We enjoyed all the samples of the Tuscan wines, and Talley, I think, swallowed a little too much wine – she was cracking jokes and making me laugh. A lot of funny things happen to you when you’re a supermodel on a photo shoot.

Over espresso and biscotti, Talley showed me the design plans for her new fine-dining Italian restaurant, The Boot. The boot theme would be present throughout the restaurant. Old photographs of boot-making in Italy would hang on the walls, and glass encasements would display old-fashioned boots. Leather would be everywhere. What a cool idea for a restaurant, I thought. I was very happy to be part of the creative process.

I then asked Lefty to bring out another box of wine samples from Chez Suave’s wine room. The box had a dozen more classic Italian wines.

“Italian wines are the greatest wines in the world,” Talley said. “My apologies to the French and the rest of the wine-producing countries of the world. The country is wine – it is in their religion, in their earth. Wine is the blood that pumps through the heart of Italy. It makes my head spin when I think of how many grape varietals are grown there.”

There are 2,000 to 4,000 grapes, depending on how you count the clones,” I added.

She then gave me her cover girl smile and said: “They grow all the French, German and Spanish varietals, along with their own noble grapes. It’s just awesome.”

“That’s true, Talley,” I said. “Cabernet sauvignon, the pride of the Medoc and of Napa Valley, grows beautifully in Tuscany. Sassicaia and Ornellaia using cabernet and other Bordeaux varietals are on the same plane as the finest wines from Bordeaux and Napa Valley.”

I pulled out a bottle of Valpolicella Classico produced by Masi. The light red wine is from northeastern Italy, a cooler growing area. Valpolicella is one of the most popular Italian red wines imported into the U.S. Only chianti sales are greater. Like most good wines, Valpolicella is a blend – it is blended with Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes. The bottle we tasted was smooth and fruity, an easy drinking wine perfect with pizza and simple pasta dishes.

Talley poured me another rather large glass of Valpolicella and handed me the bread and cheese plate. “I think northeastern Italy is one of the greatest growing areas for fine wines,” she said. “Its cooler climate can grow some of the finest white wines produced in the world, such as pinot grigio from Alto Adige and Friuli, plus remarkable sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. And my favorite white wine, Tocai Friulano, is the great Italian white varietal, beautiful with fig and green-apple tones and a full, walnut-cream finish.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, but the greatest wine produced in the area is the very underrated Recioto della Valpolicella Amarone,” I said. “It is a huge, Godzilla red wine that uses the same grape varietals as Valpolicella, but the process is different.”

“It’s more of a raisin wine,” Talley said sweetly.

“Right. After harvest, the grapes are laid on shallow trays and allowed to dry inside the winery until they lose about 20 percent of their moisture,” I said. “Then the wine is crushed, and since wine is about 85 percent water, it takes about 20 percent more grapes to produce a bottle of wine. Amarone is then fermented dry.”

Talley opened a bottle of amarone from Le Ragose, one of the best producers of wine, and then interjected, “Then you have wine with greater amounts of fruit intensity and alcohol.”

I agreed and then took a sip of the wine. “It could use a little more breathing, but I’m not going anywhere,” I laughed.

“I still taste the smooth extraction of the fruit,” Talley said, taking a chunk of cheese. “The nose of the wine is sweet cherry and plum fruit. It is so surprising that the wine is dry – it’s shocking to the sense because you expect a sweet flavor.”

“That’s one of the beautiful things about amarone,” I said. “You expect one thing and get something totally different. The explosion of fruit and bittersweet chocolate on the finish is killer.”

“I love this wine,” Talley said, kissing the bottle. “It’s the iron fist in the silk glove.”

I nodded my head in agreement and poured us each another glass.