Solevino: Food and Wine of Southern Italy

05/18/2026

Sometimes the fridge makes the decision for you!

I had big plans. Arugula, mixed greens, beets, burrata, mixed nuts.... A composed salad that looked intentional from the start. Then I opened the crisper drawer and the arugula and mixed greens had other ideas. :-(

What was left: microgreens, a head of iceberg I'd bought by accident and silently judged all week. Also, a handful of herbs from the garden — basil, parsley, a little mint.

The iceberg got its moment. Here's the thing about iceberg that nobody says out loud: its crunch against cold, creamy burrata is actually perfect. It doesn't compete. It doesn't wilt under a drizzle of herb oil. It holds its ground. Sometimes the humble ingredient is the right one!

The dressing came together in three minutes — herbs from the garden, a fistful of heart-healthy nuts toasted in a dry pan, lemon juice, good olive oil, just enough water to make it pour. Not quite pesto, not quite vinaigrette. Something better than both.

This is the kind of cooking Southern Italy understands instinctively: work with what's available, don't apologize for what's simple, finish with good salt and a little lemon zest.

The iceberg is redeemed. I may even keep it in the rotation.

🌿 Microgreens · Iceberg · Roasted Beet · Burrata · Garden Herb-Nut Pesto

What's the ingredient you've been quietly dismissing that actually deserves a second look? Tell me in the comments.

05/11/2026

Good advice for whatever food you're cooking!

How to Make Restaurant-Quality Pan Sauces | Learn more at the link in the comments!

05/08/2026

My chives were getting out of hand and blooming. I had intended just to make some chive butter, but then I thought, why not an entire dish centered on chives and butter? So, here's what I made! I'll go out on a limb and say that with this amount of butter, it doesn't really qualify as "southern Italian," but.... it was delicious! Really a pretty Spring dinner, too. Did I mention it was also delicious?!? So, recipe: I used linguine. I would have preferred bucatini, but didn't have any. About a 2-1 ratio of butter (Kerrygold) and olive oil (Sicilian). Chopped chives and chive flowers. Oh, I added some white wine (grillo, bc that's what I had open) and a little more than a 1/4 cup of pasta water. Finished with some lemon juice, finely grated Parm (Pecorino would work, too), and chopped parsley. I think this would be GREAT with some shrimp, but I'd leave out the Parm probably, or go very light with it; with a few notable exceptions, any fish with any cheese just gives me the ICK. (Some things with canned tuna, like tuna mac and grilled cheddar with tuna salad, are a couple of exceptions.)

05/05/2026

This Sicilian salad of fennel, blood orange, and red onion on an arugula base is delicious and even looks pretty here. I still find it a struggle to make! The oranges make a huge mess and I'm not sure whether it's more of a pain to remove the peel by hand and section them, or use a knife to remove the peel and slice them into disks. I'm leaning toward the latter. I also need to keep working on the dressing. It was okay last night, but didn't reach the required threshold of "yummy"!

Two things that help: soaking the sliced onion in water to remove some of the "bite" and soaking the fennel in lemon juice and salt to soften it a bit.

05/05/2026

In Abruzzo, the meal is not over when the plates are cleared. Not even close.

The digestif tradition here is old, herbal, and — I will be honest with you — not for the faint of heart. Centerbe is the most famous, and the name says it all: a hundred herbs. This is a potent green liqueur made from dozens of mountain plants and roots, and it often comes in at over 70% alcohol. It is medicinal, intensely herbal, and completely unlike anything you have tasted before. The first sip is a bit of a shock. By the second, you understand it.

Genziana is quieter but no less interesting — a bitter, earthy distillate made from wild gentian root gathered from the Apennine hillsides. It has a depth that feels genuinely ancient, like something people have been making in mountain kitchens for a very long time.

And then there is ratafia, which is my personal favorite of the three. It is a sweeter, dark-red liqueur made from wild cherries and Montepulciano wine, and it has a richness and warmth that feels like the end of a long, beautiful autumn day in the valley. It is approachable, it is delicious, and it is a wonderful introduction to the digestif tradition if you are new to it.

