A Table of My Own

For several years, Grande Passione has lived mostly on the page. There have been essays on producers and the choices they make in the vineyard. There have been notes on a bottle opened late with friends that turned out better than anyone expected.

The tastings and classes have always happened somewhere else. I have taught in hotel rooms, in restaurants after closing and in wineries, always as a guest in someone else's space. Many of those rooms were good ones, but none of them was mine.

Atelier del Vino, in Verona, changes that. I wanted a place where people arrive the way friends arrive at my home. There is a glass poured before anyone sits down, and the conversation starts well before the lesson. Some evenings it will be a tasting with a dozen people around one table. On others it will be a masterclass given over to a single grape or a single producer, or a course for those who want to study wine seriously.

The Atelier's own website, atelier.grandepassione.com, will be the way in. You will find the calendar of tastings, masterclasses, courses and special events there, and you can reserve a place. You will also find digital guides to read at home and a short shelf of books chosen for the same way of looking at wine. News from the Atelier will be posted as it grows.

The door opens very soon. Come in.