THE NEW "LIFE OF DWIGHT"

Winter visit to Civitella del Tronto

2012-01-16T17:38:00.001+01:00

16 Gennaio
OK, I promise this is the last blog posting for a while, but I was wayyyy behind! Those who have followed the blog from its beginnings know how much I love this place with its 360 degree views of Abruzzo and the southern Marche. This was the last fort to fall during the italian war of unification and was located at the border of the Papal state and the 2 Sicilys. The western flank of the fort is right at the edge of a 100+ foot cliff with views to the Piselli mountains. To the south lie beautiful hills, Gran Sasso, the tallest mountain in southern Italy and the Camicia mountains to the east of Gran Sasso. To the north you can see all the way to my town of Offida and the Adriatic sea and the coastal towns are visible to the east. The fort is large and wonderfully restored with a nice museum and gift shop and the little town of Civitella below the fort is cute with a nice plaza and a fine restaurant in the plaza's hotel, Zunica. It is about a 45 minute drive from Nascondiglio di Bacco. This trip I shared the place with Fabio and Maggie.

Master photographer Maggie, taking pix to the south before the entrance.

The outer wall, just opened to the public, this walkway goes all the way to the western end of the southern wall, now with an entrance further down into the upper fort.

Olive grove and abandoned, crumbling farmhouse to the south

Bacco is well trained!

The old captain's quarters

The recent renovation has opened up many more of the internal rooms.

Gran Sasso

Looking west from the eastern part of the fort towards Mt. Piselli

A place for summer concerts

There's a 50 foot drop here.

Southern view from the fort

Finally, here is the info from my new friend Anne for those who are interested in great Umbrian tours and keeping up on italian sites in general at her blogsite:

http://annesitaly.com/blog/

www.annesitaly.com

And do sign up for Italian Notebook, a great website for Italophiles - she contributes regularly.

http://www.italiannotebook.com/

Celebrating the new year with a pig rendering: PG 13

2012-01-16T11:51:00.002+01:00

The next stop on the tour of south central Italy was Abruzzo, where Fabio's sister's in-laws reside. A tradition in the italian countryside, and I am sure in the countryside of many countries, is the slaughtering of a pig or two. The farmers usually buy a baby pig early in the year and fatten them up until late December/early January when they are killed and then rendered into every imaginable product with nothing wasted. As our host didn't want to watch the actual killin', we arrived after the carcass had been cleaned and sawn in two halves.

Here, the fellow who raised the pig for our host, is cutting off most of the head.

Removing the brain, a delicacy?

Fabio having a ball cutting up the meat and preparing for the sausage making.

Cooking up Cif Ciaf, sort of the small pieces which wouldn't be easy to use otherwise. The cooking and heating in the house was accomplished by this wood burning fireplace; even the water was heated this way.

I hate to have a blog post without a picture of a pretty girl! Here is Nisha, Fabio's sister, and her husband Franco, whose family was our host in Abruzzo. Franco's dad was the "General" who guided us through our various tasks of pig rendering out on the farm in the middle of nowhere.

Franco's grandmother, cutting up the pieces for their various uses, including the skin for crackle, the fat for lard or use in the sausage, etc.

Bucket of lean meat which will be weighed below, to ascertain how much salt and spices to add with fat above which will be added to add a bit of flavor and moisture to the sausage. We never got close to the 50% fat in most US industrial sausages, more like 15%, I would guess.

The electric grinder, thank goodness for some modernity!

The "General" and his brother, a colonel, I am guessing.

Starting the sausage making and trying to overwhelm those tying the sausages with our speed and dexterity.

The maestra! Fabio after finishing tying up all the sausage below, told her he thought he had tied them all pretty precisely, to which she responded: "They aren't precise at all!" Really burst his balloon, hehe.

A mountain of sausage to tie into individual links.

Hanging up to dry.

Starting the cleanup and smiling, because after 2 days out here in the middle of nowhere, I was planning my escape!

Amazing Pompeii!

2012-01-16T10:55:00.001+01:00

I finally go to Pompeii after 6 years in Italy. I was surprised by all of the misconceptions I needed to correct about the place. First of all, I thought it was a small place with a few buildings they had uncovered, but it was, in reality a city of 20K spread over 160+ acres of land. It was a popular vacationing spot for the rich, decadent Romans of the 1st century. In November of 79 AD, 700 years after its founding, it was buried for 1700 years by 25 meters of ash from the huge eruption of neighboring Vesuvius. It was probably rediscovered in the 1500's, but the archeologist was embarrassed by all the risqué frescoes, etc and supposedly re-buried his discovery, where it waited for a less prudish explorer in the 1700's.

It is in major need of repairs which have been estimated at 1/3 of a billion dollars +/- and much of the site has been closed to the public. (Wikipedia: Pompeii)

That said, there is a lot to see and it needs a half day for an american tourist (who will be seeing 6 sites in 6 days and needs to rush). I also thought it was a port town, but it is quite a ways inland in this day and age and also much closer to Napoli than I thought. This was part of "The Grand Tour, which was the voyage all educated, well to do folks were expected to take back in the day.

If you are planning a trip to Italy, remember how long the country is and don't try to do everything in a one week visit. a week will let you do Napoli, Pompeii, Caserta for the Reggia, Capri and the Amalfi coast and then do another trip to see other parts, so you don't get stressed out trying to do too much. From Napoli, it is easy to take a train to the ruins and for the adventuresome spirit, you can take a train which takes you all around Vesuvius.

Matteo and Fabio near the Basilica

Matteo admiring one of the statues. I found out from a local via fb, the statues on display are copies, with the originals many times to be seen in the Museum at Napoli.

One of the "casts" of a local caught under 25 meters of raining ash.

A pettirosso in the ruins; made me wonder if they were around 1950 years ago after seeing the mosaics below.

They rotate which buildings they open daily to decrease the impact of the tourists. This is the gladiator house, which has undergone extensive reconstruction after a collapse years ago.

The paintings are very well preserved, amazing considering the passage of time

The Grand Theater, which sat 5,000 people at 40cm of space per person (the colefamily.com) where they must have had great concerts and plays.

My 2 friends in questionable poses

A good view of the culprit, Vesuvius, which is well past due for another eruption

A view of a part of the forum

The amphitheater where Pink Floyd played in 1971 (Wikipedia: Pompeii)

Two celebrations, a KC wine tasting at Jasper's and an italian wedding in Caserta Vecchia

2012-01-16T09:47:00.000+01:00

16 January, 2012

Sorry about the lateness of these posts, but I have a nice snow day to catch up, as pruning is problematic in this weather. My wonderful time in the states was full of activities, dinner at Casa Somerset, this wine tasting at Jasper's and Christmas celebrations with my family in St. Louis. My visits to MO would not be complete without the traditional dinner at Jasper's with friends, but thanks to the simpatico custom's dept. in Chicago, I was able to bring in, duty free, more than a case of my bottled wine and 10 liters of the fun bulk wine which I had in bag in box. I had a grand group of friends who attended and the tasting part was topped off by a sumptuous dinner courtesy of Jasper and his talented chefs. These wines are not going to be available in the states, but plans are to bottle the Reserve Pecorino and the bordeaux blend in the next 3 months and after they have become used to their new glass homes, they will hopefully available in MO and CO, we will see. Fingers crossed!

The IGT red-75% Montepulciano and 25% Syrah with the red label and the DOC Pecorino in the green label

Old friends above and below

Old roommates, and I mean OLD!

Dinner after

Thanks everyone for attending and making it a memorable occasion for me!

And now the italian wedding of my friends Giorgio and Gaia in the beautiful town of Caserta Vecchia, not far from Napoli

3 of my former classmates from the Slow Food master's program (where we met Giorgio): Matteo, Silvia and Fabio

The groom greeting all the guests when they arrive at the church

The beautiful bride escorted by her father

It's official! Way to go Gaia and Giorgio.

At the reception responding to one of the myriad brindisi (toasts) to the newly married couple

8 of our class of 21 were present for the ceremony

Mother, sister and bride

The beautiful and humorous wedding cake. See the different couples with the woman chasing or dragging the man to the altar.

Throwing the garter. I never saw the bouquet thrown.

I hope everyone gets to attend an italian wedding some time. It is a wonderfully warm event, full of good humor fun, and serious at the same time. Good luck to the new Farina family!

Tripping around america

2011-12-26T20:22:00.001+01:00

12/26/2011
Happy holidays everyone! Somehow, I made it to the USA with 13 bottles and 10 liters of wine, 12 liters of olive oil and 4 kg of cheese and customs just waved me on through. Quite neighborly if you ask me.
I started out in St. Louis, where I caught up with the growth of my gr. niece and nephew and my brother and sis-in-law. Then off to KC and a grand tasting of KS wines and timpano (amongst other wonderful things) at Casa Somerset near Louisburg and the next day a tasting at Jasper's restaurant of the wines I brought over from PS winery (my wines) and this year's olive oil. It was wonderful to re-connect with family and old friends as well as meet some of my virtual fb friends for the first time. In between the 2 cities on the E. and W. sides of MO, one finds my hometown of Carrollton, where I opened a bottle of Pecorino and shared it with my parents' final resting place. I also visited my childhood home to collect some pecans for planting in Italy. After a 6 AM bible study with my old KC group and coffee with 2 old friends, I headed back to St. Louis for Christmas with the family and now I am in Chicago waiting to fly back to Rome and then on to the wedding of the year in Caserta!
Enjoy the photos.

Childhood home

Pecorino poured out on my parents' graves to keep them up to date on my activities and thank them for the help in this new life I am living

Cutting the timpano at Casa Somerset

The big night.

The Scout and the KC skyline

Liberty memorial; wow, is it ever a nice museum now! and the only WWI memorial in the USA, as far as I know.

At my buddy Jasper's eponymous restaurant for the debut of my wines in the states.

Friends at the tasting

Katherine and me at Jasper's

The lucky group who stayed for dinner. It was wonderful getting to see my old friends!

Disregarding the rude t-shirt, which I think is a hoot; this is my niece and I trying to make mozzarella for the first time with Jasper's do it at home kit.

The budding cheese makers getting our hands burned!

End of year update for those who don't see my fb posts

2011-12-16T18:20:00.001+01:00

Nearly 9 months behind schedule, the winery was finally finished and the grand opening held. This is the Giacinto jazz trio helping us celebrate .

This is a chorale group who sang everything from O Sole Mio to traditional italian folk songs. (And drank me out of house and home!)

