Ready to learn about another traditional food steeped in history in Italy? Discover frisella, a hard bread that has its roots with fishermen who used it as a handy food to have while out at sea. In fact, there is a trick to eating them which the sailors way-back-when figured out: they soaked them in sea water before eating, leaving it kind of crunchy but still soft enough to eat. Italians today eat frisella like their seamen ancestors, although make a spread to put on top which is often bruschetta. Check out this article to learn all about frisella, and get an authentic Italian bruschetta recipe. Can’t get a hold of a frisella? We got a great substitute to suggest, all in this article.

Stop and smell the rosés of Puglia, the heel of the boot of Southern Italy, where rose wine has been a tradition going back to when the Greeks occupied the area 3000 years ago. To this day, Puglia (aka Apulia) is the focal point for rose wine Italy: it makes 40% of Italy’s rose wines, in country which is the biggest producer of rose wines in Europe, after France, in the continent which makes 75% of the world’s rose wines. Find out what rose wine is and how our founder first discovered a dry rose wine, and discover your own rose wine best in this article.

Looking for a new italian white wine to sip this summer? Try Trebbiano Abruzzese, what the New York Times calls one of the “10 Grapes Worth Knowing Better”. Learn about why this trebbiano wine from Abruzzo Italy is unique and special. Get to know the young newcomer to the Abruzzo wine scene, after Emidio Pepe started the trend of making high-quality trebbiano. Explore this up and coming white grape variety in this article.

After you check the boxes off of Rome, Florence and Venice while visiting Italy, what else should you explore while visiting this beautiful country? Emilia Romagna.

Learn about this off-the-beaten path region for tourism and find out from an insider what there is to see and taste in the heartland of Italy. It has many tucked away corners which, sadly, have been damaged by the apocalyptic flooding that recently took place. Hurry and find out more, and help this region so it rebuilds in time for your next visit to Italy.

You've heard the term, but do you know what biodynamic means?

In this article, we will take you what is biodynamic wine, biodynamic wine vs organic, and what makes up a biodynamic farm.

But it turns out the answer is not easy as you think. Find out why!

Michi Lorenz is a young wild winemaker in Austria. While crafting natural, organic, and biodynamic wines, from his family’s land where they’ve been winemaking since 1524, he is a breath of fresh air to the more typical traditionalists in Austria.

His motto in winemaking is “attention but not interference” to create expressive terroir driven natural wines. Despite his seriousness and talents when it comes to vineyard cultivation and winemaking, his playful side comes out easily, you’ll find out in this article, after we sat down to get to know him at our last VeroTalk where he marries his passions of wine and rock music with his natural wine creations. Discover also why he loves his Sauvignon Blanc white wine that comes from the schist rock of Austria.

Here is a forager guide to what you can find when going to seek out and explore wild plants around your home, nearby fields and forests, and even in cracks in sidewalks. Use it to identify useful wild plants as you forage for things like spring greens, wildflowers, fennel frond and all sorts of edible wild plants.

Get on your way to start a your own forager kitchen!

Our food foraging skills out in the wild may be part of our DNA as hunter-gatherers but the skill is lost. Beatrice Calia, a chef turned author, educator and consultant on wild plants took it upon herself to learn one new plant every day so to be able to live her life and livelihood centered on plants around her home in the hills of Bologna. What inspired Beatrice to become a wild food expert? What is there to know? Find out in this article.

We ‘get’ transitions in life, and are fascinated with sharing how people’s life journey takes them from 1 country to another and from 1 career to another. Learn about woman in wine Tanya Ho-Shue, who grew up and started a family in Jamaica, then London, working in finance, and wound up in the heart of wine country in California, becoming a certified wine expert and working for a top wine school.

What’s behind the phenomenon of the Spritz cocktail? How did the Spritz come about, why is it so popular, and how do you make it? It’s a recipe with 2 key ingredients and from there, it’s fair game to improvise, either using different ingredients or different proportions of the same ingredients. Because, you see, the way you have your Spritz is a very personal taste preference, like asking someone how you take your coffee. For those of you making cocktails at home, we have a recipe Spritz Aperol, for you to get started to become a Spritz Master.

What do the locals in Venice, especially the true native Veneziani, do for fun in the hometown? The go bar-hopping Venice style to places called bàcaro and which serve cicchetti which are Venice style tapas. How can you join in on the fun on your next trip to Venice? Find out in this article.

What were wine explorers most interested in 2022? What wine trends caught people’s attention? What controversies popped up and were followed? Here are the top stories of this past year and some perspectives on what will be hot topics for wine and food explorers in 2023.

Who is not fascinated by bubbles, especially when they are in wine. That’s why we have seen sparkling wine sales jump over the past couple of years. And now, we are starting to have sparkling wines even on every day occasions.

Want to discover some alternative sparkling wines to add to your repertoire, or surprise and delight someone else? Perhaps a grape variety you never had? Or a new style of sparkling wine? Or how about trying a small producer that’s brand new to the US market? … Read on!

Less well known wines are gaining traction in the US, with sommeliers, wine store owners and journalists talking and writing about them more. We, also, focus on curating off-the-beaten-path grapes beyond the most widely sold wine varietals in the US. Yet, with this trend, it can be difficult for our customers to select wines made from grapes they never had. Here we have some alternatives to suggest if you’d like to venture out on your own to try new types of wines. Whether you are a Chardonnay, Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Malbec or Syrah wine lover, here are some other wines you should look out for and try. Let’s journey to discover unusual wines!

Need some tips on wine pairing for Thanksgiving or the Holidays?

Do you want to do winetasting like a pro?

Let us help you to master wine pairing Thanksgiving dinner and all the holiday celebrations coming down the pike with this first of a series of articles about wine tasting and pairing wine and food.

Learn about the Corino family’s unconventional ‘back to basics’ way of farming, viticulture and natural winemaking. It’s based on tradition and learnings starting with Biagio Corino in the mid 1800’s, passing down from generation to generation. The baton was just passed from 5th generation Lorenzo Corino to 6th generation Guido and Luisa. Find out how, without formal training in viticulture and wine, the latest generation of Corinos are excelling at regenerative agriculture and making natural wines. Read this inspirational and informative article.

Learn about the wild and multi-faceted sauvignon blanc grape and sauvignon blanc best wines from winemakers across Europe. For example,. how does sauvignon blanc taste and what impacts its aromas and flavors? There are more than just grassy, green sauvignon blancs out there. Find out more in this article.

Let’s get to know the Czech Republic, tucked away next to Poland, Austria, Germany and Slovakia in Central Europe. A small yet fascinating country whose culture has been shaped by centuries of being taken over by other countries and empires and is fairly recently coming to its own. We have a local who takes us down the path of discovery in this article, where we also find out about its ancient, off-the-beaten track wines which are also steeped in history.

Ever wonder

• what cork is made of?

• where cork trees are grown?

• how cork is harvested?

• what cork makes the best closures for wine?

• what does it mean when a wine is ‘corked’ and what causes it?

Learn all about cork and cork farming in this article after our visit live with a cork farmer in Alentejo, Portugal.

Abruzzo is not a top destination for tourists going to Italy, but that’s not because it’s not worth visiting. In fact it’s the opposite: it has the sights, food, wine, people and experiences that you seek out when going to Italy but without the crowds. It’s a land of emigrants, fishermen, shepherds and farmers. It could be your next destination in Italy. Read about it in this article.