Author: Layne Randolph

While living in Italy for nearly a decade, Layne was legal counsel for Fendi in Rome and, as a side gig, a freelance travel writer. After relocating to Sonoma County, California, she dusted off her journalism degree to craft stories full-time as Roma to Sonoma. She's led readers into the cellars and vineyards of hundreds of wine brands as a copywriter and contributor to publications such as Wine Enthusiast, AFAR, Napa Valley Life, Haute Living San Francisco, and Decanter. Layne is a certified Napa Valley Wine Specialist pursuing WSET's Level 3 certification, and in 2022 and 2023, the Napa Valley Vintners chose her to be a Fellow with the Wine Writers' Symposium. She focuses her prose on travel, wine, and wellness and dreams of places to add to the five continents and 51 countries she has explored.

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VENISSA WINE RESORT | TRAVEL & WINE

Posted on July 16, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Haute Living
In 2002, Gianluca Bisol of Bisol 1542, a 21-generation Prosecco dynasty, stumbled upon a handful of gnarled vines in Torcello, a nearly island garden. Against all warnings about saline soil, he replanted Dorona behind the medieval former monastery’s walls on Mazzorbo, 40 minutes from Venice by vaporetto (boat). In 2010, the first harvest arrived, producing a few thousand bottles. Bisol put immense attention to detail into each bottle. Fitting for its location, each is made with Murano glass, but the pièce de résistance is the label — a sheet of 24-karat gold leaf, individually signed and numbered. The bottles represent what many consider Venice’s eternal trinity — wine, gold, and glass.

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SUSANA BALBO: ARGENTINA’S WINE COUNTRY LUXURY | TRAVEL & WINE

Posted on July 16, 2026July 16, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Haute Living
In Chacras de Coria, the artistic heart of Mendoza, Susana and her daughter Ana Lovaglio have brought their holistic vision to life at the SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites. This boutique property isn’t just a luxury hotel—it’s an extension of Susana herself.

Every detail reflects her refined sensibility. Natural stone and handwoven textiles set the stage, while dramatic contemporary art lines the walls—most notably the work of artist Sergio Roggerone, a close friend and collaborator. His “Tree of Life” creation, which greets guests at the entrance, is more than decor—it symbolizes grounding and growth, much like Susana’s legacy.

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MERLOT BEYOND BORDEAUX: BOLGHERI, BLUE CLAY, AND MASSETO | WINE

Posted on July 16, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Forbes
Masseto’s greatest advantage has always been Bolgheri’s terroir. Legendary wine consultant André Tchelistcheff recognized that the blue clay soils on the Masseto hill were unusually well-suited to Merlot. Today, those soils are central to the wine’s structure and character. They did not plan to make a standalone Merlot, but the site’s quality led to a separate bottling in the mid-1980s.

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FORTE’S SECOND ACT | TRAVEL

Posted on July 16, 2026July 16, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Jetset Magazine
Sir Rocco Forte has seen a few things in his life. As a man now in his early eighties—born in Britain to an Italian father—he carries the long arc of European hospitality in his bones. He grew up inside one of the continent’s great hotel dynasties, worked his way from the ground up, and became an emblem of British hospitality, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to the industry. And then, in the 1990s, he lost the entire family empire in the crushing blow of a hostile takeover.

Art

THE ART OF THE VESSEL: WHY WINE GLASSES MATTER | WINE

Posted on April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Jetset Magazine
The evolution of wine glasses shows that a glass is never just a glass, not when it’s shaped by the heritage of Riedel, the precision of Lalique, or the drama of Baccarat. Three tastemakers—Maximilian Riedel, Jean-Charles Boisset, and James Suckling—lead that evolution, each through bold collaborations that merge centuries-old craftsmanship with modern sensibility. From Baccarat’s sculptural showpieces to Lalique’s featherweight crystal and Riedel’s high-performance forms, these visionaries are reshaping how we see—and sip—wine. We spoke with all three to explore the intersection of wine, design, and the sensory experience.

Wine

MEMENTO MORI: REMEMBER YOU MUST DIE | WINE

Posted on April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Forbes.com
In Napa Valley, access and advantage usually belong to legacy families and global corporations. Vineyard land is scarce, and prices have climbed accordingly. So, when Memento Mori’s three founders with no wine background, a winemaker who grew up making homemade wine in Oklahoma, and a once-private art estate in Calistoga, converged—and with their winemaker going on to earn three separate 100-point wines in a single vintage—it felt less like a business plan and more like a case study in daring and manifestation.

Travel

ARMENIA CLAIMS THE WORLD’S FIRST WINERY | WINE

Posted on September 6, 2025April 17, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Forbes.com
Along the Arpa River in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor province, it takes almost 100 stone steps to get to the opening of the Areni-1 Cave complex, a cool, echoing cavern perched on an old caravan route. In 2007, a UCLA-led team uncovered a shallow clay press draining into a fermentation vat, storage jars half-buried for temperature control, a cup and bowl and piles of grape skins, stems and seeds that tie the scene to wine. It is the earliest complete winemaking setup ever found.

Roma (Italy)

ISOLA DEL GIGLIO: HEROIC VITICULTURE | WINE & TRAVEL

Posted on February 26, 2025April 17, 2026 By Layne Randolph

Decanter
Giglio Island, just 11 miles off the Tuscan coast, has a winemaking history as enduring as its ancient stone terraces, some of which are believed to date back to the Stone Age. Its prominence continued through Etruscan and Roman times, and even Florence’s Medici family championed the island’s Ansonica wine. Today, that legacy is kept alive by a group of fiercely dedicated winemakers who continue growing Ansonica despite grueling conditions, what the Italians call viticultura eroica, heroic viticulture.

Roma (Italy)

THE NEW PUGLIA: REVITALIZED BUT TRUE TO ITS ROOTS | WINE & TRAVEL

Posted on February 15, 2025September 22, 2025 By Layne Randolph

Alberobello, the symbolic home of the Trulli, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996. While the Trulli are a must-see, they are the tip of the iceberg when discovering Puglia’s soul.

Wine

WINES OF THE BIBLE WINE ROUTE | WINE & TRAVEL

Posted on February 15, 2025September 22, 2025 By Layne Randolph

Traveling the Wines of the Bible Route and sampling wine along the way gives a whole sensory experience. The route offers fascinating places like Ayalon Valley, in the Judean Foothills, where the Clos de Gat Winery sits near where Joshua defeated the Five Kings. Named for an ancient “gat” (Hebrew for wine press) and pre-dating the Roman period by a thousand years, the Clos de Gat’s 3,000-year-old grape press is one of the oldest in the world.

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NEWTREE RANCH: A NATURE STATE OF MIND | WELLNESS

Posted on December 4, 2024 By Layne Randolph

Newell believes in the transformative power of nature and the unique ‘nature state of mind’ concept. “It’s a state of being and a natural state you get when you’re in nature. To me, wellness is when you start bonding with nature and getting into the flow with it. I call it a nature state of mind.’”

Roma (Italy)

HEROIC VINEYARDS | THE WORLD’S MOST CHALLENGING VINEYARDS

Posted on November 7, 2024 By Layne Randolph

Heroic defines the vineyard workers as much as the vineyards. “What was once done on the back of a mule or donkey today is done on the shoulders of the grape harvesters. We’re talking about kilometers of climbing up the cliffs to reach the means of transport, stuff from another time! In the recent past, even if the vineyards were more promising and qualitative, they were abandoned in favor of others more easily reachable and closer to the roads precisely because of these difficulties.”