Big News: New Wine Series, Vineyard Updates & A Greek Comfort Food Recipe

With Greek Gemista, a Recipe for Longevity

My dearest Sip with Nik cru – happy Munday and I hope the weekend was good to you. First, let me begin with a little apology for blowing up your inbox with 3 separate emails since yesterday.

I am super excited to share two new series with you that will each be featured on Sip with Nik weekly: The Revival List: Rediscovered Wines Making a Major Comeback and Drink This, Not That.

If you tend to always reach for your tried and true bottles, are interested in branching out to more off-the-beaten-path wines, or could just use a little inspiration to make life a bit more interesting, then these series are for you!

Expect to:

✅ find your next favorite bottle

✅ support small producers

✅ champion diversity in the wine world

✅ have a great story to share at your next get-together

Both series will live on my Substack site in the main navigation bar, circled in red in the image below:

Originally, I planned these series for social media, but they garnered so much interest and great feedback that I felt they deserved a place on Substack, too. Plus, we’ll be able to dive a bit deeper and include links to more fantastic producers for you to check out should you be so inclined.

Last week on The Revival List, we took a look at the Portuguese variety Baga, which makes sensational traditional method sparklings, fresh and vibrant rosès, and complex, age worthy red wines. And on Drink This, Not That, we explored Soave as an alternative to Pinot Grigio. Be sure to check them out if you haven’t yet!

In Other News…

My husband, Marco, is back in Sardinia tending to our 2 year old vineyards. Pruning is complete just in time for the arrival of spring. Now there’s some tractor work that needs to be done and then he’ll be putting in the posts and trellising that we never got around to doing last year.

I just realized I don’t have the story of our vineyard planting journey on my Sip with Nik Substack! It was living on my old website and I need to republish it. I will do so this week and I will link to it in next week’s newsletter where I’ll be explaining more about the current pruning process and sharing more vineyard updates with photos and videos, too!

My plans for New Road Selections, my soon-to-be wine imports business and wine club, are making progress! I FINALLY, and I do mean finally, found a few good warehouse options here in Texas. A process which proved beyond difficult and I was honestly losing hope a little. As you know, wine needs to be stored within certain climate conditions and it was very challenging to find what I needed here in Texas, But alas, I have a few to choose from and now it’s on to completing the rest of the business plan and applying for my licenses! I can’t wait to share more updates with you here soon.

This Week’s Blue Zone Recipe: Greek Gemista

Some recipes are more than just food—they’re memories, traditions, and a taste of home. Greek Gemista is one of those dishes for me. My Yiayia mastered the art of stuffing tomatoes and bell peppers with a fragrant mix of rice, herbs, aromatics, and ground beef (or without for a plant-based twist). It’s the ultimate Mediterranean comfort food—one I grew up loving and am now recreating.