Friends in front of the fireplace

My traditional and favorite pose

Some of my latest labors, other than pruning all the olive trees include fertilizing and plowing every other row of the vineyard. These are the Pecorino vines looking up towards the winery.

Merlot and Cabernet vines. Now, if it would just rain, I would be set. We haven't had appreciable rain since July.

Sunset looking east down the Cab. Sauvignon vines

A day trip with Bacco towards the Sibillini mountains

Autumn colors near Force

I have had a bit of time to take Bacco swimming in the Adriatic the last few days.

I have also cleaned up the winery and the equipment, and the b&b before leaving for the states.

I am looking forward to seeing friends back home and family for Christmas. I plan to open the first bottled Pecorino wine and pour a bit over my parents' graves and let them know what I have been up to. My luggage is packed with 13 bottles and 10 liters of wine and 12 liters of olive oil, 3kg of parmigiano reggiano and 1 mostarda. There is no room for my clothes.

Moments from the Merano wine festival

2011-11-07T17:04:00.001+01:00

7 Novembre

View of the hill behind city center

The Passer river which runs through town

view towards the newly snow capped mountains

Kurhaus-site of the event

After 3 months without a weekend off, I found a dogsitter and a great excuse to escape into the north of Italy for the Merano wine festival. It is really a great event for wine lovers and I would definitely put it on your list of things to do in Italy worth a special trip. Merano is in Alto Adige, not far from Bolzano where the German influence is much noticed. All the roads are well kept, the streets and sidewalks are clean as a whistle and both German and Italian are spoken and almost all signs are in both languages.
It is well known for its house of cure and thermal baths and also the gardens of Trauttmansdorf Castle (none of which I visited, unfortunately)
The wine festival is by invitation only for the wineries and all wines must be judged by a panel to be accepted. The clientele is much different than Vinitaly where there are mobs of the young and those who are there to get plastered. Here, I noticed most visitors were knowledgeable wine types who were there to try new grape varieties and regions as well as famous vintners from France, Italy and the rest of the world.
My old friend, Matteo, from the slow food master's program and voted best young sommelier in Italy a couple of year's ago came over from Locarno to join me and he did his homework prior to arrival. With 70 of the best wineries and wines written out, 2 men on a mission proceeded to find 69 of the 70 in one day with a few extras thrown in.

Matteo trying the Marche organic wines on Friday, this from Mida winery near me in Castorano

My friends who were kind enough to bring me along to Merano, Brenda and Graziano

Matteo enjoying a nice wine from a father and son team from Sicily and the Marabino winery; I loved their reserve Nero d'Avola called Archimede.

The first day of the festival was dedicated to Organic and Biodynamic wineries and someday I hope to be included with my wines. The biodynamic wineries were few in number and mostly were outside of any control organization, meaning if they wish, they can call themselves biodynamic, even if they farm organically like me. In the USA, the rules are fairly clear and there is a control body which certifies a vineyard as biodynamic. Also, just to clear up another difference between the US and Europe; I can call my wines organic here, but in the states I can only say organically farmed, as a wine labelled "organic" in the states includes a "no sulfur added" stipulation.

Saturday and Sunday are the "grand tasting" days with wines from around the world and the first stop for us was in the Bordeaux room where I relived my youth. I first starting drinking wine in my early 20's and rapidly advanced from German whites to French whites and then Bordeaux. The aromas were simply wonderful and I was reminded how long-lived the top wines are. My favorite of the whole weekend, in fact, was a 1996 Ch. Figeac which is 1/3 each of Cab. Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cab. Franc. I enjoy wines with a good dose of Cab. Franc! Also excellent was Angelos, Ch. Lynch Bages, Gruaud Larose and others too numerous to mention. Then it was "off to Piemonte" for Barolos and Barbarescos, followed by Tuscany including Brunellos, Chianti Classico Riserva, Bolgheri, etc. Ornellaia was, as always exceptional, as were all the major houses from the west and south. I found myself liking the 100% Sangiovese wines from the Chianti region more than their regular offerings. We ended up with the crowds in the Champagne room and then finished with some miscellaneous offerings from other areas including South Africa, Austria, and the US. I used my ticket Sunday to check on some of the lesser known regions in Italy like Molise and Basilicata and Puglia, trying Aglianico, Primitivo and from Lazio, Cesanese. I discovered a couple of grapes I didn't know about, like Blaufrankish from Austria, Grapello from Lombardia and Perricone from Sicily, all interesting. Just to clarify, I spit everything I tried, which doesn't mean you won't feel some effects of the alcohol, but you need to do that to survive a day of tasting. Also there was an entire hall with food products to try which helped a bit.

One of the few americans in attendance and she was working for a Tuscany winery, providing the english speaking explanations for the non italians

What can I say-only in Italy!

Brenda, Graziano and me in front of the grape sculpture in Merano

I am excited to get into the Bordeaux room!

Matteo in the biggest hall on Saturday

View from the balcony

My wonderful dinner at Sissi with chef Andrea

After the amuse, a "carpaccio" almost of wild boar hunted in Germany/Hungary with mushrooms and truffles

Gnoccheti stuffed with mushrooms and liberally covered with black truffles. colors of the italian flag provided by Parmigiano grated and toasted (red) and parsley

Cap of the priest, the best cut of this free range German veal with black truffles over a puree of peas and potatoes. Stacked neatly nearby are not french fries, but celery root battered with rice flour and fried

The surprise dessert which is vanilla ice cream surrounded by a dense whipped cream flavored with-boh-I forgot and kumquats

Andrea Fenoglio, the chef and me

While I was there, I had a superb dinner at ristorante Sissi, orchestrated by the maestro chef Andrea Fenoglio who makes sure everyone in the dining room is happy, cheerfully answers all your questions and then runs back into the kitchen to oversee the work there. I had a blast and enjoyed everything he served, including the wines by the glass which paired nicely with the courses.

Vine trellising techniques of contrada Ciafone di San Filippo

2011-10-28T18:48:00.000+02:00

28 October
This is what I am studying now in my last class at UC-Davis on Viticulture. I have gone well outside of the norm for my area with normal planting being 3 meter wide rows and plant spacing of 1 meter, while mine are 2m20cmX70cm. Here you will see some strange combinations, but it seems everyone has their own idea what will work best. If you are not interested in the technicalities, enjoy the photos of Autumn in my area.

vertical shoot positioning, quasi guyot

fall colors with the preceding vineyard in the foreground

new vineyard in the foreground planted in the most economical way possible, a one wire system, I guess this would fit the mold for a single curtain, but at 1 meter and a bit more of height, which is a bit low

These vines have 2 directions to grow, down the row or across with a connecting wire. These stand at just under 2 meters in height, which is a bit low for an american, but perfect for most italians

almost "head trained', but really more guyot with 4 single wires and the usual 3mX1m spacing

new and relatively inexpensively planted vineyard at 3X1m, 2nd year growth, concrete anchors and stainlesss steel poles, 4 single wires

a view of my b and b and winery with the drier uphill vines just changing colors to yellow

3 meters by 2 meters but with 2 plants at each tutor, don't know how this will work out for them as this is unique around here.

Traditional single curtain at about 1.5meters of height, quite inexpensive and they picked this by machine this year

Same new vineyard as previously seen with a low single wire system

my tightly space vineyard, with a single cordon, 70cm spacing for the plants and 2m20 distance between the rows

Grass planted to decrease vigor all has crumped with the drought we had this summer, hoping for something to come back next spring as it was expensive to put in

single anchor wire followed by 2 couples in my vineyard and this is a handy took which opens and closes the first couple to allow spring growth to enter and then to hold it there, then open again for pruning

This is the field across from me in red which had me worried, but not really, it is always the first to turn and has not spread at all in 4 years, it is just the Sangiovese, I think which turns earlier than the others

Finally my neighbor's 3X1 meter spacing with guyot and a single wire and 2 couples above

Lago del Fiastrone and Lame Rosse hike

2011-10-25T18:18:00.001+02:00

25 Ottobre
My guests departed around 9:30 this morning and Bacco and I immediately followed them out the door to try a new hike. I was hoping for peak Fall color, but wait until next week if you want to see the trees all turned. This is an easy stroll which ends up in a place which will remind one of Zion National Park in Utah.

A view of Montalto Marche on the road to the trailhead

The dam which has formed the lake is the easiest place to start the trail, but if you want to walk along the lake as well, you can start up the road at the town (add an hour each way)

A view of Lago di Fiastro or Lago del Fiastrone from the dam with the tail end of the Sibillini mountains in the distance

The canyon below the dam

Your first view of the Lame Rosse, red blades after an easy 35-60 minute walk depending on your pace

Looks from here like a castle

Bacco walking through the martian terra

more spires

you can also explore little troughs which scale the heights to the left, if you don't bring your 33kg dog who can't climb 6 foot walls

With enough imagination you can see 2 eyes watching you from the hill behind to the left. As you can see, we need another week or more to get the trees all turning.

Finally, the lame rosse from the other side of the canyon where the road will take you home.

It is a nice and easy hike and you can get there from Umbria by taking the road for Macerata or from us by heading towards Sarnano, then up this canyon towards Fiastra

100% extra virgin, Marche organic olive oil in pictures, 2011

2011-10-18T18:40:00.002+02:00

18 Ottobre

Up at dawn to pick, not! Just to walk the dog and get the work done in the winery before the olive harvesting.

Alessandro and Raffaele beating up on an olive tree to get the olives to drop into the net

The olives are put into plastic containers which hold about 20 kg.

The beater has rotating little fingers which cause the olives to fall off their branches and is telescopic, reaching into the heights of the trees up to about 20 feet if your arms are long.

I delivered my olives in the van, but people come in station wagons, trucks, tractors, you name it and the olives are placed into large bins and weighed. You pay by the weight of the olives, not by the oil which you make

They are then loaded into a big hopper and the conveyor belt takes them into the machine which will blow aways sticks and leaves and then wash the olives

Here they are freefalling into their bath/leaf blowing zone

Ready to be washed and then go to the initial grind

After the initial grind, the paste arrives in with these blades and gets cut and pressed to mush

The off to the centrifuge which separates oil from water and solids

my oil exiting the centrifuge

Tiziano pumping the oil into my 50 L container. Normally, you get about 12% yield from the weight of the olives eg 100kg would give you 12 liters. With the dry year we had, this year the olives were less hydrated and the oil yield was over 16%

Here's where the waste solids go, to be spread later on their fields as humus

Bacco making a new friend outside the olive press

And I finished in time to enjoy a cloud free, blue sky day!

