Published on Sunday, January 26, 2014 by Kathy McCabe One of the great joys of taking a food and wine tour in Italy, even just for a day, is to get more familiar with the ingredients and attributes of Italy's bounty of tastes. If you're visiting the Amalfi Coast, Naples or anywhere in Campania, you can't miss the private day-long Southern Gourmet Tour where our guide extraordinaire Gaetano takes visitors to his corner...

Published on Sunday, September 22, 2013 by Kathy McCabe The grape harvest has begun in Italy and looks to be on track to make more high-quality wine than the 2012 harvest. According to Italy magazine, "Climactic conditions in summer 2013 favoured a slow but optimum ripening of grapes, resulting in very high quality." The harvest (vendemmia) is about 10 to 15 days later than usual though. A forecast by Istituto di Serviz...

Published on Sunday, August 18, 2013 by Kathy McCabe As the grape harvest begins  in southern Italy, the Association of Italian Enologists predicts that 2013 may well be an excellent year for the production of both red and white local wines if the current climatic conditions continue. ""It's going well, this climatic situation cannot but be favorable. We need to use a conditional tense, obviously, but if it carries on ...

Published on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 by Kathy McCabe Wine Enthusiast magazine has named the southern Italian region of Puglia as one of the 10 best wine destinations of 2013. It was the only place in Italy to make this year's list. "Flanked by two seas, magical Puglia is a thin peninsula packed tight with the same attributes that attracted us to Italy decades ago: it's an undiscovered land with an enviable quality o...