Dear Feastlings,
I know. How much wine can one really taste in a week? But we’ve got two tastings on the horizon, both with food pairings, and truly, if you’re going to get yourselves in the mood for Ferragosto, the Italian holiday that celebrates, depending on your inclinations, Mussolini’s tribute to the working class or the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Around here, while we don’t tend to favor Mussolini, we’re just here, like most Italians anymore, in making this a combination of a Feast day and a semi-secular holiday. The Italians suggest that on August 15th, the only ones you’ll find in Italy are dogs and German tourists, but that’s inaccurate- there are scads of Italians on the beaches.
Whatever the case, and whatever you’re celebrating, please know that here at Feast we’ll be offering a special menu- yet to be published- and waiving our usually built-in corkage fee on every wine on the list that hails from Italy.
If you’d like to start preparing yourself by getting familiar with Italian wines, you’ll have two opportunities to do so in the very near future. Our friend Emily will be here this Saturday, the 25th, at 2:00, and the wines will be delicious, as will the food pairings with any luck. The tasting looks like this, and there’s still room if you’d like to join us.
A scant four days later, there’s a moderately priced tasting that we’re doing with the American Wine Society, who’ve once again opened their hearts and their doors to nonmembers, and our friend Emilie (not to be confused with Emily,) will be here with another four Italian gems and you can taste your way through them on the evening of Wednesday the 29th.
Early next week, you’ll find out more about the Ferragosto menu, and the week after, you’ll discover our August menu. But in the meantime, a glass of something Italian is likely to hit the spot.
See you all soon,
Doug