New olive oil, Happy 53rd bro, Rock climbing Mt. Rosara, wine update

2011-10-14T13:32:00.000+02:00

14 ottobre
Happy birthday to my brother today! The new oil arrived at the b&b last night in time to give a liter to my climbing guests who were leaving today for Rome. This year's oil is much greener and a bit harsher than last year's, so it will need a couple of months to get a bit softer before you pour it all over your salad.
Below you can see the difference in color between 2011 and 2010 and the oil really won't change color much over its life.

Ok, I'm back having done a side by side bruschetta tasting between these 2 and they are different, but both good with the new one having that fresh olive smell you only get right after pressing.

My Seattle guests were avid climbers and had hauled all their climbing gear to Spain and Italy, so it was up to me to try and find climbing places where the bolts had already been placed (I didn't know there were these special places all over the world). As I am quite ignorant of this sport having limited my climbing experience to olive trees, it took a bit of googling and talking with my bike shop friend Brian, but I found a great place for them at Monte Rosara and they enjoyed scaling the limestone outcropping there.

This was a sport I wanted to try when I was 14 and vacationing with my folks in Colorado, but I never got to try, just a bit in scouts.

The wines are pretty much all resting from the strain of fermentation and now it is about time to think about clarifying, just a tiny bit, my Pecorino and get it in bottles with a Reserve sticker. The Montepulciano is staying on its skins for another week and then will be pressed. It has notes of mature fruit which comes from the dry, hot last 2 months we experienced before harvest. The pH of all the wines is quite high and to stabilize the wines for bottling will be adjusted slightly lower with tartaric acid, the acid most prevalent in grapes. At least the alcohol level of the Syrah, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon were all at or below 15%. What a year!

Wines of 2011 update

2011-10-08T16:10:00.001+02:00

8 Ottobre
Today, I started at 7 AM and got the Petit Verdot pressed and tanked; the 1/2 of the Pecorino from 2010, also heretofore known jokingly as "my Pecorino" has exited its wooden encasement and is now safely back in stainless steel with its twin brother which has always lived in stainless. I now have 2000 liters of Pecorino, half of which has spent 6 months in 3-220 liter barrels and 1-500 liter tonneau mixed with the other half which has been in a 1000 liter stainless tank. It will be lightly fined with an inert material called PVPP to take away a bit of bitterness and darkness of color and will probably be bottled as Aurai-Riserva, 2010. It is tasting pretty good mixed together!

Montepulciano tank

The Syrah from 2011 has been transferred to 2 barrels and a 1000 liter stainless tank, the Cabernet Franc was transferred to a tonneau and a barrel, the Passito was taken off its dirty lees and replaced in its small stainless container and the Cabernet Sauvignon was also racked off its lees for the 2nd time. The reds will spend the winter in stainless and then change places with the 2010 wines as they come out of their barrels and tonneau in the spring.
We still lack a lot of rainfall for the latter part of the year which may arrive tomorrow and then I am hoping to harvest olives next Wednesday or Thursday. The poor olive trees need a bit of rain before picking, I think.

Leccino olives

Frantoio olives

Carboncillo olives

More american guests arrive tomorrow, so I have made bread and am making a grape and wine cake with the Petit Verdot wine and grape skins which I stole before the pressing.

Last of the harvests with new and old friends and a small inauguration of the tasting room, BBQ at 1900 meters in Abruzzo with the best arrosticini!

2011-10-03T15:29:00.000+02:00

3 Ottobre,

Somehow, the last harvest of the year came around just in time for my friends from England, Australia, Verbania, Latina, Ascoli Piceno and Caserta, Italy, France, and finally a combo from Italy/India/Kent.

Will, Julia, Ema, Raffa, Fabio at the duomo of Ascoli

(England x 2, Australia, France and Italy/India/Kent)

Dining al fresco at Il Desco, my favorite restaurant in Ascoli, with a very well behaved dog!

We were quite the international crowd picking the Montepulciano grapes which had reached 24 Brix, 7.2 Total Acidity and a pH of 3.5 or nearly perfect with all brown seeds and reasonable, not aggressive tannins. While the yield was much lower this year, the grapes were all healthy and we finished in a single day. As a reward for their fine labor, I treated everyone to a meal/festa in the newly finished tasting room with its great views under a great autumn sky with only the peace and quiet you find here as an accompaniment.

Giorgio lighting the votives

The ladies set up votive candles all around the winery inside and out and it was really a fitting closure to what has been a truly tough year of work and stress and worry about the weather.
The next day we headed into Abruzzo to Campo Imperatore under the Camicia mountains where films such as Ladyhawke, Krull, The American and others were filmed and where Mussolini was kept a prisoner after Italy surrendered in WWII and before the Germans broke him out of his hotel/jail.

Mt. Camicia, 2590 meters

Emma, Will's fiancee

Matteo, one of Italy's most decorated young sommelier and classmate from my slow food master

Its nickname is Italy's little Tibet and it is a huge plateau and home to a bunch of shepherds, one of whom has capitalized on the suggestive scenery and built an abattoir for sheep with a large grouping of bbq grills suitable for ribs, cutlets and the specialty, arrostocini abruzzese which are little skewers of the best mutton you will ever eat!

My group with the family

another

the Nonni!

Raffa from the Rhone valley with his prized arrostocini

One of the cooks, Valentina handing out the last one

We joined Fabio's sister Nisha's in-laws who treated us to a feast unequalled in my life for this type of meat! The spices were subtle and perfect, the meat was perfectly cooked and there was non of the flavor I associate with older sheep/mutton. The area looked a little like something out of Mad Max, to be honest, but was a true "italian experience". I can't imagine this type of thing anywhere else in the world and the place was packed on a Sunday with daytrippers and campers.

Father and son enjoying the wide open spaces of Campo Imperatore

Bacco digesting all the bones and sausages given him by the folks

BBQ Abruzzo style

Arrostocini!

Bacco found one on the ground and took advantage

Raffa from France, Silvia from Latina and our masters and Silvano, our great host/cook

The best arrostocini in the world

Right our of Mad Max, lighting the charcoal with a huge propane tank

The tasting room for the winery is almost finished! and only 9 months and 1 week behind schedule

2011-09-27T15:52:00.000+02:00

27 September,
I have been taking care of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot wines, which are the only 2 not pressed thus far. The analyses of the first wines make me laugh as the alcohol content for the Merlot is over 16 and the Pecorino 15.7! The Montepulciano harvest will be Saturday and that will finish the work in the vineyard for the year. Then comes the olive harvest the following week as everything this year is about 2 weeks ahead of last year.
Here are the photos of the almost finished tasting rooms.

last March

yesterday

I have swept and mopped the floors of the tasting room, put together 14 chairs and 2 tables from Ikea,

the main hall

some of the views from inside

the marble bar will go in front of the stools

the winter wine tasting station

the future kitchen

bought another 2 tables from my Thailand connection, and the fancy lamp from Germany has its first "note" written by my american guests from Fernwood, CA.

Today, I finished picking up all the empty cigarette packages, plastic tubing, wood and brick pieces, and the rest of the trash the construction workers have thrown out in the last 20 months. Then, I cleaned all the windows, which was quite the job as there was old paint splashed on them, stickers to remove and a few months of dust. The pictures need to be hung and the marble bar needs to be mounted, but the latter 2 are scheduled for tomorrow and voila'.

view from the "kitchen"

table for 8?

finally the doors are on

I think it is time to have a pre-inauguration party on Saturday night for all the folks who helped me pick the grapes this year!

2011 update on harvesting and fermentations

2011-09-18T19:41:00.001+02:00

18 Sept.
The Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested last Monday with 8 helpers so I could finish in one day. It was a 10 hour job with a yield about twice last year's. The must is still fermenting, but should finish tomorrow which is a bit slower than the other reds, but I think perhaps Roberto either added less yeast or less nutrient to slow things down a bit. The danger with a fermentation which is too fast is you might lose some color and complexity, so I am happier with the C.S. being a bit slower than the reds which preceded it. The Pecorino has finished its fermentation and is now being chilled and will be racked off its lees next week. The Cabernet Franc and Merlot will be pressed next week, probably on Tuesday and then will rest for a while.

Roberto d'Angelo manning the press last year

I harvested the Incrocio (meaning 'cross' between Verdicchio and Sauvignon Blanc) Bruni 54 grapes which had all turned to raisins and spent 10 hour hand pressing the grapes in that little press you read about in the previous post. For 5 days, it just would not initiate its fermentation; Roberto had tried to start it by adding actively fermenting Pecorino must. When that didn't work, he added a newly prepared yeast and it has metabolized the sugar from 30 degrees to 12 degrees, so I am guessing it will stop at about 8-10 degrees, as those yeast will not be able to ferment more than that before things get toxic for them. That leaves the Syrah which has also finished its fermentation and will probably get pressed late week or early next week. My masterful plan to pick the Petit Verdot, which wasn't quite ready last Wednesday, is to harvest it on Friday after 2 days of much needed rain tomorrow and Tuesday (I hope). The last harvest will be the Montepulciano and Lord willing, that will be the last weekend of the month to correspond with the arrival of my foreign pickers (from London and Lagomaggiore).
Somewhere towards the end of the month, my head winemaker, Roberto Potentini (another Roberto), who hasn't really been involved in this year's decision making, will come down to taste last year's and this year's wines and I am thinking it may be time to extract my Pecorino from its tonneau and 2 barrels and mix those 3 back in with the 1000 liters, which stayed in stainless, to make the blend for bottling. I am excited about that one as it is coming around nicely like the swan in the ugly duckling fable.
The olives are suffering and looking like little old men who smoked and worked in the sun all their lives, if you know what I mean (a bit wrinkled) This 46 day drought and heat wave (every day over 86) has been brutal for them, the grass and every other living thing which requires water to live and is another reason I am hoping for rain. The Olive Tenere, which is the variety used to make the special Ascoli stuffed olives will be ready to harvest this week and the rain should help plump them up. I am shooting for Thursday for that job.
I have hosted guests from Belgium, Canada and Italy the last week and as always, they helped keep me sane and were wonderful folks. The North Americans continue this week, which should be fun.
Today was pretty much the last day of summer weather, if the forecast holds, so I asked my neighbors and their kids over to swim and have a bbq-KC style. It is great to have nice neighbors and the kids really enjoyed their time in the water and with Bacco while the adults gave swimming lessons, caught some rays or relaxed and read.

