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Drink Good Wine at Solera Wine Co., A Top-Notch, Fun Wine bar

Pittsburgh wine enthusiasts finally have the kind of authentic wine bar they have long craved. Since late October 2024, when veteran restaurant professionals and wine sommeliers Tyler Borne (pictured above on the left) and Aaron Gottesman (pictured above on the right) launched Solera Wine Co. in Lawrenceville, the positive response and buzz has continued to […]

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Amore amari! Bar Marco and Jason Renner Offer A Taste of Italian Dolce Vita With after-dinner liqueurs

In Italy — no matter the region — meals customarily end with small cups of amaro, a traditional bittersweet herbal liqueur. In America, the amaro tradition has grown steadily in popularity, especially at accomplished, innovative Italian restaurants such as Bar Marco in the Strip District. Jason Renner, Bar Marco’s affable and famously bewhiskered bartender, champions

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“Bacan Guaro” aguardiente Celebrates Joie de Vie with A Colombian Twist

During the long days of COVID-19 lockdown, everybody had time to contemplate bringing dreams to fruition. Entrepreneur Diana Espinosa March and her husband, Ricardo March, used the time to lay the groundwork for launching Bacan Guaro, a modern take on aguardiente, a traditional clear spirit from Colombia. Born in northern Italy with Italian and Spanish 

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Speyburn Single Malt Scotch Spreads Its Wings With Distiller Euan Henderson

When Euan Henderson, the manager of Scotland’s Speyburn Distillery, was a 10-year-old lad, his father, Iain, became distillery manager at Laphroaig Distillery. In 1989, the Henderson family moved to the windswept southwestern Scottish island of Islay (pronounced “EYE-la”), and it was there that Euan’s informal apprenticeship in Scotch whisky began. “It was a remote place

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Delicious Wines From Mount Etna’s Dramatic volcanic slopes

For sheer drama in winegrowing, look no further than Sicily’s Mount Etna. The volcano’s last major eruption in 1992 unleashed lava flows that buried vineyards and homes. Black smoke and ash from more recent but less serious eruptions have temporarily stopped air traffic. Accompanying earthquakes damaged stone-walled terraces in the vineyards. Nonetheless, intrepid winegrowers on

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Piero Mastroberardino leads Venerable Winemaking Family in Campania, Italy

The southern Italian province of Campania offers many famous attractions. The volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, stands brooding over the city of Naples while the ruins of Pompeii recall the dramatic eruption in 79 A.D. The blue Bay of Naples and the precarious, winding cliffs of the Amalfi Coast provide beautiful vistas. And of course, Campania’s diverse,

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Conde Valdemar’s Rioja Wines Embody Sustainability and Food Versatility

For over 130 years over five generations, the Bujanda family has grown grapes in the Rioja region in northeastern Spain. Today, siblings Ana and Jesús Martínez Bujanda continue the tradition at Bodegas Valdemar while pursuing pioneering efforts both in Rioja and in Washington state in the U.S. “I grew up with wine and used to

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The Raucous R(h)um-Running Legacy of the Chesapeake Bay

After crossing over the majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge toward sandy seaside shores, you pass bucolic landscapes and picturesque, quiet colonial towns such as Easton, Md. It is hard to imagine the area bustling with bootleggers and rum-runners, but as author Eric Mills describes in “Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties,” that was exactly the case

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Beaujolais’ Terroir and Technique Deliver More Than Just Nouveau

Across the globe on the third Thursday in November, wine drinkers celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau Day. But as you drink Beaujolais Nouveau, remember other Beaujolais (pronounced BOH-joh-lay) red wines offer diverse styles that are equally, if not much more, enjoyable. Beaujolais Nouveau offers an opportunity to sip the first new French wines of the most recent

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