Found this inner courtyard of a palazzo in Verona just by following my nose . . .

Wisteria or Glicine in Italian and every side of the courtyard was covered with this vine that must have been over 100 years old. A great way to start the day!

Tasting wine @ VinoVinoVino in Cerea (how do you say "po'dunk cow-town" in Veneto?) and all our old friends and some new ones are here . . .

New vintages of Ronco Severo are on the way. But I am not sure which wines yet.

I tasted all the whites but really love the reds so we will have to see.

Ooooh, what's that? Costadila` 450 SLM in magnum with a cool new screwcap?

And really, when you get the chance to taste a whole bunch of vintages of Emidio Pepe . . . who would turn that down? By far, the best of the reds was the 2005 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and the best of the whites was the 2002!

You can tell you are in a city in Italy when . . .

when the guy across the courtyard is drying his fish caught in the river underneath his water heater on the balcony. Nice.

Yes, they still have these in Italy and yes, they still are very difficult to manage . . .

especially when you have half a gallon of wine in you.

Although, as Italian toilet holes go, this one was pretty darn clean!

For all my friends from the Monte Cengio, Padova, days, over 20 years ago, here is a blast from the past!

My good friend, Max M'bassado Marzio, came to visit me in Verona and we wandered around and had dinner in the University area. It was great to see him and shoot the breeze. Hopefully he will make it to L.A. this year to meet the babies and his little buddy Max, who will want to chase him around and play soccer with him.

My new transportation in Italy is the Fiat 500 . . .

which is making its way to our shores as we speak since Fiat now owns 1/2 of Chrysler. It is pretty fun to drive!

Ronco Severo - Friuli Venezia-Giulia

Stefano Novello of Ronco Severo

So, I just got off the phone with my friend Stefano Novello from Ronco Severo in Friuli and I realized that I haven't posted about him or his wines in awhile (the babies take up most of the bandwidth on this station!). We had a good chat and I am going to see him at Vino! Vino! Vino! in a few weeks and taste through his new vintages but it was such a pleasure to chat with him about our meeting a few years ago and what is going on with him and his family that I wanted to share with you all again some of the photos from that trip.

The logo on the front of the winery.

Stefano's father, who was about 87 in this photo. He is out in the vineyards every day checking the vines.

100 year old Schioppettino vines

Some of the botte grandi in the winery

The Ronco Severo Tocai Friulano. This wine is awesome.