"If you are not drinking widely, you’re not doing it right. It’s like watching the same DVD, night after night."

Silvestro Silvestori's advice on wine stems as much from passion as from expertise.

​Silvestro is a sommelier, cook, food writer and photographer. He owns and runs one of the best culinary schools in Italy - the Awaiting Table - set in baroque Lecce, the heart of Puglia's Salento region. I met Silvestro during my travels across Italy's heel, where, between lessons on making fresh orecchiette and preparing a savoury rabbit dish, I got a beautiful taste of the region's culture, and of how its geography, history, climate and people have influenced the food and drink of the land. 

"Well-made wine reflects the very specific patch of earth that produces it," Silvestro explains. "I happen to think that Southern Italy is the most intriguing wine region of the world right now. Thousands of years of wine history. Cuisines that grew up alongside the wine for just as long. Modern technology (the autoclave has changed wine more than the arrival of the oak barrel or maybe even the glass bottle and cork). And the profound local wisdom in vineyard management (a lot of our vines are still grown as free-standing trees). You might have more limousine-style wine tourism in other regions of Italy, but I challenge you to find a more compelling combination of place, grape, weather and people."

When asked whether southern Italian wines are overlooked by the world and perhaps even by the rest of Italy, Silvestro's answer is as objective as possible. "Where in Italy has wine been produced the longest? Who produces the most? Both of those answers point to the south (4,000 years of wine production, with Sicily and Puglia toggling back and forth between the highest production in all of Italy). Longer and more than anyone else on the peninsula. You can’t argue regional chauvinism on this one! 

​The biggest change in Southern Italy is that foreign tourism is starting to better mimic domestic tourism, and domestic tourism has always been crazy about the south. Puglia has been Italy’s number one domestic tourism destination for the last 20 years, and people want to drink wine from places that they have been."

Silvestro's descriptions of his favorite wine varieties leave you wanting to taste them all.

"My three favourite Southern wines are based on: 

1) Nerello Mascalese, the red of Etna, easily the most beguiling wine region in the world right now. Like Burgundy, but yet to be charted. Lava flows differently and it affects the wine. Travel a hundred meters and it’s different. And when the wine reflects a very specific field, wine drinking is at its zenith.
 
2) Aglianico del Vulture, another volcanic wine, round and elegant. Arguably the most important wine grape of the south. One of the few southern wines that really benefits from barrel and bottle age. It’s what I have set aside for my own next big round birthday. You could double the price and they would still be asking too little.

3) Salice Salentino, the only blend here (a field blend, that is, planted that way and then all harvested at once. Classically, every fifth row is malvasia nera, the other four, il negroamaro). I used to have it as my blood type on my health card here in Italy. If your diet is based on big and brawny vegetables (radicchio, chicory, dandelion greens) like mine is, this is the simple choice. 

A food and wine pairing that Silvestro can't do without involves a white wine indigenous to Sicily. "I love carricante (the volcanic white of Etna) and grilled langoustines. Carricante - if you haven’t had it - is like ice cold river rocks in your mouth. And few things make my mouth gush quite like the salty minerals of this wine, coupled with the smoky char of grilled lobster shells."

But red and white are not the only worthwhile options. Silvestro explains how rosè - or rosato as it's called in the south - is celebrated year round. 

"To understand rosato, you have to understand how one culture borrows from another, almost always radically altering it along the way. (Italian restaurants offer cappuccini for dessert whereas, in Italy, only for breakfast, etc.) Rosato in the south is a year-round wine. It's not linked to a season, activity or location (e.g., 'Sitting on the patio in summer, I love a good rosè!'). Grilled mackerel in February is as appropriate as a table just off the beach in August.

The oldest, most established rosè culture in all of Italy is the Salento. They have been bottled here longer than in any other part of Italy. The sedimentary rock makes them darker, and the fact that we're mostly at sea level, they are ripe and stony.

Getting the feeling while reading this that we might be missing out in North America? Well, we are, according to Silvestro.

"Wine in North America is complicated by provincial monopolies in Canada and the cultural and legal residue of Prohibition in the States. Why drinkers there don’t storm the hills with pitchforks, I don’t know. You’re not getting most of the good stuff. When I travel, the first place I go is to visit the Italian wine aisle. Most of the time, I know little of it, as most of Italy exports wines that we locals don’t drink. Most of my friends are producers and I rarely know any of the wines on foreign shelves, in spite of the addresses given being close to home."

