Cortona in the house!!!!!! This week’s Wine, Shine & Dine event in Cortona on Thursday, May 30th, will feature Cortona D.O.C. winery Fabrizio Dionisio at the Taverna Pane e Vino. Fabrizio Dionisio makes, in my opinion, simply one of the best Cortona Syrahs.  Besides being a just a really nice guy, Fabrizio has set the bar for Cortona’s Syrah D.O.C. making high quality and well-balanced big flavors a priority. From the light and...

I had the first look and taste of one of the newest Cortona Syrahs to be released, Cantina Faralli’s Cortona Syrah. Cantina Faralli has been talking about this Syrah for some time.  In fact over the past year or so they’ve been using some of the non-aged Syrah as a blend in their normal rosso/vino sfuso (bulk sold table wine) and it was really good.  I couldn’t wait to taste the Syrah that had been aging for the past 8 months...

Talk about being in the right place at the right time!  The other night we met up with visiting friends over dinner and later walked over to visit yet another friend, our fabulous local chef Emiliano Rossi of Osteria del Teatro and newly opened the little Fett’Unta Fiaschetteria.  Having just finished serving dinner to the masses, Emiliano welcomed us by opening a bottle of Fontodi Case Via Syrah 1999 vintage. Breaking it down:  Pour a...

Held under the regal arches of the Teatro of Cortona, the Strada dei Vini Cortona, end of summer wine event was a small but very welcoming and a nice representation of some of the great local Cortona wines. With two sommeliers actively pouring wines and available to answer any general wine questions, it was a nice way to taste a decently sized pour of the available 25 or so wines. As opposed to the U.S. where you often meet winemakers or a...