Vino e Vita; Wine and Life
Since late 2007, this blog has cataloged my travels through the universe of wine in search of adventure and the perfect bottle of wine.
My passion for wine - and the lifestyle that goes with it – has infected every aspect of my life and shaped my experiences. I hope that by sharing them with you here you are able to learn a bit about both Vino and Vita, and that you get some enjoyment out of the process.
Vino é Vita; Wine IS Life
As a student of languages, I was fortunate enough to begin traveling at a relatively a young age. My love of the grape was born while visiting Spain as a teenager, and it went through adolescence during my year of university in Bologna, Italy. Since then it’s taken me around the world to work wine jobs in almost every aspect of the industry - in New York I worked in several restaurants and wine shops, including Italian Wine Merchants, before spending 2 years “toting the winebag” for Winebow, where I supplied Manhattan’s restaurants and wine stores with labels from more than 500 producers around the globe. In this international context, I witnessed the revolution that was taking place in the wine world’s newest hot spot: Argentina. So I took my leave from Winebow, invited my friends to help me drink all my samples (I like to travel light), and took off for the southern hemisphere - but not without first taking the chance to revisit the “old world” and work harvest 2007 at Domaine de Trévallon in Provence, France.
Shortly after arriving in Argentina, I moved to Mendoza, the heart of the wine country. There I spent more than a year managing the Acequia Wine Club and Online Wine Shop for The Vines of Mendoza, and tasting just about everything I could get my hands on.
However, my love for New York eventually got the best of me, and I returned home in the spring of 2009. I am now working as a consultant, and - with my friend Heather Willens - as an export agent for some of South America’s finest boutique wineries.
For more information please feel free to contact me at AA@aaepstein.com.