Into Mike Yaney's mouth have gone thousands of wines.

Out of Mike Yaney's mouth have come as many stories about the wines.

And now the first American knighted in Italy for his knowledge of wine is saying goodbye to Elkhart.

In 1984, Yaney moved from his hometown of Fort Wayne to work for A.J. Rodino at Rodino's Parkmor Liquor, 1335 Edwardsburg Ave. Thursday is his last day. He's retiring and moving to New York City to live with his sister.

Yaney has made a life tasting and talking about wine. A generation or more of customers have gone to him, asking for advice on what to buy. He always asks, "What do you like?"

Then he pushes them to try something similar, but perhaps a step beyond what they'd tried. He considers the wines in the back of the store his children, or at least his godchildren.

His palate is as finely tuned as the memory that records what touches it. Rodino simply said, "He's an artist."

While studying to be a Catholic priest, his classmates talked over dinner of the foods they'd eaten in places with more ethnic consciousness than his hometown. His mother, who never finished high school, had taught him to appreciate beauty in art and music. When his classmates talked of orvieto and Brunello di Montalcino, they sounded delicious. "I've got to put a taste with that sound," he said, and soon bought wine to learn what was inside the bottles.

He didn't become a priest and ended up teaching himself about wine as he worked in liquor stores and occasionally taught religion classes or Sunday school.

"Reading and tasting, reading and tasting," he said of the process. Sounds simple, but his process has included studying how amarone, a variety made with dried grapes, was made in the 500s, as recounted by an Italian scribe. How many people have translated Italian descriptions of ancient winemaking to better understand why the contents of the bottle are "liquid meat or edible potion," as Yaney translated the writer's words?

Wine is an extension of the beauty he learned as a boy, he said. "Everyone should be a little bit familiar with it, I think," he said. "I've always aimed to make that possible for the man on the street."

The customers who buy malt liquor or cheap beer at Rodino's don't make him happy. Selling that isn't what led him to be knighted, either. He learned Italian wine because as a young man in the 1960s, wines from there were a good value and there were dozens of types. As he got to know people in the industry, he was summoned to Italy in 1986 for a ceremony that included two Americans. His name was called first to become a knight of Recioto, a region and therefore type of Italian wine.

As a man of Sicilian heritage, he favors red wines, but drinks and therefore can tell stories about German white wines or the Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma. He can tell stories too about the winemakers that came to Elkhart over the years.

He doesn't like being called surly and said, "I am just very serious about everything." His nickname as a boy in his family was "the old man," he said.

In the late 1980s when a driver was 10 hours late on a rare winter delivery -- when cold temperatures could harm the wine -- Yaney acknowledges that he yelled and swore at the man. Rodino said Yaney grabbed the man by the shirt and said, "Would you leave your children outside?"

"I never manhandled that driver," Yaney said.

This lover of wine is a character.

He's a single man who studies life as he walks and bikes.

He never learned to drive anything larger than a bicycle and therefore rode through decades of Indiana winters on one. Rodino said the only time he remembers Yaney missing work was after a truck hit him on Bristol Street and sent him to the hospital.

The guy they once called "the Amarone Kid" bakes hefty Italian bread in a small oven with part of the seal missing. That bread is put alongside wine at meals, because Yaney rarely drinks without food or company.

His legs ache from years of standing on hard floors. He's ready for a break. He said he'll miss the customers.

Many of them will stop by Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to say goodbye.

No doubt he taught them as he taught me about how to appreciate one of the finer things.

Yaney sold me my first good olive oil. When I saw him, I tried to absorb his stories and wanted to buy something he'd approve. I regret that I didn't go see him more often.

He's moving on to the big city to retire. A trip to Italy, his first since 1987, is already being planned. Since visiting two years ago, he's been dreaming about New York.

The delis, the food and the stories that await him have been haunting him since then, he said.

He's not sure how he'll fill his time. The Rodinos predict he'll start writing. He's not sure, but said, "There are some books that haven't been written yet, you know."

I hope he writes at least one. And I wish I could be there when he asks questions of a clerk at a wine shop.

"I'm just going to be a consumer soon," he said, noting he wants to find a place where he can regularly buy, as he helped Rodino make for many people here.

He's curious whether the clerk will know as much as him about wine.

I know who I'd bet on.

QUICK BITES

* I'm not the only one who has a pet hamburger. Marilyn Whetstone has a McDonald's hamburger and fries that Jim Wolmagood purchased on Oct. 25, 2005. The four-year-old burger has a black pickle, but neither the meat nor bun have mold. The fries look identical to when they were purchased, she said. "Our Bible study group started the hamburger thing as a joke and now after four years it is still in its original state," wrote the Goshen woman.

* Culinary Treasures, 204 S. Main St., Middlebury, is changing its hours with the season, including opening on Mondays, according to owner/chef Tami Osborne. Hours through April are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, opening after 4 for private parties of 12 or more; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. The restaurant also has a fall/winter menu and can cater to food allergies and special diets.

* Clay Bottom Farm, owned and operated by Ben Hartman and Rachel Hershberger, was featured last week on Indiana's goinglocal.com Web site that highlights locally grown food. To see what was posted go to http://bit.ly/2n7PF

* Mug Club members at Mad Anthony's Old State Ale House, 526 S. Main St., Elkhart, have until Dec. 1 to renew their mug with the same number. The cost is $39.95 for a year's membership, which includes a numbered mug, discounts and invitations to seasonal tastings. Mug number one, which comes with special recognition, is also available in a raffle drawn from among those who renew.

* A chili cook-off at Syracuse Community Center recently attracted hundreds of tasters. Grill-N-Grate Restaurant won the event, followed by Sleepy Owl Restaurant, Duffy's Pub & Grub and Hammer's Pub. The event benefited Lakeland Youth Center.

* Callahan's is having another American Red Cross give-back day today. Ten percent of all sales will be given to the American Red Cross's Elkhart County chapter.