Our wine buyers Julie from South End Formaggio and David from Formaggio Kitchen just got back from a week long wine tasting extravaganza in Verona, Italy at the annual VinItaly wine fair.

See photos of some of our favorite winemakers like Severino from Erbaluna, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy and Francoise and Phillipe from Chateau Tour Grise.

Click here to view their slideshow on the Formaggio Kitchen website.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of new organic pastas and grains from San Gimignano, Tuscany. Brothers, Umberto, Amico and Bernardo Fiorini and their respective families, grow a variety of foods including grains, vegetables and fruits, olives, and grapes on the farm's 100 ha. We are happy to import for the first time their line of pastas, called 'La Madia', made exclusively from their own organically grown wheat and farro. These pastas are hearty and nutritious, and have that wonderful coarse surface ideal for clinging sauces. Delicious enough to be served very simply, with a drizzle of Tuscan olive oil and a sprinkling of pecorino or sea salt.

We are also importing two whole grains from La Madia, Farro and Orzo. ( Orzo is the italian word for barley and here refers to the grain, not the pasta shape.) We love cooked farro or barley served cold in a summery salad with tomatoes, a bit of cheese, fresh basil and olive oil. The barley also makes a beautiful risotto, excellent with springy asparagus and good olive oil.

The paste of this cow's milk mountain tomme is studded with 'salicorne', a pickled seaweed from Brittany. This is a big-time regional specialty, never before imported to the United States. Come by and ask for a taste, the flavors work really well together. Plus, we're definitely the only Americans ballsy enough to import a seaweed cheese so you'll never see this cheese anywhere else on this side of the Atlantic.

After months of heady anticipation Jean David's 2005 Vin de Pays organic wine in a box to Boston. This Rhone blend is our staff's favorite summer wine, we take it to parties, we take it camping, we give it as gifts, and we keep the boxes on our counters at home in case of emergency. Tastes great with burgers, pasta, meatloaf, roasted chicken, BBQ, grilled sausages, and a huge variety of cheeses, pates and rillettes.

The euro to dollar exchange has bumped the price up a bit for this vintage but still, $39.95 divided by 5 liters equals $7.99 per LITER. That's $5 less than our favorite gruner veltliner liters, and those are a steal.

Jean David Organic Box $39.95/ 5 liter box