A wine-buying spree. For those of you not posh enough (sarcasm!), Brunello di Montalcino is widely accepted as one of the top-end wines in Italy by the masses. If a sommelier reads this, I might get a nasty email telling me that I am a novice and I know nothing. But hey, it's darn good to me. Anyway Andy and I went and I know the owners of the shop we went into lit up when they saw a couple of sucker Americans come in to buy a bunch of expensive wine.

I picked up some Brunello, but I also picked up something else - each year, Gambero Rosso releases a guide to Italian wines. I picked up one of the 264 that they recommended as the top of the heap, and whenever an occasion presents itself I will crack open a bottle of $40 wine to see if it merits the rating they gave it. Any volunteers to join me?