Annie B. Shapero
Certified sommelier and the founder of DiVino, Annie is a seasoned wine, travel, food and culture writer, as well as a wine educator and burgeoning YouTuber. She splits her time between NYC and Italy, soaking in scent memories and telling stories.
You write about a variety of subjects for amexessentials.com, what most inspires you about your subjects?
I love a good story and a human connection. Whether it’s an enterprising young winemaker or an artist who found her fame on the label of a brandy bottle, the person behind the product makes it so much more appealing.
What’s the next big thing?
Fragrance is a billion-dollar industry. We’ve already seen a rise in signature scent marketing, both subliminal and overt. As we learn more about scent, memory and emotion, I would bet on technologies that utilise the olfactory sense to improve memorisation, alter our moods, and even rehabilitate neural damage.
What website do you check first every day?
I suppose you could say I check to see what song is playing. Fip.fr is an eclectic French internet radio station that I discovered years ago. You never know what’s coming up next – I’m talking Tupac to Tchaikovsky – yet somehow it always makes perfect sense.
How do you relax?
I cook. There’s something so satisfying about the process, from the menial chopping to the final garnish and that smile when someone takes a bite and their whole body is happy.
Books or ebooks?
I love real books, especially an old paperback. The smell of it, the feeling of turning pages, and the chance you might find someone else’s notes in the margins.
Wine or beer?
While I can certainly appreciate the biergarten aesthetic, I’ll take a Blauburgunder with my bratwurst every time.
Street food or fine dining?
I like to sit down and savour the flavours, ideally with a glass of local wine and great company. I’ll take my street food to the park and make it a gourmet picnic, how about that?
Favourite place?
I’ve been to some truly breathtaking places. The Gallery Inn in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico is so wildly beautiful that I actually had to stop and catch my breath. Positano always feels like you’re dreaming. Rome is a warm hug. But the truth is that the right people can make anywhere in the world wonderful.
Your secret travel tip?
I recently began carving out a budget to ship my suitcase home a few days before leaving my destination. Clearly the price depends on where you are and how much you pack, but there’s nothing more luxurious than that feeling of lightness, unencumbered by a trolley bag on cobblestones, free to slip between sliding train doors….ah!
Your three travel essentials?
A pen and a Moleskine notebook with the address insert (I love writing postcards from cafés). And let’s be honest, the iPhone is pretty handy.
Your essential luxury?
Perfume. It’s the first thing I put on in the morning. I have forgotten my keys, my phone, and I once almost left the house without trousers on, but never sans scent!
Other articles written by Annie B. Shapero
