The Consiglieri of Italian Wine
You get the impression that Alfonso Cevola is a member of that secret band of men who actually would trade it all in for a chance to be a member of Corleone Family. It’s not that he wants to run a crime family, rather he has an attraction to the strong ties the Corleone family creates among its members and its Italian cultural heritage. He, like me, probably understands The Godfather Trilogy, not as a story about crime and murder, but about family and the bonds that hold them together.
How else could you interpret a guy who, on his website, provides us with one of the most classic and memorable clips from The Godfather; a scene in which "Fat" Clemenza instructs his minion to trade a murder weapon for a box of fresh canoli.
Cevola is the proprietor of the blog, "On The Wine Trail in Italy". This is not his day job. He’s a wine educator and works in particular as the Italian Wine Director for the Glazer Distributorships, working mainly in the Southwest region of the U.S.
I only recently was directed to his blog and what I found was the words of a person who is very introspective about his connection to wine and family and Italy and history; what one comes away with after reading posts such as THIS, THIS and THIS is an impression of a man who is pretty damn passionate about his work and a man who understands that communicating well is about making connections that, while not necessarily obvious on the surface, are considerably obvious underneath the surface. In other words….GREAT READING!
Cevola seems very much to aspire to, or maintain, a positing as the Consiglieri of Italian wine lovers in America. Reading his blog is like getting quietly whispered to in the ear with words of wisdom and insight in a very matter of fact way.
If you are looking for some good reading, some insight into Italian wine I recommend Consiglieri Alfonso’s "On The Wine Trail in Italy".
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I know Don Alfonso. A man with a passion!
This coud be a bit of a challenge, I’m afraid!
A regular column in our magazine (Bead Society) features images which might be described as “bead-realted puzzles”. While departing from Naples airport recently, I noticed an image displayed briefly on one of the flat-screen entertainment/advertising displays. The image was of a “necklace” of “beads” which were, in fact, grapes. This image was being used, I think, as a logo/symbol by either an Italian tourist region or an Italian wine region. Unfortunately I did not have time to note down the organisation concerned. Could you help me to track it down? It would make an ideal “puzzle” image for us and would raise awareness of the organisation concerned (and Italian tourism generally) among our readership.
A couple of years ago we were travelling in Tuscano and had a red wine that we enjoyed. It had a label that included 360 in the name. For the life of me I can’t remember more. Any suggestions?
probably something from Whole Foods, a private label would be my best guess