The Connected Table Live

Have you ever dreamed of visiting France's great wine regions to meet producers, taste their wines, and enjoy local food? Melanie and David share their experience traveling with importer, Kysela Pére & Fils, throughout France for a behind-the-scenes look at how wines are selected for U.S. market. Part One of this series spotlights: Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Bugey, Northern Rhône...

Among Italy's most acclaimed wine regions, DOCG Chianti Classico has many well-known producers. Some have centuries-old estates. An example is Villa Calcinaia in Greve-in-Chianti which dates to 1524. It is owned by the Capponi family who started bottling their wines in the 1950s. Conte Sebastiano Capponi and his brother, Niccolò, took over estate management in 1992. Sebastiano discusses the family...

Valeria Agosta is owner of family-run Palmento Costanzo in Sicily’s Etna DOC and located in the northern Contrada Santo Spirito in the heart of the Parco Naturelle dell'Etna. Unique to this area are centuries-old pre-phylloxera ungrafted vines. The winery is built into a restored 18th century stone "palmento," a traditional stone winemaking structure, also unique to this region. Wines are made usi...

A fourth- generation vintner, Giampaolo Tabarrini shares his passion for Umbria and its wines, notably Sagrantino di Montefalco, a voluptuous red wine produced excusively in this region of Umbria, and Trebbiano Spoletino,- also indigenous- producing an aromatic white wine. Expressive and full of energy, Tabarrini hosted Melanie and David at his expansive new family run winery and is considered one...

How do bats and bees impact biodiversity in the vineyards? “Bees are important pollinators; bats and other insects provide natural pest control,” says Marie-Catherine Dufour, Technical Director, Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB). She shares new research on how bats and bees are natural allies for improving biodiversity in the vineyards and discusses Bordeaux’s impressive drive to accomplish new benchma...

In Umbria, Italy, Chiara Lungarotti, chairman of Lungarotti Winery, discusses her family estates in Montefalco, known for its DOCG Sagrantino di Montefalco red wine and Torgiano, which produces single estate Sangiovese reds. She reminisces about her late father, Giorgio Lungarotti, who was a pioneer of modern oenology and agronomy in Umbria. Today, Chiara oversees the family business with her moth...

The Perrin and Lurton families have deep roots in AOC Pessac-Léognan, “the gateway to Bordeaux.” Marc Perrin’s grandfather, Anthony Perrin, helped create the AOC in 1987. Marc oversees 13th century Château Carbonnieux, one of Bordeaux’s oldest and largest estates. André Lurton dedicated his life to making wine for 70 years and established four family-owned estates in Pessac-Léognan, including Chât...

Many producers in AOC Graves are family run, some for centuries and newer producers who appreciate its signature “Gravas de Bordeaux” gravelly soils, ideal for making exceptional white and red wines. Caroline and Xavier Perromat represent the ninth-generation family at Château de Cérons, a 17th century estate. Pierre-Edouard Chatin and his winemaker wife, Amélie, acquired 17th century Château de R...

Eduardo Chadwick is descendent of two important Chilean wine families. The Errázuriz family settled in Chile from Spain in 1735; the Chadwicks arrived from England in 1820. Since 1983, Eduardo has overseen the family estates: Viña Errázuriz (est. 1870, Aconcagua Valley) Viñedo Chadwick (est. 1945, Maipo Alta Valley), and Viña Seña (est. 1995, Aconcagua Valley). He reflects on his father, Alfonso C...

As Chair of the Hospitality Practice at Fox Rothschild LLP, and Labor Counsel to the New York City Hospitality Alliance, Carolyn Richmond is a sought-after expert on labor and workplace issues. Richmond has worked with many high- profile restaurateurs, bar owners and hotels in New York. She discusses how #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, the demand for better wages and benefits and the pandemic have chan...

Di Palo Fine Foods on the corner of Mott and Grand Street in New York City's Little Italy has been a beloved destination for fine Italian food products for more than a century. An immigrant from Basilicata, Savino Di Palo opened his "latteria" in 1910. Di Palo's now sells over 300 Italian cheeses alone. Savino's great grandson, Luigi (Lou) Di Palo, sources products from artisan producers throughou...

Melanie and David report on celebrating seven decades of Faustino Rioja Gran Riserva with 6th generation family member, Lourdes Martinez, at The Modern, tasting Burgundy wines with Albéric Bichot, owner, Maison Albért Bichot, at Avra Estiatorio, Languedoc-Roussillon estate wines with Miren de Lorgeril, owner, Maison Lorgeril at Limani, Uruguay's Bodega Garzon wines with Pacific Highway Wines at Ch...

