Welcome!

      Two things in my life shaped my love of wine. As a junior in college, I spent a semester abroad in Florence. Being a Food Marketing major allowed me to take classes like An Exploration of Wine Culture in Italy, Food, Culture and Society in Italy and Wine Marketing and Communications. Aside from gaining a basic technical knowledge of the Italian wine landscape, the plethora of excellent wines available – even in the 2-5 Euro range – gave me the chance to taste a good bit of Tuscany. That semester I stepped out of my comfort zone, traveling and trying new things, and I came to associate wine with all of the best parts of my experience. 

      Returning from Italy, most of my wine drinking continued on my family’s front porch surrounded by neighbors and friends. Compared to my experience abroad, this provided a vastly different forum for sampling a much different flavor profile of wine – porch wines were generally $10-$15 bottles of California reds. On those nights, in the presence of “the village” as we like to call ourselves, I began distinguishing my palate – realizing what I liked in a wine and what I didn’t. I also believe those nights helped shape me as a person – realizing who I was and who I wanted to become. Because of this, so many of our favorite porch wines will forever remind me of home, family and comfort. 

      My purpose in creating this blog is to share any and everything I know, love and learn about wine and the fascinating industry surrounding it. From packaging innovations to craft ideas, and of course my favorite picks, consider this your one stop destination for all things wine!

For more follow my Pinterest board http://www.pinterest.com/laggiemong/vino/