The Awaiting Table offers a wide range of cooking, wine and olive oil courses, with new and exciting options being added every year. Silvestro also offers a "Terronia: Southern Italian wine" course, which introduces you to the indigenous grape varietals and wines of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia.

"Our wine course is an extension of our bicycle trip through southern Italian wine country that we offer every year. We learn about soil, pruning, harvest, fermentation, aging and tasting. We learn about Southern Italy, its food and history. And drink a lot of wine. And yes, we follow our own advice. First we learn a great deal, and THEN we drink like Albanian truck drivers at your cousin’s wedding. You might rethink that optional travel insurance for this one."

As someone who has been to the Awaiting Table, I can personally vouch for Silvestro's courses and teaching style. What better way to learn about a region than from an accredited sommelier and chef who is as passionate about it as those who work the soil?

To daydream and learn a little more before you book your trip to Puglia, check out Silvestro's wonderful videos on YouTube.

From my heart to yours.
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Summer is nearly in full swing and, if you're like me, by now you are seriously craving the sea. That precious feeling of overwhelmed senses, of long days and long evenings, of a horizon stretching endlessly in front of you, and of sunshine and heat rejuvenating your body and mind. There are three things in life that make me breathe most deeply, and standing on a shore is one of them.

This is the time of year where I like to pretend the world is my oyster, and pick a destination to explore, following my seafaring urges. I have always secretly envied my Italian friends and colleagues who have a month-long ritual built into their culture so they can enjoy the seaside every August, guilt-free, without having to travel all that far. It's not always easy to get away, but it does a world of good. ​

This Monday's dose of inspiration is dedicated to some of my favorite beaches. Looking at these images, I immediately feel nostalgic of the time I spent in those waters. Who knows, they might inspire your travel plans in the near future!

Agios Stefanos, Corfu island, Greece

Baia dei Turchi, Otranto, Salento, Italy

Punta Prosciutto, near Lecce, Salento, Italy

Dona Ana, Lagos, Algarve, Portugal

Is one of these destinations on your bucket list? Let me know in a comment. 

Have a beautiful week!

From my heart to yours.

Three weeks in Puglia.

I set out on a long-awaited trip to a region of Italy I had yet to explore. 

​My itinerary consisted of a dozen towns along both the Adriatic and Ionian coasts of Italy’s stiletto, as well as some inland gems. There was enough room in the itinerary for spontaneous adjustments and unexpected discoveries, and it was certainly a priority to sense and savour every ounce of local culture. 

​One of the cities I was excited about discovering in Puglia and the Salento peninsula was Lecce – a historic hub known as “The Florence of the South” for its splendid baroque architecture. While still in Canada, I looked up cooking and wine courses that would allow me to learn about the regional specialties in a more hands-on way. A Google search landed me on The Awaiting Table – a then eleven-year-old school that had glowing Trip Advisor reviews. I lost myself on the website, reading about the school’s approach and its variety of courses. The most appealing ones were a week long, either in central Lecce or in a historic Castello. There were specialized courses focusing on wine, bicycling and cooking, making tomato sauce or making olive oil – I loved the idea of every one of them! 

​I would only be in Lecce for 3 days, so I’d only have enough time for a day-course. My dates weren’t on the class calendar, but I decided to send an enthusiastic and hopeful e-mail (I could barely contain my excitement after having discovered this school!) to inquire anyway. Silvestro, the owner, was so accommodating, and – before I knew it –  I had a day-course booked in my name.

​Flash-forward to that July morning. 

​The city was slowly coming to life, though circling pigeons and a scorching sun had already dominated the sky for some time. Silvestro came to pick us up in Piazza Sant-Oronzo, a large wicker basket in hand. We set out to the market to choose our fresh ingredients for both lunch and supper. The immersive learning had already begun without notice; as we walked through Lecce’s ochre-toned streets, Silvestro pointed out landmarks and described life in the town, his explanations punctuated by waves and nods to fellow locals who passed us by. “There goes Silvestro and a new batch of students,” I imagined them thinking. Through conversation and abridged life histories, we began to get a sense of Silvestro’s passion for Puglia and the basic principles of salentine food, which I like to think of as simplicity, authenticity and loyalty to the land. 