These are not just drinks. They are the flavors of the Abruzzese landscape, distilled and bottled. Sharing them with people is one of the things I look forward to most when our tasting events are up and running. Stay tuned.

To learn more: https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-spirits-and-liqueurs-in-abruzzo

List includes: Punch Abruzzo, Corfinio, Aurum.

05/04/2026

Two wines I want to shine a light on today — both from Abruzzo, both worth getting to know.

First, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I want to clear something up right away, because this confuses people all the time: this wine is named for the grape, not the Tuscan town of Montepulciano. The Montepulciano grape is indigenous to Abruzzo and has been grown here for centuries. The wine it produces is deeply colored — almost inky purple — with aromas of dark plum, blackberry, a hint of to***co, and a warmth that feels like the sun-baked hillsides it comes from. The tannins are firm but never harsh, and the finish is long and generous. This is a wine that belongs on a table with food: slow-roasted lamb, porchetta, aged Pecorino. And it punches so far above its price point that once you start drinking it regularly, you start wondering why you were spending more on other bottles.

Second, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo — and I want to tell you why this one is different from what the name might suggest. Most Trebbiano grown across Italy is fairly neutral and high-volume, the kind of grape planted to produce large quantities of inoffensive white wine. But the Trebbiano of Abruzzo is widely believed by producers and researchers to actually be a different grape entirely — Bombino Bianco, a local variety that produces something with real personality. Crisp and dry, with notes of apple, lemon, and a characteristic minerality that feels like sea air and stone. It is a genuinely lovely white wine, and a perfect introduction to the idea that in Southern Italy, the name on the label is just the beginning of the story.

Both of these wines tell you something true about Abruzzo — one powerful and generous, one light and precise. Together they give you the whole picture.

Here's some additional information: https://www.grape-experiences.com/immerse-yourself-wines-abruzzo-genuine-taste-italy/

When you aren't able to visit a wine region, find a few bottles of wine then sip and savor as you learn about that fascinating place you've longed to experience. How about Abruzzo?

05/03/2026

Sometimes this and a monster latte are all you need on a Sunday morning: just a sliced, toasted ciabatta with some butter and blood orange marmalade. Yum. I use the one shown here: https://amzn.to/4eZnjXP

05/03/2026

Detour to Provence.... Chicken breasts sauteed in butter. Sauce is white wine, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, a little chicken stock (I use Better Than Bouillon paste concentrate), capers, and tarragon from the garden (my tarragon plants are crazy!). Oh, and a little more butter at the end. Drank a nice rosé--from Aldi!

05/03/2026

If someone asked me to pick one Italian wine region that consistently overdelivers for the price, I would say Abruzzo without hesitating.

The region is one of Italy's most productive, and it focuses almost entirely on indigenous grapes — varieties that have been grown here and nowhere else for centuries. That matters, because it means the wines taste like somewhere specific. They are not trying to imitate Bordeaux or Burgundy. They are entirely themselves.

There are four wines from Abruzzo worth knowing well.

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is the flagship red — deep, inky, full-bodied, with dark fruit and smooth tannins that make it one of the most food-friendly reds in the country. Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo is a rosé made from the same grape with just brief skin contact, but do not mistake it for a light, summery wine — it has real structure and that stunning cherry-red color that sets it apart from almost every other rosé in Italy. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is a white that is more interesting than its name suggests — the local version is likely a distinct indigenous grape called Bombino Bianco, and it has a crispness and mineral quality that pairs beautifully with seafood.

And Pecorino white — likely named for the sheep, but definitely not the cheese! — is aromatic and floral with a mouthwatering acidity.

Four wines. One region. All of them honest, all of them worth your time. At Solevino, this is where we start — because it is where our story starts.

(Photo credit: https://www.wanderwithwonder.com/abruzzo-wines-tasting/)

Discover Abruzzo wines through three standout Pecorino wines—from Valori, Valle Martello, and Savini—that showcase the region’s character and craftsmanship.