“At best,” writes Eric Asimov in How to Love Wine: a memoir and manifesto (New York, William Morrow, 2012), “tasting notes are a waste of time. At worst, they are pernicious. It’s disturbing to imagine wine writers wracking their brains to decide whether a particular aroma reminds them of braised fig, roasted fig, fig sauce, … …read more
Without giving away the store (as we say in English), I wanted to preview three of the wine books that I’ve asked my students to read for my seminars on Wine Writing and Wine Blogging next month at UNISG (one of the courses open to candidates in the Master in Wine Culture study program). The … …read more
Above: The Kiddush, the Jewish prayer over the wine. “Praise to You, Adonai our G-d, Sovereign of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.” Today is the second-to-last day of “the Days of Awe,” the ten days that follow Rosh Hashanah, literally, the “head of the year” or the new year, the Jewish … …read more
As I gear up to teach my class in the UNISG Master in Italian Wine Culture this fall, I wanted to give a preview of some of the topics and reading materials we’ll be covering and discussing (the etching of the wine-loving toad above comes from one of the books on our reading list, The … …read more
And so it begins… A few months ago, I was contacted by my good friend Michele Antonio Fino, the director of two masters programs at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo (Piedmont): Wine Culture and Food Culture and Communications. Michele had already recruited me as an instructor in the Wine Culture program. And I … …read more