​We passed Porta Rudiae, Lecce’s oldest city gate, and walked into the market. Cesare greeted Silvestro and our mission began. The menu was set; Silvestro had all the necessary ingredients in mind for each course. “We need parsley,” he’d say to me, prompting me to ask Cesare for a batch of it. This interchange was repeated for each required ingredient. Silvestro took care of ordering the rabbit, and we were off – wicker basket filled to the brim and hands eager to get to work. 

​“That’s Emiluccia,” Silvestro affectionately pointed out his Fiat 500 when we crossed his courtyard. The day-course takes place at Silvestro’s house, in a kitchen he created from scratch from an old stable. Stepping into the kitchen was like stepping into an authentic, colorful, picture-perfect cookbook – only better. In just my style of colorful, functional décor, the walls were adorned with colorful colanders, wooden cutting boards, pots and pans, and some of Silvestro’s photographs. Bowls, utensils and other appliances were labelled in Italian to allow foreign students to pick up some new vocabulary during their stay.  A cool natural light poured in from the garden. We emptied our groceries onto the marble counter and Silvestro began to explain what we would cook for lunch. I tried to focus, but my senses were completely overwhelmed in that kitchen! I asked Silvestro if I could take a couple of quick photos before getting started. “It’s so beautiful, it’s distracting,” I laughed. 

​In the meantime, Silvestro poured the wine and prepared our cutting boards for us to begin making our fresh pasta. We wore aprons, rolled up our sleeves and got our hands involved without any hesitation. We learned by doing, our hands-on experience complemented by Silvestro’s explanations. Silvestro's priority was not only to teach, but also to take care of his guests; no question was unwelcome, no strategy was incorrect – all he asked in return was that we be happy in his kitchen. “There is only one rule here,” he told us.

Being happy was almost too easy. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.  

My orecchiette were far from perfect; having watched local ladies effortlessly make hundreds of orecchiette by hand in front of their homes in Old Bari, I expected my hands to be faster and more successful than they actually were. “Track your progress,” Silvestro advised, lining up his own orecchiette chronologically on his cutting board. “You’ll see how you improve with practice”.

While our two varieties of handmade pasta shapes were drying, we proceeded to chop and prep the rest of our ingredients, opening bottle after bottle of wine.

When time came to sit down, elbows resting peacefully on the colorful linen, we savoured our lunch, careful to eat slowly, conscious of the hours of thoughtful preparation. ​

In the late afternoon, Silvestro took us wine-shopping and gave us a crash course on the local varieties, their differences and individual strengths. Negroamaro, malvasia nera, salice salentino, primitivo…we made mental notes and anticipated the tastes of each variety.   
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We returned to the kitchen and began to prepare our supper. Silvestro took to the chalkboard, and gave us a short lesson on the “why” of salentine cuisine – the ways in which the food has been influenced by the region’s geography, climate and cultural contact over time. As we learned and cooked and drank and ate, we felt. We experienced a little bit of the local world view, and quickly realized that these are not simply recipes to discover or methods to learn, but a way of living and breathing.

What I loved most, perhaps, was that the conversations alternated flawlessly between getting to know one another and learning about cooking and wine. It was such a comfortable and inspiring setting, and it was genuinely easy to lose track of time.

As the evening aged, our voices grew quieter. There was an unmistakable temptation to help clear the plates and tidy the kitchen, as you would do with old friends who selflessly hosted you.
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As we said our thank yous and goodbyes, and headed out into the surprisingly lively Lecce night, I realized I got more out of that one-day course than I expected. I couldn’t stop talking about it for days to follow. I have since recommended it to friends, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

​Through conversation and participation, hands-on practice, you internalize more than you thought possible in such a short time. When the time comes to leave, you do so with full stomachs, full hearts and overwhelmed senses, with flavors of food and wine still on your tongue, and new facts whirling about in your head, becoming consolidated as new knowledge. And, to your surprise, that initial sense of wonder and curiosity has not subsided but is even amplified, pushing you to make immediate plans to return.

The Awaiting Table has been around for fourteen years, but is constantly growing and improving; with Silvestro's creativity and intuitive sense of innovation, there is always a new kind of course being offered.
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To get a taste of the culture and everything there is to experience and to learn, treat yourself to some of Silvestro’s compelling short films and blog posts. Until you could get there yourself, they are sure to peek your interest and make you dream of Italy’s unspoiled heel. 

From my heart to yours!

Read about my days ona 'masseria' in Puglia or about my favorite travel destinations.