Offida Opera Festival, wine update

2011-09-10T09:50:00.001+02:00

10 Sept.
Can you believe Offida has an Opera festival?! The talent is stellar; I attended a concert in the old monastery of St. Francis which is now the site of our regional wine store (where our wines are now being offered) and enjoyed the music thoroughly. They had 5 singers who sang old classic arias, classic italian numbers and a few international songs from their own countries. This was followed by "food of the Marche" upon which I would rather not comment, accompanied by some of the local Passerina wines.

The wines are coming along in their tanks, with the Merlot having finished its fermentation, the Cabernet Franc to finish today or tomorrow followed by the Pecorino in 2-3 days and finally the Syrah. The Passito has still not taken off as the yeast are too high on all the sugar to reproduce. Monday I will harvest the Cabernet Sauvignon which should be my biggest or second biggest crop along with the Montepulciano. I have analyzed the grapes many times as I am worried about making a "vegetal" Cab if I pick too early, but the total acid content of the grapes is dropping, the brix is correct and the juice tastes good, so here goes.

Pumping the wine onto the skins for color extraction and to keep the skins damp

The destemmer/crusher which then sends the grapes and must to the tanks

Comparing this year to last, the Pecorino was harvested 20 days earlier, the Merlot 13, the Cab. Fr. 11, the Syrah 16 and the Cab. S. 11 days earlier. In the Offida area, we have had a string of about 40 days without rain with temperatures always above 31 C. With luck, this string will be broken in the middle of next week, leaving the Petit Verdot and the Montepulciano to harvest in cooler weather.

The pool is still open, so come on over and visit; the water is fine! It is just about time for the north americans to visit, a great time to watch work in the winery, and the grape and olive harvests.

Finally, remembrances and prayers to all the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I still remember walking into the surgeon's lounge at RMC in time to see the 2nd plane hit the other tower. It is something I have trouble watching again. Peace to all!

A strange year for the grapevines is coming to a close

2011-09-04T08:34:00.002+02:00

4 September

The tourist season will officially be over tomorrow when the last guests leave and I would like to thank everyone who came to visit this year! I have been busy doing all the tasks around the place, trying to keep pace with ripening grapes, the B&B, the lawn, a bit of baking for the guests etc.
A recap of the growing season which I am sure has caused not a few of my hairs to fall out: Spring started with torrential rains which eroded deep ruts in the Pecorino and washed my neighbors "terra" onto ours in other parts. The ruts were repaired and flowering came a bit late but was quite strong and the grapes set nicely. In the early part of the evolution of the little grapes the first hailstorm on our property in 5 years arrived and damaged about 20% of the little grapes with some falling off and others bruised. This put a stop to the plants' growth for a good 7-14 days as they recovered from the shock. Shortly after a heat wave arrived with temperatures soaring into the upper 90's which further inhibited growth of the plants as their stomata closed up to conserve moisture. A few, again torrential, rains followed to green everything up and start the growing cycle again. The last rain was in the first days of August and since then there has been a continual run of 30 degree + days until finally the Bruni 54 clone became all raisins and the Pecorino matured 16 days earlier than last year followed shortly thereafter by the Merlot. The prior was harvested on 31 August at a high Brix level, but with a normal pH and good total acid levels and the Merlot, similarly, was well balanced in its analysis, but the grapes were quite dehydrated. Total volume looks to be about 1500 liters of Pecorino, very little! and about 3500 liters of Merlot, which is better than last year. With good fortune, the skin/must ratio being quite high will give me a complex, though alcoholic wine. Both are bubbling away in their fermentation right now and the Cabernet Franc is calling out to be harvested tomorrow.

My work in the vineyard started in late February with pruning and tying and ended a week ago Friday with the last of the green harvest where I cut away less than beautiful or too abundant grape clusters. It was a busy year!

I did have time for a Monday hike with Bacco in the by now familiar to my readers Gola dell'Infernaccio and he had a wonderful time playing in the waters of the little river.

Finally, I just finished my final exam in my winemaking course from UC-Davis, this time "Wine Stability", so maybe I will have more time to update the blog.

The pictures are all from the gola and this last one shows the monk who has built the church high up on the mountain stone by stone all by himself ala St. Francis.

Offida: jazz and wine and Rura, Quintana in Ascoli Piceno

2011-08-07T19:59:00.000+02:00

7 Agosto Here are the last couple of weeks in pictures. First we have Offida with its Jazz and Wine night and separately a group of Scottish musicians who go by the name Rura, quite stellar and finally the Quintana parade in Ascoli where they always dress in the heaviest draperies you can find on the hottest day of the year at the hottest time of the day to walk the streets of the town. I didn't envy any of them.

The big orchestra in the Piazza del Popolo in Offida

Roberto and guest at his wine store in Offida

Each plaza had a little group playing at various times and then the wine booths were set up all over town as well for Wine and Jazz/Offida

Pierpaolo on bass

New jazz fan, he's got the rhythm

Rura is made up of students from Scotland who played four concerts in Italy, Offida being their final gig before "returning to the rain and cold". Also below

The following fotos are from the Quintana parade in Ascoli Aug 7, 2011, 93 degrees F. with everyone wearing their heaviest clothing.

The Dolomites, 2 wonderful restaurants, Mangiare Bere Uomo Donna at Suzzara and Delicatissimo in Milano opened by old friends

2011-07-27T10:31:00.002+02:00

27 luglio
Finally I have time to write about my great little 1000 mile trip to the north of Italy. I finished up a big job in the vineyard and saw nothing urgent ahead for a least a week and the B&B had a couple of down days, so I hopped in the z4, put the top down and headed up to Suzzara in Emilia Romagna to visit Amy and Corrado at their little B&B and restaurant named Mangiare Bere Uomo Donna.

The beautifully designed logo

Cozy dining room

World of wines

Amy, from Hong Kong, was for a short time my roommate in Parma as she attended the master in journalism from Slow Food while I completed the food science master. There, she met Corrado, one of our tutors and romance blossomed, they got married and decided like me to go off the deep end, but instead of a vineyard have opened a bed and breakfast and restaurant with more hours of work than I care to think about. They remodeled an old mansion in Suzzara with 3 quaint rooms serving as their B&b and Amy became the chef blending her wonderful skills with traditional chinese cooking with traditional Emilia fare. I had a wonderful dinner with shrimp wontons, vegetable wontons, a nice tender and flavorful pancetta, ravioli which were incredible reminding me of dimsum potstickers in consistency and taste and a lamb chop I traded a piece of pancetta for that was tender and seasoned perfectly. They have a well selected group of wines as you see in my photo and artisanal beers also. Corrado runs the dining room as host, waiter and sommelier and speaks perfect italian and english and spanish. Highly recommended and well worth a side trip if you are in the Mantova area.
Next it was off to the Dolomites, the mythical Alpen mountains which I had heard about constantly from everyone who has ever been there, but I had never seen. I just followed my instincts heading off the autostrada to the 5 pass area, Cortina, Dobbiaco, Sesto, Bressanone, Bolzano, Sterzing, Merano and then the Adige valley where I checked out Italy's Pinot Noir, Gewurtztraminer, Lagrein zone.

Above and below, the road east of St. Cristina

Views from the passo Falzarego, below the hike up the little mt. to the right called Croda Negra

View from and of the WWI bunker above the Falzarego pass

It is truly a beautiful group of mountains which in many cases remind one of a microscopically enlarged saw blade or maybe some vicious teeth. I took an impromptu hike up a 2500 meter mountain near one of the passes to explore some WW1 bunkers and get a view of miles of these peaks, then headed for the night to Cortina which has a reputation as a high roller ski resort. I had a wonderful dinner at Ra Stua, a restaurant which serves up their beef steaks and pork and chicken raised at the family farm near Padova. A carpaccio started me out which segued into a t-bone steak cooked perfectly with some oven roasted potatoes and a Ripassa from Zenato as accompaniments.

View from the top of Croda Negra above and Cortina below

Above, the mts looking over Dobbiaco and below from the road above Sterzing

At this pass above Sterzing, the car registered 40 degrees F

The next day was cold with new snow on the surrounding mountains, but I put on my windbreaker, got the top down and suffered through 40 degree temps in some places to visit further north at the border with Austria and the towns of Dobbiaco and Sesto. Finding no lodging, I headed back west to Bressanone, found a hidden road through another mountain pass connecting Sterzing to Bolzano which I highly reccomend if you have time as the views are incredible and you will have the road to yourself. Then up to Merano, home of a famous wine tasting event which I would like to attend someday, before turning south to Ora/Aura for the night. This was a good base to explore and find the best Pinot Noirs of Italy and my favorites were Hofstatter and Lageder across the Adige river from Ora/Aura near Tramin or Termeno depending on which language you prefer. This is Alto Adige and they speak more German here, Italy having been gifted this portion after WWII for switching to the Allies (at least that is my version which I have pulled from some unused part of my brain). After a great dinner at Hofstatter with perfectly cooked duck following an appetizer of various concoctions like smoked salmon, soft cheese etc presented in baby cones,

The cones

The duck

Some of their wines

I headed up to Madonna di Campiglio to check out their ski mountains and then suffered through a 60 km traffic jam of sorts to Brescia; this part I could have skipped. I arrived at Delicatissimo, the restaurant of my old classmates Michele, Giorgio and Teresa with Michele's brother Maurizio in the kitchen, to find it full at lunchtime, and no wonder, as the food is fresh and wonderful and quite a bargain for Milano. Another classmate Luca joined me for lunch and I dropped off 10 cases of our wine to those guys to sell for us and caught up on all the latest news.

Michele behind the bar with sister Stef in front

The menu and signage

Giorgio will probably not like this picture, hehe

Finally off to Parma on my return to Nascondiglio di Bacco to see an old friend Diego who is the proprietor of the outstanding wine bar Tabarro. If you ever visit Parma, there is no need to search out producers of the finest prosciutto, cheeses, salamis, etc. because Diego who has a very discerning palate has done all that work for you and serves up the finest italian artisanal products in his wine bar.

Diego in front of his treasure trove wine bar in Parma with part of the bar below

He is also planning on opening a web-based wine store and has extensively explored the Barolo region and has a cache of the best ready to sell in the near future.
It was a fun trip, lots of miles, 280 dollars of gasoline, but well worth it.

