Chapter 98

“Mom,” Sylvia said, “are you ready to go shopping?”

“I think so. Marco, I can’t find any wine in the kitchen, cooking or otherwise.”

“That’s because it’s all in the wine cellar,” I said. “Follow me.”

I led them down to the basement, unlocked the door to the wine cellar, and turned on the lights in the room behind it.

“I think you’ll find anything you could possibly need in here.”

“My goodness,” she said as she surveyed the room.

“There’s a small ledger on that shelf,” I said, pointing, “which contains an inventory of what’s here. Are you looking specifically for cooking wines?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’d better add them to your shopping list. Most of the wine down here is a little too expensive to be used as cooking wine. Do you remember Dani telling you about finding that forgotten wine cellar in il Castello di Conti?”

“Yes, now that you mention it,” she said.