I want to take this time to pay tribute to a great man in the wine business.

Fess Parker, many of you may know him as Davey Crockett and/or Daniel Boone, passed away this past week.  The characters he played were larger than life, which in essence was Mr. Parker himself.  Fess Parker went on in 1989 to start a small vineyard, with the intention on sourcing grapes for growers and give them something unique.  As his daughter Ashley has said, he was from Texas, he never did anything small.  Mr. Parker went on to create one of the lasting legends in Santa Barbara with Fess Parker Wines.  These are outstading wines that are a testament to his dynnamic personality, whether it is through his Frontier Red or the unique Viognier. We have definitely lost a legend and I ask that you keep in him in your heart and mind, and when you can ...your palate. 

It is very hard to conceptualize this vast, great country. 

But one thing I know for sure is that we do not give Italy the credit it is due.  The one piece of advice I can give you is to please go out and experiment with Italian wines.  This is one of those countries where you really have to step outside of the box .  I can recommend several wines, but until you go out on your own, my advice will be hard to get.  Italy is a country of many personalities, diversities, and many different geographical areas.  It is also a country of many different cultures. As in the US, when you want to compare somebody from the deep south to someone from the New York or northern California, there are extraordinary differences in personalities, food they eat, how they dress and act- the same holds true for Italy.  One thing I can say for certain about this country- there is nothing certain about this country.  There are no set boundaries, no set laws.   We will make sure to tackle more on Italy in future weeks......