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Join us at in the private dining room of Pizzeria Locale for an en event with François Xavier Barc of Complices de Loire in the Loire Valley.  F.X. is the former winemaker for the prestigious Domaine Charles Joguet in Chinon.  His skills with producing wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Cabernet Franc are unparalleled and this is the first opportunity to purchase these wines in Colorado.  F.X.

Here's the thing about having dinner at the fabulous Del Posto on the west side of Manhattan, Lidia Bastianich, Joe Bastianich, and Mario Batali's flagship restaurant.

You don't just see celebrities (they're there, too). You see FOOD celebrities.

On the night I dined there this week, my party and I happened to bump into Scott Conant, chef, restaurateur, Italian gastronomy expert, author, television star, and one of the coolest dudes in the industry.

We really loved Eric Asimov's column this week in the New York Times, "A Wine Critic’s Realm Isn’t a Democracy."

"Should wine critics allow their personal preferences to color their critical views?" asks Eric. "Or should they remain neutral on questions regarding a wine’s style, regardless of how they feel about it?"

We all know the story of Jesus turning water into wine at Cana, as recounted in the Gospel According to St. John.

The miracle is significant, of course, because "it is the first of the seven miraculous signs by which Jesus's divine status is attested, and around which the gospel is structured" (Wikipedia).

Today finds me in Proseccoland, traveling the "Strada del Prosecco" or "Prosecco Route" between Conegliano, Valdobbiadene, and Asolo, the three townships that make up the Prosecco DOCG.

In 2009, the Prosecco grower and bottler association (the Consorzio del Prosecco) obtained a DOCG that covers the three townships above.

They share a common topography: Morainic hills that jut violently out of the plains below, with the Dolomite Alps just beyond to the north.

Today finds me in Tuscany, where I've been having a look around Chianti Classico.

(I'm currently making my way up from Rome, where I landed yesterday, to Verona, where I'll be attending Vinitaly, Italy's annual wine trade fair.)

It was incredible to see how green the landscape is there: a very short (practically non-existent) winter has accelerated the vegetative cycle here and throughout Italy.

As one grower said to me today, the soil just never got cold enough.

The Boulder Wine Mechant has a new contributor to its blog!

My name is Jeremy Parzen and you may have noticed that I started posting here a few weeks ago.

I already know a lot of you through wine and food social media. 

But for those of you whom I've never had the pleasure to meet (virtually or in real-time), please allow me to introduce myself.

I first became interested in European wine while a graduate student in Italy where I lived and worked for many years (I received my doctorate in Italian at U.C.L.A. in 1997).

Feeling confused (overwhelmed, actually) by the tide of French and Italian appellation designations? 

Well, join the club!

Historically, the wines of France have been classified under the AOC or Appellation d'origine contrôlée system: Appellation of Controlled Origin, a classification created by the French government in the 1950s.

To obtain AOC status, wines must be made from authorized grape varieties grown in designated areas. And they must be vinified, packaged, and marketed in accordance with the appellation's standards.