A good hike gone bad? no's 24,25,&26 in the Monti della Laga book

2011-07-12T13:04:00.000+02:00

12 luglio
After another 11 day stretch of non-stop working, Bacco got a little antsy and begged for a mountain hike. We have had one week of 90 + degree weather (with another week to go), and above 1300 meters you get a little respite. My goal was to find a nice trail with abundant streams for Bacco to play in and drink. I chose no. 26 in the book and headed off to the little town of Ceppo a 75 minute drive from us. This is evidently mushroom heaven as they have a barricaded road which they open only for those with mushroom hunting permits. I parked outside the gate and headed off on a very pleasant stroll through the "marvelous forest" (the chapter title for the hikepassing all the cars of the fungus searchers along the way. Its real name is the bosco Martese and was the site of a famous battle in WWII between the resistance fighters of the area and the germans. After 90 minutes, we ended up at a nice 40 meter waterfall called Cascata della Morricana where I snapped some photos and tried to figure out how I might return to the parking area without retracing the 5 km stretch of trail which was on a dirt road.

Don't get me wrong, for a first date hike, you could do this and have a picnic and be wonderfully satisfied as it is quite peaceful, beautiful and easy. But, I hadn't even gotten close to being lost yet, so I went back to the book and found a way to make it a loop hike (no. 25). I hiked further along, up and out of the forest, where the trail had been beautifully marked, and entered a pastoral setting of grasses, flowers and singing birds, but no trail. I followed the general instructions written in the book walking directly into a 200 yard stretch of tightly bunched thistles and, hidden beneath them, stinging nettles. I felt like St. Benedict doing his penitence after feeling lust for a woman when he exited from his hermitage (he had lain nude in a field of nettles until the feeling passed). I arrived at another 2 or 3 beautiful waterfalls where the description of the route was, "head right before the last waterfall, you will see the trail when you are nearly upon it.

2nd waterfall past the forest from above

Last waterfall above the forest; I wasted some energy and climbed above it for the photo.

For those doing this hike, take a left out of the forest and head towards the little house you see in the mid right of the picture thus avoiding the huge field of nettles and thistles to its left. Then proceed towards the waterfall below easily visible cascading down the mountain, whereupon you head to its right, climbing upwards until you get to the oblique, left running trail which will give you fits trying to stay on as it disappears at its own whim.

After losing this trail a handful of times, I decided to head straight up to an imposing ridge above figuring if their trail was not reliable, I would make my own. I climbed about 500 meters up, hit 2 false summits and found the ridge I saw below was the middle of a mountain and after considering a tactful surrender, continued on until we arrived at the top of Pizzo di Moscio, which happens to be hike 24 in the book. Once you leave the forest below, you enter into one of the forgotten circles of Dante's Inferno with its attacking plants and also horseflies which make mosquitoes' blood sucking look like pleasant little kisses. Every time I took a pause in this uphill trek and there were many, they swarmed me. They are slow, so you can swat them easily enough and that smears your combined rbc's all over whatever exposed body part they attacked. I am going back to hiking in jeans!

After walking straight up the hill Bacco arrives at the summit of Pizzo di Moscio, 2411 meters slm.

Views of the Sibillini mountains in the distance to the north above and Gran Sasso to the south pictured below

Having labored extensively, Bacco is eyeing the way to the car from the top of La Storna. It is here I finished my 2 liter camelback water and had to go to the reserve liter with an hour and 40 minutes of descent ahead.

Now, the book says to descend to the road for Ceppo but then take a fork to the left which is a little used lane passing by a farmhouse with 5 Abruzzese Shepherds who ganged up on Bacco. Luckily he was too quick for them and took no damage. This lane is supposed to take you back into the "marvelous forest", see photo above. I asked a farmer on said lane if this would take me down to Ceppo and he said yes, but I would have to guess which way to go after a bit. I said I had been doing that all day, so what harm could come from continuing in that manner. Well, the road starts out pretty clear and wide, narrows and becomes covered by a blanket of leaves and then disappears, leaving you to guess and hope. The good news is, if you don't fall off a cliff first and head to the right, you should eventually hit the main road I dismissed at the book's recommendation and if you go left, you hit the road you walked previously on the way to the waterfall. I ended up on the latter after zig-zagging on a logging trail for a bit (something about being on the semblance of a trail soothes my nerves). Well, I am writing this now, so I guess we made the 6 hour and 18 minute 1100 meter climb and 1100 m. descent and lived to talk about it. I am seriously considering buying a mobile GPS before taking any more hikes in Abruzzo, though!

Sunflower motif, hail damage

2011-07-09T22:17:00.000+02:00

9 luglio
Everyone is putting up great photos of the local sunflowers, so I thought I would add my 2 cents worth. Next hike on Monday with Bacco, stay tuned. It will be 94 degrees, so expect a trail with a nearby stream.

View from a bit northeast of us, lower right hand corner includes our vines, old oak, and olive trees.

Zoomin in on the local sunflower fields

Max zoom

What blog post would be complete without Bacco?!

This gives you an idea of the patchwork quilt that is our little area, Hay bales, vineyards, olive trees, sunflowers...

A ringer, no sunflower here, just what hail damage looks like on immature grapes; most of those with damage will fall off. The hail came the same day we bottles our 1st 2 wines..... good karma=bad karma as my friend Sabrina said

One of my 2 blooming sunflowers

and the other... double click to enlarge.

I fiori dei Sibillini. The flowers of the Sibillini mountains

2011-07-01T16:36:00.000+02:00

1 luglio
Here are the latest flower pictures from our hike on Wednesday in the Sibillini mountains. Now is a great time to see them blooming.

AWOL from Nascondiglio di Bacco, in the Sibillini mountains with Bacco

2011-06-30T18:33:00.001+02:00

Starting the hike out right with a big drink and a cool down. This is a drinking fountain for the local sheep and from this point, about 2 km from the trailhead (unless you drive up to this point to save yourself some work, the road isn't at all bad)

Bacco, taking time to smell the flowers

The flowers on and around this trail were spectacular and nearly in full bloom

Bacco on the summit of Sasso Borghese

And the next stop, the top of Palazzo Borghese

And finally, the summit of Mt. Porche

This is a view of Castelluccio, the home of the famous lentils and beautiful flowers, now showing.

A look down into a canyon below Mt. Porche

A view of Sasso Borghese in the left foreground and Palazzo Borghese to its right with a saddle between the two, our first 2 summits and in the distance you see Mt. Vettore to the left and Cima del Lago and Mt. Redentore to the right.

And this is how Bacco ended his hike, in another fountain

30 Giugno
Bacco and I played hooky yesterday as I had worked something like 16 days straight and needed a break. We or I decided to climb 3 peaks, Mt. Porche, Sasso Borghese and Palazzo Borghese, all above 2000 meters. The flowers are just incredible now and will be in full bloom for at least another week. You can add a visit to the plateau of Castelluccio with the hike and get your flower fix, for sure. The hike takes about 2.5 hours to scale the 3 summits and an hour and fifteen minutes for the return. You will be adopted by families of flies, but they don't bite and hang around waiting for the sheep which graze in the mountain pastures. There are excellent views of the Sibillini mountains, Lake Fiastra, the plateau listed above and one can see all the way to the sea, into Abruzzo and Lazio and of course, Umbria. It is a nice hike and except for some scree in the early going which is tougher on the descent, not too difficult. I headed first to Sasso Borghese, then backtracked for Palazzo and Porche, although the last one might be better to scale first as it is the most difficult.

Flowers of the plateau of Castelluccio are now blooming, don't miss it!

2011-06-30T13:53:00.000+02:00

June 29th, Bacco and I headed above Castelluccio for a hike but 1st stopped to take 100 pictures of the plateau which finally has bloomed. The poppies are the red flowers, yellow is a weed in the mustard family, some of the blues are corn flowers and some may be lentils and finally white ones are also weeds. Enjoy and hope you get to see this area in the next week or so or in future years!

WIN BIG PRIZES! Design our 1st ever artist's wine label for the reserve wine

2011-06-14T08:29:00.001+02:00

14 June, 2011
We are sending out a challenge to all artists to design our first ever reserve wine artist label alla Ch. Mouton or Kenwood. Here are the rules: you may use any media: oil, watercolor, mixed media, photo, sculpture?, woodblock print, etc. The winner gets a case of the reserve wine and a week stay at Nascondiglio di Bacco for as many as 4 people in one regular room or the apartment, international fame, prestige, power, a chance to run for President of Italy etc. (For those who prefer, we will give a cash prize of 200 euro instead of the B&B stay). We get to keep the original and shamelessly market and sell any posters, t shirts, aprons, socks and underwear. The only iron fast rule is we need to see some representation of Bacco in the artwork. Deadline will be All Saint's Day, 2011 or November 1 as all good things in Italy must occur on a saint day and then we will utilize scientific analysis, Bacco's nose and a high degree of subjective preference to pick the winner. For those who are like me and are artistically challenged, please pass this on to all the artists you know and thanks to all for participating!
To get you started, here are some photos of Bacco from today and days past; scroll back in the blog as far as 2008 to see many more. The label will be used for either our bordeaux blend or our Offida Rosso which is a blend of Montepulciano and Cabernet Sauvignon and feel free to use your imagination. There is no need to confine yourself to any particular theme, just let Bacco make an appearance somewhere inside the work. Good luck!

Nascondiglio di Bacco framed by wheat

2011-06-11T15:48:00.000+02:00

From the north with our neighbor's olive trees to the right foreground and our vineyard to the right of the road

The winery still under construction to the right, Nascondiglio in the center

Looking towards the Monti Piselli in Abruzzo to the left of Nascondiglio just after dawn

The church of San Filippo up the street from us, lone poppy in the foreground amongst the maturing wheat bound for Barilla pasta

the p s vineyard

Climbing the Sibillini mountains, how to choose

2011-06-11T13:26:00.000+02:00

11 June, 2011
If you have just one day to climb a mountain in the Sibillini chain, which should you choose? I have climbed a representative sample, so let me help you decide. 1st question: do you like to climb the highest mt. in a certain region? A: Mt. Vettore which is a nice climb with about 950 meters to go up and then down and views of the coast, parts of distant Umbria and Abruzzo, Lazio and the Marche. 2nd: Would you rather have a beautiful hike? Try Cima del Lago with the same starting point as Vettore at Forca di Presta, but amazing views of the Lago di Pilato and the altopiano (plateau) of Castelluccio. If you want to bag 3 peaks continue on to Mt. Redentore and Pizzo del Diavolo, all listed at above 2400 meters. 3. If you want a safe, short period with a rope to assist you and views of the Gola dell'Infernaccio from above, try Mt. Sibilla and you can easily add the next peak Cima Vallelunga and descend via an unused road. Here are some photos of all of them with my favorite being the 2nd option.

