Tonight is the night! Emmanuel Kemiji, Master Sommelier, WineMaker and Winery Owner, hosts a sold out wine pairing dinner at the acclaimed Vivian in Asheville! Emmanuel, on a very busy day, stopped by the shop a few hours ago to say hello to the staff. We shamelessly cornered him for a few minutes.
In our casual conversation with a very excited and a bit star struck staff (including me!), we asked to learn about this very accomplished person in the wine world. What we uncovered in nothing compared to what the dinner revealed about Emmanuel's travels down a long and vinous road to becoming a highly regarded winemaker.
MetroWines hosted a tasting with Associate Winemaker Jon Tomaselli of Torii Mor Winery in Dundee, Oregon. First, Jon is of Sicilian heritage! I totally shared a "Ciao Asheville" calling card with him. His wine roots go deep and far back into Italy. And you know that made us happy to hear!
The Torii Mor Website says of the Italian Connection: "With three generations of Italian winemakers in his family, Jon Tomaselli began his love affair with wine at the age of 4 years old while assisting the elder Tomasellis in their viticultural endeavors. By the age of 8, Jon knew he had found his calling in life."
What a delightful guy! Alessandro Cellai was interesting, fun and very, very, very accomplished.
Seems like some people are just born with a genetic predisposition to do what they end up doing. Alessandro is one of them. He was, no doubt about it, born with the wine gene. That stands in stark contradistinction to me who was born with the "Watch Mary Tyler Moore Reruns Over and Over Again" gene, a predisposition I can assure you I have fulfilled!
There is so much to tell you about Alessandro but so much has already been written about and by him, all available on the internet and YouTube, I think I will let you focus on the aspects of his life and winemaking that interest you.
Stephanie Morton-Small, chief Commercial officer, for Decero in Mendoza, Argentina hosted a sold out Seated Tasting on Tuesday, September 11th. What's the one thing Stephanie wants us to remember? Mendoza is the size of California and, so, not all parts are created equally! Great Wines. Great Speaker. Great Night!