After a great tasting earlier this month of selections from 19 of Italy’s best wineries put on by the Instituto del Vino Italiano di Qualità – Grandi Marchi , I conducted tastings of several California wines and one from Italy, bottles that impressed me with their honest approaches and distinct characteristics.

A family of farmers who make great wine.

Among them was the 2014 Gamble Family Vineyards Paramount Proprietary Red Blend, a succulent and bold wine (32 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 32 percent Cabernet Franc, 28 percent percent Merlot and 8 percent Petit Verdot) that will continue to improve with age. Click here for my take on it, and then look for a bottle of your own, which will be an asset to your cellar for the next decade or so, or feature at your next dinner party. I shared a meal with Tom Gamble and one of his sales reps several years ago at Tony’s in Houston, and immediately grew fond of the man and his wines; I look forward to tasting more of them.

Vietti is the name behind another wine from this week, and that name is special to me. I have drank a lot of wine emanating from the house, and I’ve never been disappointed. This time, it was the 2017 Roero Arneis, a unique grape that more people should know about. Dry, full-bodied, satisfying, and crisp: I loved it. Here’s my brief review of the vintage.

I wrote about these wines, and many more, for PaperCity magazine, and if you want to see what else I’ve been drinking, check out the links below.

A Zinfandel for Daily Drinking
A Wine Family’s Excellent Adventure
Four Brothers and Some Great Young Wines
Your Endless Crush Rosé
Enrique Varela Loves Malbec
This Geologist Knows His Italian
A Chardonnay For Your Mother (and You)
Don’t Dismiss the Peat
Distinctive Whisky Enters a New Era
A Whisky Legend Visits Houston
A Rare Cask, Indeed
Austin Whisky, Strange Name
Here’s Your Texas Rum Goddess
A ZaZa Wine Guy Loves Great Service
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs