At 11 a.m. CST today, I’ll be doing an live story with Aleš Kristančič of Movia on the @EthicaWines Instagram.

It’s the first of a series of virtual tastings that I’m leading with them. I hope you can join us.

Aleš and his family are great friends of mine and when I visited them in January of this year, we had a blast remembering when they brought my band Nous Non Plus to play a concert at the winery back in 2008 when we had a hit song in Slovenia (no joke!).

Please join us at 11 a.m. and please look out for more Ethica Wines tastings I’ll be doing.

See you shortly! We’ll be tasting four wines, including the Pinot Grigio Ambra.

Above: a vineyard in Brescia province, a photo taken nearly a year ago to the day.

In what’s become a daily ritual, there’s a late afternoon-late night call to Italy when a couple of middle-aged wine professionals — one an American in Houston, the other an Italian in Brescia province — catch up on the ongoing health crisis in their respective cities.

Yesterday’s call was grimmer than most.

“I see the number of cases has actually begun to fall in Italy today,” said the American, noting that there was a drop, however small, in the number of new cases and victims with respect to the previous day’s reporting.

“But not in Brescia,” replied the Italian.

His words were echoed in a story this morning on the front page of the New York Times website: “Dip in Italy’s Cases Does Not Come Fast Enough for Swamped Hospitals.”

“In Brescia,” write the paper’s editors in a caption for the lead image, “hospitals have been reporting hundreds of new cases a day.” The photo that appears at the beginning of the article was taken in the intensive care unit of the Spedali Civili hospital in Brescia.

While the numbers are beginning to level off, just barely, in the rest of Italy, the situation in Brescia and neighboring Bergamo province is getting worse. Bergamo and the Italian region of Lombardy where Bergamo and Brescia are located are the epicenter of the ongoing health crisis.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a concentration of suffering so intense,” says
Dr. Intissar Sleiman in a video the man from Brescia shared with his American friend during their chat. She’s a Brescia medical professional on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy.

“We’re not used to losing so many people in such a short period of time,” she says as she holds back her tears.

The video left the American wine professional with tears streaming down his face. Just a few months ago, he was there in Brescia province visiting his Italian friend. He was supposed to be in Italy this week. How he wishes he could embrace his friend in Brescia right now! Magari!

The wine professional from Brescia and his partners are donating proceeds from the sale of one of their wines to a fund that supports the struggling Brescia hospital system.

Walter Speller wrote about it for JancisRobinson.com this week.

G-d bless Brescia. G-d bless us all.

Yesterday in a televised address to the country, Italian premier Giuseppe Conte announced the implementation of nationwide restrictions on movement throughout Italy and its islands. The new “zone protetta” (“protected zone”) expands the “zona rossa” (“red zone”) lockdown that was put into place across a broad swath of northern Italy early Sunday morning.

Read the New York Times coverage here.

As of today, Italians are being advised not to leave their homes and are only allowed to travel between cities and towns if they are in possession of a signed declaration that their movement is absolutely necessary for work or health reasons or “extenuating circumstances.”

The government has assured citizens that goods will continue to circulate despite the lockdown. There are widespread reports of supermarkets being overwhelmed by shoppers concerned that shortages of essential items are inevitable.

It’s not clear what the short-term impact on the Italian wine trade will be. All the major Italian wine trade fairs, generally held during this time of year, have already been cancelled or postponed. Most Italian winemakers had already cancelled international travel plans before the nationwide lockdown took effect.

“Dear friends and customers,” wrote one Italian winery in an e-blast to its clients today, “we inform you that the cellar will be closed for visits and tastings until April 3. In the meantime, keep drinking [our wine] at home, and if you don’t have enough, contact us, we will do our best to help you.”

Nothing like this has happened in Italy since the Second World War.

I had been planning to travel to Italy next week but when I logged into my airline account manager this morning, I discovered that my flights to and from Milan had been cancelled by the carrier.

My Italian friends and colleagues, at least those with whom I’ve traded messages since the announcement of the new restrictions, agree that the new restrictions are necessary. One friend in Milan told me that people are getting restless and that some are planning to travel regardless of the new lockdown. It’s not clear how authorities will enforce the restrictions or how severe the penalties will be for those who travel without authorization.

“We all have to sacrifice something for the good of Italy,” said Conte in his address.

Right now, our hearts and prayers go out to all of our Italian sisters and brothers, especially those with elderly relatives. Italians, know that we stand with you. G-d bless Italy and all of us.

Photo by Rosita Dorigo.