I can catch my breath).

Today, I head back to New York for one last and thankfully short trip before Baby P 2013 arrives in July.

I’ll be pouring wine at some fancy tastings and I’ll be attending a few incredible tastings myself while in the city. In the meantime, I’m missing Franco Bernabei and my friend Anthony Giglio who are both visiting Texas this week (did someone say flyover?).

Here’s a taste of what I’ll be pining for while in New York… see you on the other side…

Above: Winemaker Donato D’Angelo and his wife Filena Ruppi at Vinitaly 2013.

Last summer, as Rory Harrington and I were preparing what we believe was the largest offering of Aglianico del Vulture by-the-glass in the U.S. (for our fall 2012 list at Sotto in Los Angeles where we co-curate the wine program), one of our favorite wine salespeople brought in an Aglianico del Vulture that reported “D’Angelo” on the label.

“I know the wine in the bottle,” I told him, “but I’m terribly sorry that we can’t sell it here at Sotto.”

“But you love the wine!” he protested. “Why can’t you carry it?”

“Because this wine was stolen out from under the people who made it,” I said.

And then I recounted the story of how Donato D’Angelo’s winery and brand was wrested away from him by his crooked sister-in-law and her children.

When Donato’s brother and partner in the winery died prematurely a few years ago, his clan used its majority ownership to force Donato and his wife Filena out of the picture, even though Donato was the founder and winemaker and even though he single-handedly revived the Aglianico del Vulture appellation after returning to Basilicata from Conegliano where he studied enology as a young man.

Above: I am very pleased to share the news that we now offer Donato D’Angelo by the glass and by the bottle at Sotto.

It’s one of those sad Italian stories of a family fractured by greed, deceit, and betrayal.

The good news is that Donato and Filena have launched a new label, “Donato D’Angelo,” and the wines are now imported to the U.S.

We had to special order them for California and Sotto is the only venue on the west coast where they are available.

And I am extremely proud to share these wines with our guests.

There are many expressions of Aglianico del Vulture that I love: Carbone and Musto Carmelitano are among my favorites and have both appeared on our list at the restaurant.

But Donato’s wines achieve an unrivaled elegance and delicacy.

I first met Donato and Filena in New York in 2005 and I have followed the wines ever since. And when I tasted with them at Vinitaly this year and stuck my nose into the “Donato D’Angelo” signature wine, I was thrilled to find that unmistakable floral note that he so masterfully attains.

As far as I am concerned, no Aglianico del Vulture is “D’Angelo” unless it’s “Donato D’Angelo.”

I’m currently on paternity leave from my monthly visits to Sotto (I’ll be back again in September once we’ve settled into life with our new baby, due in July). But if you happen to dine with us, please ask Rory to pour you a taste.

Buon weekend, yall…

Above: Winemaker Armando Castagnedi (right) of Tenuta Sant’Antonio, one of my favorite Valpolicella producers, was in Austin, Texas yesterday. That’s him tasting with top Austin sommelier Mark Sayre.

I always try to make myself available when Italian winemakers come to town and I was happy to carve out an hour of my day yesterday to taste and chat with Armando Castagnedi of Tenuta Sant’Antonio, who was in town “working the market” as they say in the wine trade.

When we met, he gave me a wonderful little book on how Ripasso is made and I wanted to share it here on the blog. So I called up the winery this morning and asked the export director Elena Verzini to send it to me in electronic format. She also sent me their Amarone book.

Click here for the Ripasso book and here for the Amarone book.

Both have great illustrations and solid English translations explaining the process behind these wines — unique in the panorama of European winemaking and among my favorites.

Click here for my Vinitaly tasting notes from my Tenuta Sant’Antonio visit.

Yesterday, I caught up with one of my favorite wine writers, Ray Isle, in Houston for lunch.

Ray and I know each other from my NYC days and it was super fun to connect in Houston, his hometown.

Here’s my post today for the Houston Press.

Above: Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino president Fabrizio Bindocci.

Back in September 2012, I reported on Brunello consortium president Fabrizio Bindocci’s quest to ease restrictions on emergency irrigation in Montalcino.

When we met and tasted in the days leading up to harvest, he told me that he had sent a request to the Italian agriculture ministry asking them to clarify a technical point. If no restriction on emergency irrigation is mentioned in appellation regulations, he inquired, can it be allowed in extreme situations (even though it’s not prescribed in the appellation regulations)?

Click here for the background.

Today, Laura Gray, author of Il Palazzone blog in Montalcino, reports that “We just received word via the Brunello Consortium that the Ministry for Agriculture published a circular (number 6858 – 19 April 2013) clarifying that irrigazione di soccorso (emergency irrigation) is permitted for DOCG, DOC and IGT wines when this is not mentioned in their disciplinaries.”

Click here for her post “An end to obligatory dry farming for Brunello.”

As Laura points out, “we have all noticed the rise in temperatures and so this new possibility of intervention is welcome news in Montalcino.”

The sky was partly cloudy yesterday, the temperature in the mid 70s, and there was gentle rain as I rolled into Houston from Austin on a early spring evening around 6 p.m.

It was a perfect storm: between the mild heat, the intense humidity, and the heavy Texas pollen, there was no way that I was going to avoid a major allergy attack.

By the time I managed to find a seat at one of my favorite Houston by-the-glass wine programs (which will remain nameless in order to protect the innocent), tears were literally rolling down both sides of my face and I had already retired one of the cloth handkerchiefs that I carry with me (these days, I make sure to have two on hand at any given moment).

It was nothing that a crisp, cool glass of Roter Veltliner, with a wonderful spearmint note, and a steaming bowl of Nova Scotia mussels couldn’t clear up in a matter of minutes.

Until…

An attractive, middle-aged woman joined a party sitting to my left, taking the seat in between me and her friends at the crowded bar.

The fragrance she was wearing was SO aggressive that it dominated even the marine aromas of the mollusks. And my lovely Roter Veltliner, with its gentle herbaceous nose, was sent adrift in a sea of chemically induced “honeysuckle.”

It was as if her fragrance were shouting SHOUTING at me.

I later discovered, feigning that my wife “might enjoy her perfume,” that the lady in question had just applied — and very generously, I may add — a lotion from Bath and Body Works, not an item “you can find on the shelves,” I was informed, but a special order item for which you must “be in the know.”

I’ve never been one to curb personal freedoms but is intense perfume or fragrance really necessary when you visit a fine dining venue?

The city of Houston still allows outdoor smoking areas in restaurants.

My thought would be to abolish the cigarette ghettos and banish the heavily perfumed to their own section outside.

As the French lover once exclaimed, after being trapped in the perfume cabinet for a week hiding from a jealous husband, de la merde s’il vous plaît!