Pizza is my favorite food. Maybe it's because I am a baker at heart, but I love Pizza. I am not a Pizza snob, I have a very ecumenical approach to flatbread; I love traditional Naples style, Chicago, thin crust, thick crust, bring it on. A couple of grilled pizza's, a big green salad, an antipasti plate and a couple of bottles of a lighter bodied red and you have yourself a party. There are number of great bottles out that are perfect for company and affordable enough for a party! Mason's Red by Casey Coble is a perfect example. ROBERT RAMSAY MASON'S RED 2015 $14.99 Mason’s Red was created as a “food friendly” wine with generous acidity to complement all foods-except maybe breakfast cereal. Enjoy Mason’s any night, whether you're eating a fresh harvest from the farmers’ market, oven-fired pizza, or creamy sauces that demand a wine with a structure that cuts through with a pleasurable balance. Mason’s is a Cinsault-based blend that changes every year-picking up the flavors and the personality of the winemaker, Casey Cobble Hightower Murray Cuvee 2014 $14.99 Hightower's entry red is a one of Washington State's best red wine values! Layered and complex, with ripe blueberry and cassis flavors and hints of tobacco, Bing cherry and black currants. Murray a big genial Pup that loved parties! If you have company pull out some nice stuff like a Bottle of Baer Star from Woodinville. Baer winery is a family run winery in Woodinville that has been making waves for number of years. The Baer Ursa has an almost cult like following, and since receiving 95 points and claiming the #6 spot on the Wine Spectator's TOP 100, the Ursa has been getting harder and harder to get your hands on. The Baer Star is affectionately called the "Baby-Ursa' around the shop, this new single vineyard blend from Baer is another Merlot driven blend and just plain delicious. Grilled Pizza with Sausage Dough: 1 Cup Water 2 Tbl Olive Oil 2 tsp sugar 1 tsp dry yeast 1 tsp salt 2 Cup (11oz) OO flour, plus more for work surface Cornmeal for peal Topping: 1 14 oz Can Crushed tomatoes 1 Tbl Olive Oil 1 each Garlic clove, Minced or Pressed ½ tsp black pepper 1 tsp Oregano 8 oz Sausage 4 oz Mozzarella, low moisture 4 oz Fontina Red Pepper Julienne, for Garnish Fresh Sage leaves, for garnish Dough 1. In large mixing bowl combine water, sugar and yeast. Let bloom. 2. Add remaining ingredients and combine with hand. Let rest 30 min. 3. Punch down dough and need for a few minutes. Lest retard in refrigerator for 20 – 30 minutes. 4. Pull out and divide into two dough balls 5. Roll out dough into 12” circles. Sauce 6. In bowl combine Tomato, garlic, olive oil and seasoning Prepare Charcoal fire or preheat Gas grill (medium Heat) 7. Lightly spread pizza peel with cornmeal and place one dough on peel 8. Slide dough off onto grill and grill 1 – 2 minutes 9. Remove from grill and invert onto peel 10. Spread precooked dough with Sauce and top with cheese and fresh sausage 11. Slide back onto grill and close cover and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes 12. Remove from grill and garnish with fresh sage and red pepper julienne

It's here: the big finish to the three-day Italian wine extravaganza that is VINO 2011. A tasting of wines so deep, so enormous, and so loaded with every type of wine imaginable (reds, whites, rosés, sparklers, dessert) that I desperately needed this map: Once again, navigating your way through an event like this requires strategic planning. My first order of business was to hustle to the Allegrini table to see my friend Robin. Not only is he a dapper and charming fellow, he happens to represent two of my favorite Italian wines. Pictured is the Amarone, which for a wine of such concentration, richness, and strength somehow finishes with an elegance belying its brawny profile. And I wouldn't dare step away from the table without trying what I consider to be an iconic wine of the Veneto: La Poja. It's a single-vineyard, 100% Corvina that you need to get into your glass ASAP. (I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention that Robin knows where the best pizza in New York is: Kesté. Check out this review with great photos from one of my absolute favorite food blogs, John and Elana Talk About Food. But I digress....) So where did I go from here? I decided that I just was going to try totally unfamiliar wines. Like this late-harvest Primitivo from Cignomoro. It was a sweet, but not cloying, red wine that I would love with some fromage blanc cheesecake or blue cheese. (I dig the labels, too.) Or how about a Passerina from the Marche? Made by Domodimonti, it's a crisp and dry white. And I really liked their Pecorino (not the cheese, the grape) which had a nice richness from oak aging and would be great with heartier seafood dishes. Needing a break from wine, I wandered over to the area of the tasting I call "Aperitif Alley." (Or possibly more accurate, the "Digestive Detour.") Loveliest was a beautiful anise liqueur from Varnelli, pictured on the left. I adore the flavor of black licorice, especially in clear alcoholic form. This post was composed in the VINO 2011 Press Room, and greatly aided by the genius-in-a-pouch combo of espresso, sugar, and Varnelli over ice. Full disclosure: The Italian Trade Commission has provided my transportation and accommodations.