How do you pour a bottle of wine ? Grab it by the neck and slosh it into the glass, onto the table, and over anyone who happens to be sitting nearby ?

(A unique example of wine bottle design starts us off this month. To find out about what’s in the bottle, clock on the main headline title above…)

This being Italy, it was hardly a surprise to see the names of Verdi, Puccini and Rossini writ large and the rest not exactly writ small, but more like left out altogether to make room for Donizetti and Leoncavallo.

This parade of national heroes was broken only by one grudging nod in the direction of Bizet and another to Orff. No Mozart ? No Mozart. Boo !

(Casalbordino opera night isn’t exactly La Scala – but who wants to trek to Milan and spend a fortune to watch fat ladies singing, when you can find as good an evening as this here in Abruzzo ! Click on the main headline title above for more !)

Let’s once and for all debunk the dictum that when it comes to ’special’ wine, the higher the price, the better the quality.

This month we have a bottle of one of the best summer wines you’re ever going to find at a scandalously low €1.45; and a bottle of the best Italian sparkling wine I’ve ever tasted, at a princely €4.

(Two bottles of fantastic wine for under €6 ? Yes indeed – click on the main headline title above to find out more…)