A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of enjoying a lunch date at a fantastic Italian eatery, The Grapevine, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The owner, Fabrice DiCarlo, greeted me with a warm smile, as he informed me that he was pleased to make my acquaintance “feel right at home”. It was a wonderful Italian meal that he prepared for us, and though we didn’t actually taste any of the food we were certainly impressed by the overall quality of the food. The second time I saw Fabrice, it was at a wine festival in Massachusetts, where he proudly presented me with a small bottle of DiCarlo’s very own Vini Nobile di Montalcino, which is a sparkling wine that has won several awards, including one for “best sparkling wine”. He told me how pleased he was to have me there and that he hoped I enjoyed the experience.
So what did I take away from this occasion? For starters, I learned that my local phone directory had no Vini Nobile in its listings. Fabrice’s had it! I was even more impressed when he told me that he’d gotten my number from his customer service department, which was not a surprise because his customer service was absolutely amazing! I will definitely call on my Vini Nobile next time I need a new Vini Nobile to satisfy my thirst.
A couple of weeks later, and somewhat disconcertingly, I received an email from Vini Nobile stating that he was no longer with the company and that they were cancelling all of their wine lines. What was going on? Was he having financial difficulties or had he suddenly retired? I was rather curious about this, so I stopped by his office to see what was going on. He informed me that he was moving on to another opportunity in life, and that he wished me a lot of luck in my future endeavors.