Looking back at Cima del Lago from Redentore, this is the ridge you walk along.

One of the views of Lago di Pilato from Cima del Lago

From Cima del Lago, the tallest mountain in the Marche, Mt. Vettore with Lago di Pilato which you can not see from Vettore in the lower left.

Altopiano of Castelluccio where the famous lentils grow and the parasailers glide over the fields of mustard, poppies and lentils. This view is from near the top of Mt. Redentore.

Looking down on the eastern most part of the plateau of Castelluccio and into Lazio in the distance.

Bacco is looking at Lago di Pilato while above his head you see the top of Mt. Redentore and the prominence to the far right is Pizzo del Diavolo.

On top of Pizzo del Diavolo looking back at Redentore to the right and the crest you walk across to get to Cima del Lago to the left.

The crest from Redentore behind me to Pizzo to Bacco's left in the near distance.

A view from Pizzo del Diavolo to the Z-shaped scar of the road on Mt. Sibilla with Cima della Vallelunga to its left. Below right, you see the town of Foce where you can start the hike for Lago di Pilato.

Bacco, happy as a clam on a little snow remnant.

Last look at Lago di Pilato before descending.

I have a pace which is close to 1.5 mph going up steep inclines, so I took 1 hour and 15 minutes to arrive at the refuge where you choose whether to hike right up Vettore or left up Cima del Lago. To arrive at the latter was another 30 minutes and to continue on to Redentore and Pizzo del Diavolo was an hour. the return took me about an hour and a half. I figure the hike I took was between 7.5 and 8 miles round trip. Happy climbing!

Fraternal twins born at Nascondiglio di Bacco

2011-06-10T07:52:00.000+02:00

10 June, 2010
After a little less than the normal 9 month gestation, I would like to present not only the newly fledged p s cantina but its newborn fraternal twins, Thalia and Aurai. The former is a blend of 75% Montepulciano and 25% Syrah while his sister is 100% Pecorino. Thalia, named for the god of comedy, weighed in at 13.5 and Aurai, goddess of the fresh breeze at 14. They are dressed up with quasi matching outfits, a photo I took of a Cabernet Sauvignon leaf shown in true color on Aurai and photo-shopped rosso for her red brother Thalia.
p s has 2 meanings, post scriptum signifying life changes from one profession (the main body of my life's letter) to the 2nd part and also for Paolini, Stanford, the cognomi of the proprietors.
I showed the new bottles around the place and the photos below show them taking in the sites of Nascondiglio di Bacco.

Patio

Hangin' at the pool

On the ledge looking south, the 500 y.o. part of the B&B

Looking out from room 5

Now, we can look at the "delivery room" and the personnel involved in their arrival.

Mobile bottling unit

The bottles need to be placed at the start of the conveyor belt, I volunteered wearing my

"not all who wander are lost" t-shirt

1st bottle heading through and getting filled

1st bottle getting clothed

Raffaele ready to take the 1st photo of the newborn white

Finally, some evidence of the fruits of our labors.

It is a tradition to give the 1st bottle to someone important, so I gave Thalia to my neighbors who got us through the first year with all the organic treatments of the vines, tilling and planting of the soil and subsequently help with sage advice; thanks Luigi and Tiziano, we couldn't have done it without you!

Give our new arrivals a couple of weeks to get over yesterday's spanking (bottle shock) and we will have them for sale. Keep an eye out for the new fb page and friend us for a discount.

"Lost" the new season now filming in the Marche and Abruzzo, starring Bacco and me

2011-05-29T19:27:00.001+02:00

29 May, 2011
Episode 3: Recap, Bacco and I have tried 3 hikes on 3 separate Sundays and have become 'lost' each time, 1st week-20 minutes, 2nd week-30 minutes and this week-75 minutes!
Today we crossed the border into Abruzzo and the twin brother park to the Monti Sibillini in the Marche called Monti della Laga. The book about the hikes is in italian and is called le piu' belle escursioni or the prettiest hikes, by Alesi, Calibani and Palermi. I chose hike 6 named the forest of the fable which begins in the little town of Quintodecimo (which sort of translates as 'half a town') better known for its autovelox (fixed radar camera which will catch you if you are driving more than 50km/hr.) The town is about 40 minutes from Nascondiglio di Bacco on the Salaria or ancient roman salt road which served as the prime means of transporting salt from Rome to present day Porto dAscoli.
The sentiero or trail follows the river Noce Andreana into a series of "V" shaped valleys past some picturesque waterfalls and finishing at a grotto with a veil of water in front and a pair of old stone buildings beneath the outcropping.
You park in the town in a little plaza by a church and immediately head up a series of stairs which lead you to the last house in town and a gravelly road which you will follow for about a mile past the locals' gardens, little vineyards and stalls. The book tells you "where the road ends and you find a cement bridge, the real trail begins and heads off to the left". That's all fine and was probably that way in 2005 when the book was written, but now the road does not end there. Luckily, my intuition and the cement bridge encouraged me to take a path to the left which has a Monti della Laga national park sign in front of it, and indeed, that is the correct way. See below.

After a pretty nice little climb, you arrive at the first waterfall, which when you have a trusty sidekick flat coat retriever along, will be explored, pools will be entered and thirst sated, not to mention photos snapped. This can be your downfall as from the pool just beneath the falls,

you naturally want to continue the hike from a level which is above the correct trail and nature has provided a little alternative trail which perfectly conforms to the description in the book (a bit smaller and covered with leaves). Bacco and I trekked the next 75 minutes into a side canyon along another of those infamous wild boar trails (very well maintained, I might add) and probably ended up on top of Mt. Ungino where we found an old apparatus which must have been used by loggers to lower the huge logs down the steep hill with intact cables, rotting timbers anchor trees long since dead, etc.

We made our own trail back down and I am not saying I didn't have a grand old time exploring this hidden area, but it is a bit hairy hanging on to trees while you descend a steep slope with no bearings. Anyway, having been born "testardo", inheriting stubbornness from my father, I was determined to finish the real hike. I found the 1st waterfall and then found the trail we had used to arrive, whereupon it was really easy to see the correct trail veering off to the right and 10 meters below the infamous false trail. From there it is just 20 minutes up to the very nice little cascata with its little sheltering cave behind.

This photo is a little waterfall before the grotto falls

The view from inside the grotto

If you don't mess up, the ascent should take an hour and 15 minutes to slightly longer and the descent 55 minutes or a bit more depending on your pace. Not a bad hike at all for a morning or afternoon jaunt. Bacco enjoyed the water and I enjoyed the topography, the dense forest and the isolation as we were once again the only ones on the trail.

The photo above is what the true trail from the first falls looks like with plus or minus 91 trees to step over or stoop under.

Last phot reminded me of a petrified dragon killed by St. George with a spear in its head or maybe a very large Abruzzese unicorn

The area seemed to have zones similar to those in MO with karst structures although I saw no sinkholes or arches. Take lots of water and a snack in case you want to audition for the next "Lost" episode from Abruzzo.

Valle del Fiastrone hike, Gualdo cheese festival

2011-05-26T10:52:00.001+02:00

26 Maggio, 2011
Hike one in the Gillian Price book, "Italy's Sibillini National Park-Walking and Trekking Guide' is the Valley of Fiastrone which is a hike through a canyon carved by the Fiastrone river which has been tamed somewhat by an upstream hydroelectric dam which has formed Lake Fiastra. This hike also can include a jaunt over to a grotto used by hermit monks some centuries ago. You find the trail head just down hill from the town of Monastero, park by the cemetery and begin in a pleasant meadow surrounded by wild roses and a view to the east of the end of the canyon as the river flows into a valley leading past to the Adriatic Sea.

Now, I don't know how many people are like me and like the tough part of the trail at the start of the hike, but this trail is contrary. You begin with a descent of 70-80 meters to reach the little stream called Fosse, then up 20 meters before descending another 140-150 meters. All I could think of while descending was I was going to have to regain all those meters on my return, when theoretically I would be a bit more tired. The trail is well marked to the river Fiastrone where you can take a right and climb up to the hermit's cave with its chapel inside, a relatively easy 20-30 minute climb.

There I met a group of about 30 teenagers hiking with their adult supervisors and a forestry service guide (more about him later). They and soon Bacco were enjoying their lunch break. On the return, I, who have been hiking all my life lost the trail (and 30 minutes) 3 times because the friendly wild boars had formed their own pathways especially at the switchbacks which led me straight into the woods. At the first intersection the sign posts which are easily visible when you ascend are well above eye level and behind a tree as you return which led me to a parking lot. Pay attention on this part and don't make my mistakes.
The next part was especially made for Bacco and included 7 stream crossings, which in springtime means if you are not an olympic long jumper or circus acrobat you are going to get wet. The water level lowers later in summer revealing rocks you can use to cross relatively dryly.

I was standing on a rock ledge at the first crossing with a stream 7 feet across and a foot deep or so and trying to remember my junior high standing long jump skills (always my weakest task in the physical education tests). Anyway, after my first failure it became more fun, because it is not possible to get your boots and lower pants more wet than soaked. In one place the trail became a tunnel where small trees had fallen along 10 meters of the trail and I had to crawl through on all 4's. Bacco and I continued to trails end and then walked into the "gola" or throat of the canyon past the trail's end to enjoy our snack lunch in complete solitude with the sound of birds, stream and falling water as our musical accompaniment.

We then returned down stream with our 9 stream crossings (we did 2 more than required going in) and ran into the forestry fellow who had cut all those pesky downed saplings away, so no tunnel to crawl through on the way back. He didn't want the poor kids to exert themselves.

