- Homepage
-
Learning to Speak Italian (Wine)
A guide to Italy’s lesser‑known grapes—pronunciation encouraged, confusion forgiven. Italy is not a single wine language. It is a chorus of dialects, whispered in mountain valleys, shouted from sun‑baked coasts, and stubbornly preserved by families who never bothered to translate for outsiders. To learn Italian wine is not to memorize a list—it is to learn…
-
New Year, New Pours
A Sommelier’s Lighthearted Take on New Year’s Resolutions. New Year’s resolutions have a funny way of starting strong and fading fast. On January 1st, we’re full of optimism, bubbles in hand, convinced this is the year everything clicks. By mid-month, the gym bag is back in the trunk, the salad greens are suspiciously limp, and “Dry January”…
-
The 12 Wines of Christmas
A Guide to Sipping Through the Season. The air is crisp, the carols are floating through grocery store speakers with unmistakable cheer, and your inner wine geek is itching for a holiday-themed deep dive. And right in the heart of December, there’s no better time to revisit one of the season’s most enduring traditions: The Twelve…
-
A Spirited Christmas Carol
Cocktails of the past, present, and future. There is no season so rich with memory, merriment, and hope as December. Dickens knew it well. In fact, he didn’t just write a moral tale—he wrote the greatest cocktail metaphor ever told (though he may not have realized it while scribbling with ink-stained fingers and a stiff glass of…
-
Trendy Cocktails: Hot Buttered Rum
A Fireside Hug in a Mug. There’s a very specific moment each December when the cold doesn’t just feel chilly—it feels personal. Your fingertips sting, your breath turns into its own winter cloud, and suddenly every Christmas carol feels like it’s judging you for not wearing thicker socks. And it’s right in that moment—somewhere between “Let…
-
Old World Regions: Veneto
Italy’s Northern Powerhouse of Wine, Culture & Quiet Brilliance. December is a reflective month — the harvest is done, cellars are buzzing with fermentations, and wine lovers around the world begin to ask a beautiful question: What did this year give us to drink? If there’s any region in Italy that deserves our attention during this…
-
Sips of the Season: Christmas Songs & Wines That Share Their Soul
Because some memories need both lyrics and a glass. We’ve survived Black Friday. We’ve outsmarted Cyber Monday. The wrapping paper is still in the closet—but the spirit? The spirit has arrived. It’s time to dust off the classic Christmas records (or fine—open the streaming app), lower the lights, and pour something worthy of the season.…
-
Part III: The Feast
A Thanksgiving Table Worth Toasting. Thanksgiving isn’t a performance — it’s a gathering. A coming together of stories, laughter, imperfections, and flavors that somehow always seem to fit. It’s the moment the whole season has been building toward, the quiet gratitude of the early November days giving way to the joyful noise of family and…
-
Part II: Pouring the Prelude
The Week Before Thanksgiving. By the week before Thanksgiving, excitement (and maybe a little anxiety) starts to bubble up. The fridge is slowly filling, the guest list keeps shifting, and the dining table looks more like a staging area than a place to eat. This is when the holiday starts to feel real — the point where…
SOMM&SOMM 