Punt e Mes is an amaro-red (sweet) vermouth hybrid made by Carpano and the name means “point and a half” in the dialect from Turin.  The legend goes that a man ordered a glass of red vermouth and half dose of bitters and Antonio Carpano’s bar.   Punt e Mes is made with a variation of herbs and spices and […]

We’ve been aiming to begin reviewing southern Italian wines for some time now and have finally started the process!  Today we’ll look at four wine regions from southern Italy, including Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata, and Sicilia; specifically, Tormaresca Chardonnay, Bisceglia Aglianico del Vulture,  Librandi Critone Val di Neto IGT, and Cusumano Nero d Avola.  We promise not to be biased towards […]

When it comes to Italian food and wine pairings we’re big believers in two things: Don’t listen to critics, but rather find your own combinations of wine and food (based on pleasant things happening in your mouth). If possible, and this is a big “if”, try to map the ingredients of a given area to the wine of the same region […]

Summer Martinis: The St Germain Appeaser and Averna Sofisticato Now don’t take this to mean I’m a full fledged wino, but I get really excited about well prepared cocktails, good wine, and nicely crafted beer.  On the cocktail side, I’ve waxed philosophically about the benefits of aperitifs and amari such as Lillet, Antica Carpano, and Nonino and I’ve enjoyed them straight […]

(photo: grapes in Calabria, thanks to Pierro Morello for the photo) A Student of Italian Wine  Dan Amatuzzi is a modest guy when it comes to wine.  And modesty isn’t the word that comes to mind when you consider Dan served as the sommelier at Del Posto in New York City with an estimated 2300 bottles of wine and arguably the most comprehensive […]

(photo: Averna on the rocks with a slice of orange) Averna, the amaro and aperitif/digestif from, and still produced in, Sicilia, is a bona fide rock-star.   Yes, like Bono, Freddie Mercury, or Roger Waters, Averna makes you tingle all over and has you wondering how anything can be (taste) so damn good.   For those of you not in the know, […]

If I were to say “red vermouth” you’d probably conjure up images of your frugal Aunt Carmela sipping on lukewarm Martini and Rossi sweet vermouth.  While the imagery was common decades ago, vermouth has fallen out of fashion and doesn’t get the respect it deserves; moreover, it’s probably one of the most misunderstood bar beverages in the United States.  Carpano […]

  (photo: don’t be fooled by the Carlo Rossi gallon jugs, the contents are 100 percent homemade wine) As many Italian Americans can attest to making homemade wine is one of the culturally defining moments of our group.  Making and bottling homemade wine is practiced by thousands of immigrants and 1st/2nd/3rd generation Italian Americans in the United States.  The process […]

(photo: grapes ready to be run through the press for homemade wine) Well, what wine should you buy? This is a big question, maybe even equivalent to other big questions such as, “Does God Exist?” , “Do we have free will?”, and the classic, “What is Truth?” Unlike big philosophical questions, however, figuring out which wine to buy for dinner, […]

With the passing of my grandparents, my father and his uncles have moved to sell the first Scordo home here in the United States (purchased in the late 1960’s and just a few years after my parents and grandparents arrived in the United States).  The house is full of memories and Italian American traditions, as I spent the first five […]