We have a couple of tasting events coming up for our little winery this month and it brought up some thoughts on wine tasting etiquette. I was at a winery a few months ago out in Sonoma. It was a tiny little place off the beaten path with a tasting room in a shed that they had this sign up on the wall listing the Rules of Wine Tasting. It struck me funny, as I was standing in an old, dirty shed, that I was reading etiquette rules, which were now dirty and faded from the elements that had been creeping in through the cracks in the walls and ceiling. I thought, ‘do they really need these rules, here?!'

The Wines of Italy wine tasting kicked off the Festa Italiana in Tampa last night, and host L'Unione Italiana presented a variety of wines from each major wine region of Italy. I was pleased to find a selection of wines outside of the typical Chianti Classicos and Super Tuscans that you find standard fare at any Italian wine tasting.

There is a lot of confusion among consumers about organic products and wine is no exception. As organic food and products become more prevalent and popular, we are seeing an increasing number of wines that are labeled as organic or made with organically grown grapes. By now, I am sure you are asking yourself what the difference is an maybe even why it matters to you. Let's take a closer look at what organic means.