Back in the Game
We’ve been having company over recently, which is an incredibly welcome development in our world. The other day a few friends came by and we ordered Jon & Vinny’s. It was a casual affair and we ended up standing in our kitchen while we ate pizza and drank wine. It was a great moment. We all knew it too and we appreciated the normalcy and the camaraderie. Usually it’s only when you look back do you realize the times which were actually the great times.
My friend happened to bring a bottle of Opus One (hey now) as a housewarming gift and we opened it straight away and started pouring it. Once I actually went to the Opus One winery on a trip with the German watch brand A. Lange & Söhne. It was, as you can expect, a pretty wonderful experience. While I was there I bought a few bottles of Overture (the other wine from Opus One which you can only buy when you are physically there) and have enjoyed them over the years. Though it’s been a while since we had an Opus One at home. The wine was a bit more refined than the typical wine we have been drinking lately, much of which is from Montefalco in Umbria. Not that everything needs to be fancy to be enjoyable, I think the opposite is more often true. It’s nice to find value in something that seems undiscovered — or less discovered.
So yesterday I went on a little mission to Eataly to buy some wine from the Umbrian winemaker Antonelli. We visited Umbria a few years ago as a guest of Brunello Cucinelli when the brand was dedicating the renovation of its little village of Solomeo. A good friend introduced me to the people at Cucinelli almost a decade ago and if it weren’t for that meeting I wouldn’t have the love for Central Italy that I do. I also wouldn’t have the appreciation for the man Brunello Cucinelli that I have. He’s truly one of the greats. Regardless of what anyone says about what that stuff costs (don’t worry I can’t afford it either) just think about the things Brunello (the man) has done. He’s created one of the most beautiful brands in the world, he’s grown the business from nothing and done it completely on his own. He has also done everything on his own terms. Instead of buying a yacht he spends his money renovating the theater in Solomeo. What billionaire does that?