When we spent two weeks in Tuscany, we enjoyed our visits to wineries. Since we do not speak Italian, we chose to visit Italian wineries whose websites were also in English. Our lodging was at a winery where we had a small kitchen and so chose to cook many of our meals attempting to stay Italian oriented. We also visited a number of restaurants with Italian cuisine. One of the delightful aspects that we appreciated was the opportunity to order the house wine that was served in a carafe or pitcher. These table wines were delicious with the Italian entrees.

This brings up the Italian restaurant we visited last night in New York City. We asked for a carafe of house wine. Unfortunately this restaurant did not have a house wine. We ordered a bottle of red wine from Sicily. Due to the markup of wine by restaurants, it was more than we usually pay for a bottle of wine but the head waiter was so enthusiastic about the wine that we decided to use his advice. When he came back and asked how we liked it, my husband replied, “It is good on the second glass.” It was not like the delicious Italian wines we had while in Italy.

Maybe more Italian restaurants in the US should consider serving carafes of house wine. It does add to the ambiance of the occasion.

Cheers! Kathy