Author spotlight: Antonio Gardella

Mr. Gardella has been employed as a Fine Wine specialist for Henry Wine Group for the past 24 years. He has taught hundreds of wine classes for 13 years at SBCC, led scores of restaurant wine dinners, and participated in a Saturday wine radio show for three years. His Wine TV pilot – Vintage Journeys – on Santa Barbara wine country was filmed in 1992, 10 years before Sideways. He has traveled to France, Italy, Spain, Chile, and Australia visiting wineries, and has attended Vin Italy in Verona eight times. Antonio loves wild mushroom hunting, close-up photography, rare books, magic, acting, juggling, pantomime, pursuit of fine wine, great cuisine, and wonderful friends with whom to share all. He boasts that his heart "beats to Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy',” and that his desire is to "dance in delight every day, toasting good health, good food, and good fortune." Santa Barbara has been his home since 1967; Montecito residents may remember Antonio as Ristorante Piatti's maître d' in the early 1990s. He can be reached via antoniog@henrywinegroup.com

Lifestyle & Culture
From Grape to Glass
By Antonio Gardella   |   June 21, 2018

Back in the late 1970s, Bob Lindquist of Qupé Winery was the leader of the local Les Amis du Vin group. He organized wine-tasting lunches with guest winemakers at the University Club of Santa Barbara or Mattei’s Tavern. Bob invited me to help him bottle his first vintage. We worked with an early bottling truck, […]

Lifestyle & Culture
Confessions of a Wine Salesman
By Antonio Gardella   |   June 7, 2018

I became intrigued and enamored with fine wine once upon a time, long ago in my early 20s when a friend brought a bottle of Montevina White Cabernet Sauvignon to our table. I liked it so much better with our lunch than my usual soda pop or milk. I envisioned wine to be a giant […]