Then we climbed up the two major hills, which weren't all that difficult, as this trail overall is pretty easy and we drove our wet selves on to the Gualdo cheese festival.
Gualdo is a nice little hill town above Sarnano and has this nice cheese fest every year and amazingly brought in some really fine producers from as far away as the Piedmont and the Veneto with their alps cheeses.

practically all regions offer Mozarella by now, but the original is from Campania and can't be beat!

most of our local shepherds are from Sardegna, the masters of Pecorino cheesemaking

Fontagrana, our local maestro was also there along with an artisanal beer maker from Padova, Slow food's contingent from Campania with Caciocavallo cheese (photos below, they hang one of the cheeses over hot coals to make it spreadable and give out samples on rustic bread)

Cacio Cavalli from Campania

, a wine tasting area with Marche wines, and lots of other goodies like wild boar sausage from Norcia.
I bought the best and stinkiest cheeses I could find, my favorites being one from Fontagrana of Belmonte Piceno, Marche and the other 2 from the alps and some desserts called Baba' for our wine label designers who were visiting from Verona to go over the final touches on our first 2 labels.
We have bottling of the first 2 wines scheduled for June 6 and I am still uncertain when the winery construction will be completed. As you remember, it was scheduled for completion last ~~christmas~~
~~easter, mid-May.~~

Hiking the cascate dell'acquasanta trail in the Mt. Sibillini national park

2011-05-16T13:25:00.000+02:00

16 Maggio 2011
Bacco and I after working a full day Saturday planned our hike in the Sibillinis for Sunday. Bacco asked for a trail full of cool mountain streams and I wanted a bit of a challenge, so we decided on the waterfalls of the sacred water trail departing from the little mountain town of Bolognola. It is a 90 minute drive from Nascondiglio di Bacco and involves driving to Sarnano and then past the ski slopes of Sassotetto before cresting the mountain pass an descending to Bolognola. You have good signage for the trail head, but after that things become tricky. Parking is available for the escursionisti and you walk to the end of the road where the trailhead is marked thusly:

The first thing you notice is the 15.4 km part of the sign. I am sure 90% of the people turn back at this point. Is it 10 miles round trip or one way? I strongly recommend to any mountain lovers who are coming to visit us at Nascondiglio di Bacco or nearby lodgings, buy the book by Gillian Price called 'Italy's Sibillini National Park-Walking and Trekking Guide'. (If you forget, you can borrow mine) The book gives the distance as 12.4 km round trip and I would bet he is very close based on my walking pace. They mention the trail is a difficulty 2-3 which interested me, and that it was well marked (not!)

Just 100 meters past the trailhead is your 1st challenge, a new road which descends to a logging area and a dead end at the stream and a very steep climb back to the right path, see photo below and please take the LEFT grassy way.

You then descend to the stream and wonder again which way to go, you have to walk upstream 20 meters (it pays to have gortex or waterproofed hiking shoes or boots with a lug sole-the latter part is very important for later!) and you will see the trail leaving the stream on the right. Bacco enjoyed this part more than me, especially as we finished up our return.

bottom of pic is where you exit the stream to continue the hike after arriving from the left of the frame 30 meters or so downstream, the water is shallow

Now you will come to the only ascent of any significance and will turn to your right at a fork, also not marked, into a mature 2nd growth forest for a hike that is about 80% in the trees and shaded. Soon you will run into some of the little challenges of the trail as it seems the forest service hasn't had time to either mark or clear this trail for a while.

These impediments are worse for those of us who travel with backpacks or are corpulent. In some areas this trail is less than a foot wide and a misstep means a long drop or slide which is why I recommend lug soles. Near the end of the trail is a part protected by a chain where the drop off is fairly marked and the trail a bit more exposed. Bacco is trying to decide if he needs to grab it... he didn't.

The trail was built along an old aqueduct which was covered with cement tiles. You can walk along the tiles and in places, as the book mentions, they make sounds like bass notes (there are a few high notes). Your hiking poles are a hassle here as they will catch in the cracks. The water heads down to towns below and it was quite a feat of engineering. Nature has completely covered some areas of the tiles as the mountain slowly heads to the sea, but other areas are pristine and water is still flowing beneath your feet.

Spoiler alert! Now it is time for the payoff. Here are some photos of the waterfalls.

This is the first of many and some go right across the trail, so watch your step.

Bacco is always finding the waterholes

1st view of probably the tallest waterfall of the bunch

At this time of spring, there is still a bunch of packed snow below the falls which Bacco is walking upon.

The waterfall disappearing between the remaining snow and the rock face.

The dam is the end of the road unless you want to clamber up slick rocks and explore the water filled canyon above.

As you see the canyons and hills are sedimentary rock formations thrust up by some ancient upheaval leaving man lines like a millefoglia dessert, a bit angulated, though.

The hike is pleasant and took me an hour and 15 minutes to get to the dam (I was keeping up a good pace in case it really was 15.4 km to the waterfalls) and an hour and a half to return as it was then I took the photos, talked to the birds and let Bacco have his water time. Here he is cooling down and posing.

Flowers of the Sibillini montains, Cascate dell'Acquasanta trail

2011-05-16T11:21:00.000+02:00

16 Maggio
I have to profit from our rainy days and blog. Here are some of the beautiful flowers Bacco and I encountered yesterday in the Sibillini mountains on the trail, cascate dell'Acquasanta or waterfalls of the sacred water. The next post will describe the trail experience; here are some of the flowers we saw. I don't know any of their names, sorry. I will wait for you to fill in that part.

Chalet Don Diego, my friend and gracious host Peppe and his little Grottammare paradise

2011-05-12T17:39:00.000+02:00

12 Maggio, 2011
When I first arrived in Offida, I met the nicest lady who also seemed to me the most talented artisan with the special lace making of this little commune called Merletti al Tombolo. I would recommend her to all my guests and take my friends to see her. She always asked me "When are you going to visit my sons' restaurant at Grottammare. Finally I made it down to Chalet no. 25 on the lungomare of that town and found Peppe the elder son and proprietario of Chalet Don Diego. I have not eaten better seafood at any restaurant in Italy. Some have been equally as fine but 50% more expensive and Pepe has a little garden outside which is immaculate. I just have returned from London where I dined at the 2nd restaurant of a chef whose flagship restaurant was voted in the top 50 in the world and all I can say is his chef needs to make a visit to Don Diego and learn how to prepare shrimp! Look at these beautiful plates, all antipasti (one is missing, because I tore into the crabs and shrimp before I remembered to take the picture and no one likes to see pix of dismembered crustaceans.) If you come to visit me at Nascondiglio di Bacco and ask for a seafood restaurant, this will by my first suggestion. Enjoy the photos, you will be hungry after. Excuse my camera's lack of expertise with its autofocus setting. hehe

Real Food Festival 2011 in pictures

2011-05-12T14:25:00.000+02:00

12 May, 2011
Here is my pictorial story of a wonderful food festival I attended in London this past week. Thanks to my host who gave me VIP passes for 2 days, Fabio Diu, seen below, organizer of this event and former classmate from the Slow Food master program in food science.

As you enter, you encounter Lavenstoke Park farms display of little buffalo who have left their mommies at home to make milk for english mozzarella. (not going to comment on the differences between this cheese and that from Caserta)

Below is the grand Tregothnan display with a real garden with eucalyptus and manuka plants. They give you an empty tea bag and allow you to pick leaves to make your own tea. The interesting thing about this company is they grow their own tea plants in England. I thought it was a tropical thing, but I was wrong as the ideal climate is moist and cool for tea plants. They also make Manuka honey, herbal teas from their own plants etc. It would be a great property to visit while in England.

A bit of Sicily has made its way to London, didn't try these, but after having the real McCoy in Mesina, I have a hard time with other examples.

Love the truck, veggie hamburgers, real street food and healthy to boot.

New friends who have a 2nd home in the Marche and promote the cherry products of their zone north of us including the wine known as Visciolata. Here's the explanation I stole from La Fromagerie.co.uk about the product:

Visciolata

Italy, Le Marche

A delicious yet intense sweetly savoury taste with echoes of chocolate and vanilla. Made with sour cherries which grow wild in some parts of Le Marche. The cherries are dried in the sun in glass jars for around two months, then separated from their juice and put into Cabernet Sauvignon must. After fermentation the cherry juice is added back too the wine and left to mature.

I love cherries and Robert and Jane told me this is being used at many bars around London for cocktails...Kir Royale anyone? Google supercherry for more info.

Here we have a bit of Calabria with Pecorino cheese and nduja sausage. I was surprised at how many italian vendors were present and got a kick out of speaking my 2nd language.

Good lucking breads from Whole Foods London.

If you have heard me go off on how all truffle oil is a chemical and should be shunned, avoided, not purchased etc., but you love the stuff anyway, then this is the brand to buy. Most white truffle oil is spiked with 4% of the chemical which is overpoweringly truffle. The problem is when you eat real white truffles which are very subtle, you are bound to be disappointed as your tastebuds are used to the strong stuff. This fellow uses the truffles from eastern Umbria to make his oil and adds just a hint of the chemical compound, <1% to give a product more true to its roots. Truffleland.com

Our real aim in life should be to Teach our children well as CSNY have told us. The Real Food Festival is a great way for them to see where their food comes from and try healthy examples. Here they are trying the mozzarella.

I bought only flour at the festival and from Dove Farms I snagged 2 of the oldest known flours, Einkorn which is a prehistoric flour and Heritage flour from 16 and 17th century grains. dovesfarm.co.uk

Am I the last person who has seen gulls' eggs? At over 8 dollars a piece I will just imagine what they taste like.

This Swiss girl just had a sweet smile, so I had to snap a photo. The cheeses were surprisingly good.

Ben Robson is the guy behind Bat and Bottle (www.batwine.co.uk) which has some really cool italian wines for sale among other artisanal products. I am beginning my marketing campaign for our wines already.

Another italian importer with a wide variety of boutique wines.

colasanti.co.uk

This is the first place I have seen vintage vodkas and "single potato patch" vodkas, hehe. I am not a spirits guy, but the differences are noticeable.

This is a booth espousing prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano with a lovely protaganista, Christina who also does publicity videos for little guys like us. We may have to look into that as I am sure any effort we might make would be amateurish.

I loved the interactive areas for kids, here they are making basil pesto.

Only in a British Commonwealth country would you find meat pies with kangaroo or ostrich at a food fair.

My new gelato friends, killer pistacchio! This is the real italian stuff made by italians.

A local butcher showing the kids (not seen to the right) where their lamb comes from.

There were many food prep demonstrations, this one involved bread making.

Il capo, at right, Fabio Diu entertaining famous chef Fergus Henderson and his sous chef in the VIP tent. Thanks for the invite Fabio, hoping some year to bring our wines and oil to the fair!

There are hundreds of exhibitors I am leaving out with everything from rapeseed oil to cupcakes, cookies to jerk sauce. The festival is definitely worth putting on your calender.

