Month: July 2025

When Life Gives You Lemons…and Rosé Picture this: You’re hot, sweaty, and thirsty. You crave something refreshing: lemonade, wine, sparkling water, something sweet but not too sweet; tart but not pucker-up tart. What’s in the beach cooler or refrigerator that meets (and maybe even exceeds) your wants, needs, and expectations? Roseade.In the ever-evolving world of […]

Sommeliers, wine industry professionals, and consumers have a range of opinions about Italy’s wine classification categories—DOCG, DOC, IGT, and VdT, and their usefulness depends on experience, expectations, and context. Sommeliers and Industry Professionals: Most professionals consider the classification system both necessary and useful as a framework for understanding regional identity, quality standards, and winemaking traditions. […]

Inside the Vision Behind World Trade Center Yerevan, Armenia In the heart of the South Caucasus, Armenia is setting the stage for a transformation that could redefine its economic destiny and cultural influence. The World Trade Center Yerevan (WTCY), a future-facing megaproject blending innovative urban development with centuries-old heritage, is poised to steer this shift. […]

Italy has a national wine classification system (VdT → IGT → DOC → DOCG), each of Italy’s 20 wine-producing regions also has its own hierarchy of wine styles and regional rules within that national framework. These regional classifications often function as microcosms, with local DOCs and DOCGs, unique native grape varieties, and distinct aging styles, […]

Italy’s wine classification system is like its opera: passionate, complex, and liable to leave you teary-eyed, either from emotion or frustration. What began as a noble effort to preserve tradition, celebrate terroir, and ensure quality has, over time, morphed into a Byzantine labyrinth of acronyms, subzones, and stylistic footnotes that even seasoned sommeliers sometimes pretend […]

👤 Who Supports the Cuts. Why? The mixed messaging among Americans who support cuts to the safety net, despite often relying on it, is not rooted in ignorance or incapacity, rather it is a byproduct of a relentless drumbeat of cultural mythmaking, partisan loyalty and economic vulnerability.At its core is economic individualism, a deeply rooted […]

When hate is met with silence, it grows in the shadows. Italy must choose: confront the darkness, or become complicit in its spread.“It happened; therefore, it can happen again.” In 2025, Italy stands at a dangerous crossroads. On one side stands the legacy of Renaissance humanism which taught people to value human life and individual […]

A Nation at a Crossroads The United States, long viewed as a beacon of prosperity and democracy, faces a moral and economic test. At the center lies its complex and often misunderstood social safety net, a vast system of programs that protects tens of millions of Americans from poverty, illness, hunger, and economic collapse. Today, […]

Thinking of summer reds? Vino Nobile di Montepulciano might not be the first wine that comes to mind. Please note: this refined, yet approachable Tuscan gem is the perfect summer companion for long evenings, warm breezes, and outdoor feasts. A wine with centuries of history, it knows how to balance depth and freshness in a […]

This Lambrusco story might surprise even the most seasoned sommeliers, wine pros, wine fans, yes, even those who think they’ve sipped it all.Recently I sat in a master class curated and directed by Alan Tardi, James Beard Award-winning wine writer, educator, and all-around industry scholar. If you’ve ever read Wine Spectator, Decanter, or the New […]