Mike Tadich is one of my favorite mentors in Italian wine, and in life.  He’s the kind of guy who men love to hang around with because he seems to know everything about guns, scotch and martial arts.  He’s the kind of person women are drawn to for the same reasons, and because at any given point he’s pretty much the most charming man in the room.

Mike Tadich has had more experience with Italian wine than almost anyone I know.  There’s not a producer he doesn’t know, or a grape he hasn’t tasted- his knowledge is encyclopedic, and his passion for Vino Italiano is unsurpassed.

So when Mike has something to say about wine, I listen.  Especially when that something involves Sophia Loren.

We were sitting at the bar of Sirio in the Aria Casino, discussing Elvio Cogno’s Anas-Cetta, remarking about how much it had changed in the glasses over the course of an hour or so.  This was when Mike said, “oxygen and wine, are kind of like Sophia Loren.”  He smiled.  She’s a beautiful woman now, but  if you had the chance to marry her when she was 18… Why would you want to miss the last 30 years?

I think Mike Tadich is right- it’s the development of flavors and range of expressions that are most interesting.  If you rush oxygenation by decanting, you can risk missing the entire articulation of the wine.

It’s about the journey, not the destination.