Growing up with a Sicilian father, my introduction to the world of wine came very early on. By age six or seven, I was allowed to have a few sips of wine, sometimes mixed with a bit of water, to taste. The bottle of wine was as important a part of the dinner table as the loaf of crusty bread or the plates of steaming linguine alle vongole that filled the table on Sunday nights. Special occasions called for a bottle of wine to be brought up from our little cellar, but most nights, we drank something more simple, usually a Sicilian wine. At the time there were very few Sicilian wines available in the States and what was available tended to be mass produced and one dimensional. Despite that, my father was always happy to have something that reminded him of home on the table.
Times have definitely changed in Sicily, where the last 10-15 years have seen a revolution in the quality of Sicilian wines as well as a crop of new, modern wineries. Nowhere is this more evident than at Arancio Winery, known for good quality wines that use modern techniques on ancient grape varietals to create wines that reflect the new wave of Sicilian winemaking. I spoke with Lucio Matricardi, winemaker for Arancio Winery in Sicily to learn more about his background, his experience working as a winemaker in Sicily and his winemaking philosophy. (more…)
From working as a safari guide and yoga instructor to learning how to fly planes, Nella Nencini truly lives life to the fullest. She grew up in Northern California and eventually moved to Tuscany where she spent over ten years living ‘la dolce vita’; enjoying the food and wine of Italy, teaching Italian literature, restoring farmhouses and running a travel consultancy business, ‘Italy with Nella’. A ten-day horse safari to Africa changed her life and she moved to Kenya four months later. Nella currently lives in Kenya and runs ‘Africa with Nella’, a travel company that organizes luxury yoga safaris to Africa. I had the pleasure to speak with her about yoga, safari and living life to it’s fullest in Kenya. (more…)
Green is the new black these days, so it’s no surprise that there is a growing demand for not only organic foods, but also organic wines. I spoke with Adam Morganstern, editor in chief of the Organic Wine Journal to learn more about this growing trend. “People are becoming more aware of where their foods and the ingredients that they see on a menu are coming from” he said “and this is beginning to translate to the wine list.” Just as it is becoming more common to sit down to a menu that lists not only the varietal of the pear that is in your salad, but also the name of the farmer that grew it, it makes sense that diners would want to know what exactly is in that bottle of wine that they are ordering. (more…)
We ended our last morning in Istanbul exploring the Asian shore of the city. The ferry ride over gave us beautiful views of the skyline of the city. It was fun to take my first steps into Asia, see more beautiful mosques and to have the opportunity to explore a more residential part of the city. That afternoon we boarded a plane to Bodrum, a coastal town on the Aegean Sea. By around four in the afternoon, we were checked into our very cute bed and breakfast, with views of indigo blue sea and rocky cliffs in every direction, and headed off to the beach. Since it was so early in the season the water was frigidly cold, but the sun was hot enough that it didn’t matter too much. We found a little restaurant on the beach that specialized in ‘mezes’ (think Turkish tapas) and seafood. Stuffed grape leaves, grilled octopus, red mullet with lemon and arugula and some fruit and raki (think Turkish sambuca) for dessert was the perfect way to end a really great day. (more…)