Wine writer, Alice Feiring, has been called "The Apostle of Natural Wine." (Forbes 2020). Her newsletter, The Feiring Line, is a must-read on this topic along her books including "Natural Wine for the People and" "Naked Wine." One of her more provocative books is "The Battle for Wine & Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization." In Alice's memoir "To Fall in Love, Drink This" she shares rev...

Etna DOC in Sicily is a protected wine region located on Europe's largest and most active volcano, Mt. Etna. Families have made wines on Etna for generations, mainly for personal consumption. Modern Etna winemaking is more recent dating back 30-40 years. One of the pioneers is Giuseppe Benanti, founder of Benanti Winery, now run by sons, Salvino and Antonio. Salvino Benanti discusses his father's...

A distinguished food writer and screenwriter, Aleksandra Crapanzano writes the dessert column, A Little Something Sweet, for the Wall Street Journal. In her third cookbook, Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes (Simon & Schuster), Aleksandra illustrates how make morning cakes, tea cakes, génoise, dacquoise, clafoutis and more with French flair and creative twists. Passionate about food...

Here’s A Perfect Pairing from Europe: Garda DOC wines and Piave DOP cheese, both from northern Italy. Garda DOC produces crisp, refreshing sparkling and still wines around Lake Garda between Lombardy and the Veneto. They pair beautifully with the savory-sweet flavors of Piave DOP, artisan hard-aged, pasteurized cow’s milk cheeses from Belluno, a mountain region in the Veneto. After all: what grows...

Houston Chef Chris Shepherd achieved success and fame with his Underbelly Hospitality Group of restaurants. In 2015 when a friend and restaurant colleague diagnosed with multiple sclerosis asked for his help to host a fundraiser for the MS Society, the seeds of Shepherd's non-profit Southern Smoke Foundation (SSF) were planted to help food and beverage industry workers in need. SSF provides worker...

Il Verro in Campania, Italy, was established in 2003 by five childhood friends including Cesare Avenia who oversees the winery today. Located in Caserta in an unspoiled setting north and inland from Naples, Il Verro produces wines from rare, native grape varieties including reds: Pallagrello Nero and Casavecchia and whites: Pallagrello Bianco and Coda di Pecora. Avenia also runs Il Casale di Riard...

Patricia Ortiz's career has transitioned from tending to medical patients as a physician to tending vines as a vintner. Owner of Fincas Patagónicas and wineries Tapiz, Zolo, and Wapisa, Ortiz is one of Argentina's leading women of wine and the first female president of Bodegas de Argentina. Ortiz discusses transitioning from a career as a nephrologist to a winery owner with properties in Mendoza,...

Jancis Robinson MW is one of the world's most widely read wine journalists. As founder/editor-in-chief of website, JancisRobinson.com and weekly wine columnist for the Financial Times, she reaches legions of readers worldwide. Robinson is founder-editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author with Hugh Johnson of The World Atlas of Wine, and co-author of Wine Grapes. She hosts the course series...

Since its founding in 2002 in New Orleans, Tales of the Cocktail, has become the premier global gathering for anyone working in the hospitality and drinks industry. Celebrating 20 years in 2022, Tales of the Cocktail held its first in-person conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's theme of "Progress" focused on the resilience of bar professionals, advocacy, mental health a...

Entrepreneur and Master Distiller Alexandre Gabriel refers to himself as "the creator of emotions" and a "simple farmer," but he is a true visionary in the spirits industry. Born in Burgundy to a farming family, he established Maison Ferrand in 1989 with headquarters in the historic Château de Bonbonnet where Cognac had been made for 10 generations. Gabriel's portfolio of acclaimed artisan spirits...

From Italy, Nino Negri Winemaker Danilo Drocco discusses the terroir of Valtellina DOCG, whose steep terrain in the Lombardy Alps is one of the most challenging regions to grow grapes. DOCG Valtellina wines must be 90% Chiavennasca, local dialect for Nebbiolo. From Argentina, Bodega Luigi Bosca's Head Winemaker Pablo Cunéo discusses the growing conditions of Mendoza’s Maipú, Lujan de Cuyo and Uco...

Jessica Little grew up helping out at her family's 350-acre farm and creamery, Sweet Grass Dairy, located in Thomasville, Georgia. Today, Jessica runs the family business with husband, Jeremy. Named after the grassy pastures where the farm's cows freely roam and graze. Sweet Grass Dairy produces award-winning artisan cheeses. www.sweetgrassdairy.com The Connected Table Live is broadcast live Wedne...

Nino Negri is a wine estate in Italy’s Valtellina DOCG, recognized as one of the most challenging regions to grow grapes due to its rugged terrain in the Lombardy Alps. Steep terraced vineyards require hand-harvesting and airlifting harvested grapes by helicopter! DOCG Valtellina wines must contain at least 90% Chiavennasca, local dialect for Nebbiolo. Winemaker Danilo Drocco discusses the terroir...