Buona Pasqua, Buona Pasquetta

2011-04-23T13:37:00.001+02:00

23 Aprile

A couple of photos I took just south of us

The torrential rains of a month and a half ago eroded our neighbor's vineyard, such that he will have to move the vineyard back at least 10 meters.

A "pioneer' hike I took with Bacco through marshes and brambles, but found some cool things to shoot.

Mt. Vettore

The altopiano (plateau) of Castelluccio

It's hard work living at altitude

Happy Easter everyone! Here in Italy, they celebrate Pasquetta as well which is Monday, so buy enough food for the long weekend as all the stores will be closed.
I have been a whirling dervish the past 7 weeks trying to get everything in order so I can escape to the beautiful Stati Uniti, see some sights including a pretty girl, my family's newest additions--a grand niece and grand nephew, do taxes, and then fly off to see London with my old bud Fabio who will give me an organizer's tour of Realfood Festival there.
We have just finished the scacchiatura (removal of all the buds on the trunk of the vines below the wire) of the Pecorino, Incrocio Bruni 54 and Merlot, cleaned in between the vines with our blade attachment which broke on Thursday, repaired all the wires I have managed to break in various ways, and we are awaiting an analysis of the stability of the red wine blend we want to release in June to see if it needs to be "fined" for protein stability prior to bottling.
I also "weed-ate" my own word invention an acre of olive trees as some of the grass was above my waist, painted the walls around the pool, got the yard ship shape and started packing.
I had a nice relaxing mountain drive last weekend, through the plateau of Caltelluccio, arriving at Fabbri where Italian Reflections fb group had a first get together of expats from most every english speaking country you can think of. It was a great way to pass a Sunday. I spent the first 2 years here thinking maybe there was only a pair of americans within 50 km, but gradually and more recently rapidly, I am finding more of us as well as a slew of English folks. Every once in a while, I like practicing my lingua madre.
For Easter weekend we are pretty full, so today for the kids I made home made Nutella and then took half the batch and added powdered peanut butter, Reese's Nutella.
The winery is going nowhere fast and I accused our construction worker of giving up work on our project for Lent. I am hoping next week, he can get back to it when the wood panels for the garage arrive and the windows. A typical italian experience follows: I asked the window guy how many days it would take to have them built and he said 10 days. There were 3 witnesses. I then said: "In Italy, 10 days means a month". This was March 27th. He assured me that for him, 10 days meant 10 days. It is now April 23rd, monday is a holiday here and I haven't seen the windows. Who was correct?
These are things you have to get used to here. Unfortunately, the upper floor can't be finished without the windows sealing the place off. I am hoping to see a big change when I get back May 7!

Finished with the tying, mowing and weedeating, wonderful italian bureaucracy

2011-04-16T15:39:00.001+02:00

15 Aprile

What is wrong with this picture? Find the answer mid left

Going nowhere fast with the construction, but hopefully this week we will add windows, the rest of the railing and then finish up the inside tasting room. We are trying to plan a grand opening, maybe late June with at least a Pecorino wine bottled if not the Montepulciano/Syrah blend.

Another view of what the engineer from Offida said was our "high-impact' winery, more of an impact than the neighboring solar panels. As soon as he signs off on the construction and we have a license to open, I will let loose with some long pent-up vitriol.

All mowed and only broke one wire I think.

35,000 tied and ready to make grapes

I am loving the flowering plants of Spring

Great smells, helping out the local bee population as well.

So, that is my 2 weeks in pix. Today, I started painting the wall surrounding the pool until I ran out of paint, then mowed the lawn for the 5th time. This morning we prepared a red and white wine as listed above for bottling. They will settle for a couple of weeks and then if the labels and names are ready, they can be bottled in a month or 6 weeks. Afterwards, one needs about a month for the bottle shock to go away and then we can celebrate!

A month of tying and cutting almost completed, Is it any wonder why I love this place?

2011-04-06T10:19:00.000+02:00

6 Aprile
We are finishing up 180 or so rows of tying and cutting, what you might think would be perfect jobs for an ex-surgeon and indeed, it is not too difficult for me, just slow and hard on my hands. This will be the last year we have to repeat this task as we are tying them a little longer and more appropriately this year and in subsequent years will maybe have to tie only 1% of the vines which were broken or too short this year. I walked Bacco on a cloudy morning around our little piece of heaven and here are the photos I took showing our little area. I hope you don't get tired of the same views, I certainly don't.

Looking south over our neighbor's vineyard towards Abruzzo.

Looking back at Nascondiglio di Bacco over the steadily growing wheat.

A little farther yet showing almost our whole vineyard below the B&B.

View from the winery looking southeast at dusk.
Ok, I am off to tie some Syrah vines. Stay tuned as we may put up some names for the wines and let you help us decide or feel free to send suggestions. The first two we will bottle will be an un-oaked Pecorino and Montepulciano-Syrah blend.

Unification day photos

2011-03-17T19:04:00.000+01:00

17 March, 2011
Happy 150th anniversary Italy. The country is celebrating its unification today along with St. Patrick's day. I took an early morning, post-rain walk with Bacco and here, with a bit of exposure tricks is what we saw.

Gran Sasso and surrounding mountain chain south in Abruzzo

Bacco in the wheat field

More wheat for Barilla pasta, growing tall with the recent rains

A look back at Nascondiglio in the middle and the winery on the right

Festa for the unification of Italy at Nascondiglio di Bacco

Even the roman legion showed up

Fixing Alto Adige or Friuli, not sure

Legno!!! We have barrels. Paint job

2011-03-15T20:04:00.000+01:00

15 March
Work goes on and the newest vineyard with the Bruni clone 54 is now tied up, at least on the trunks. We have warm weather coming, so the rest of the vine tying can commence when the sap starts flowing in the vines.
We finally got our barrels, tonneau and botte delivered, as usual 2 weeks later than promised and started loading them up with wine. It was definitely a satisfying and "finally!" moment.

From top to bottom, the tonneau, which are 500 liter barrels, followed by normal barrels, their last time clean, then the 2500 liter Botte with the left one filling up with Cabernet Sauvignon and Montepulciano to make an Offida Rosso DOCG wine and finally barrels filled and marked with their contents.
I am happier now :)
We have finally changed the breakfast room from Meconium Green to a nice shade of Salmon lite picked out by our designer Rosana during her visit here. It looks much better, brighter and more welcoming. See what you think.

Italy is celebrating 150 years of existence as a quasi unified country (I say quasi, because each region has its own personality and sense of self, a bit more than the US, I think). It is occurring on St. Patrick's Day, so finally there will be italians celebrating St. Pat's here! I think I will hit one of the local live music venues and tip back a Guinness and a Peroni's.

Winery changes, snow and work update

2011-02-26T09:49:00.000+01:00

26 February 2011
Yesterday, we finished the preliminary couple of jobs in the vineyard. The vines are now all pruned down to 2 buds on each branch, the branches have been pulled out of the wires and now the wires are all tightened.

Winter wheat in the foreground with the vineyard and Nascondiglio in the distance

What's new? The crane is gone.

Pulling the branches out is a job I don't particularly enjoy as one takes a real beating as some of them come out and act like switches, which if you are my age, you might recall were used by parents to administer a bit of corrective action. I have bruises on both legs as well as some places I can't mention.
The snow arrived last night to put a stop to outside work, so I can now get back to studying my enology course work on Quality Control and Analysis.

Cabernet sauvignon leading down to the Pecorino in the flat

What a difference a day makes

Bacco enjoying the snow

New concrete flooring for the tasting room area

The winery now has a new floor upstairs, the roofing is complete and we have the required solar panels on the roof. The windows are ordered and should arrive in a week or so. The paint color has been chosen for outside and the doors are being manufactured. The railing should be ready for installation next week as well.
As is often the case, the barrels of various sizes which were promised a week and a half ago have not yet arrived. In the meantime, we have chosen corks, bottle sizes and shapes, capsules and are finalizing the labels.
Carnevale in our little town of Offida is coming up next week with festivities Thursday through Fat Tuesday and as I announced on fb, the B&B weekend offer is available for next weekend wherein our guests who pay for one night get one night free. I hope we will be full as this is a great time to visit and see the fun available in this part of the Marche.
Finally, a new world holiday is available to celebrate: the unification of Italy arriving this year and forever after? on March 17. I don't know how it will compete with St. Patrick but we will see. As a prelude, my friends Sigismundo, owner of Degusteria del Gigante and Raimondo, owner of La Bottegola, a fantastic gourmet shop in Castel di Lama put together a fantastic dinner with wines and cheeses from all over Italy. Here are some of the plates with the tricolors to celebrate unification.

pacchero di gragnano
pomodoro basilico e fior di latte

DOLCE CON I SAPORI DEL PIEMONTE

Bibenda-Assisi, grand opening, 35000 vines pruned

2011-02-16T09:39:00.001+01:00

16 February, 2011

Brenda pouring a white burgundy
Valentine's day for me was the day we finished pruning the vineyard; thus ends the 1st big job of the new year. Next comes removing the old branches we cut and then when the sap starts flowing and the vines become flexible, we tie them to the wires.
On the weekend I took a little trip to Assisi to help celebrate the grand opening of the best wine bar in central Italy called Bibenda, which you can find just a half block from the major piazza.
The co-proprietors, Brenda and Nila have both completed the sommelier courses in Italy and have spent the last 2 years searching the wine growing regions of Europe to select some stellar wines for you which you can enjoy with appetizers like Norcia prosciutto, cheeses from all over Italy, salami from a clone of black pigs in Umbria, etc. Or, you can buy a great bottle and have a picnic in the Umbrian countryside.

Graziano, Brenda's husband and fellow wine researcher

One of the beautiful wine shelves

Nila and Larry, an american visiting from Rome

The chef working on the salami from the free range black pigs

Addendum Nascondiglio di Bacco plug:
For those of you with travel plans to Italy, B&B day is March 5 and you can stay 2 nights with us for the price of 1 and enjoy Carnevale at Offida!
dwight

Pruning in my dreams, memorial dinner for a friend

2011-02-09T17:10:00.000+01:00

9 February
I am starting to relive my days of pruning in my sleep and unfortunately the thing I sense the most is the cable I cut which causes a distinct sensation in my hand and a nice ting sound. I hate that! We have now finished all but 1/2 of the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Montepulciano which means about 3-4 more days of work. The days have been nearly perfect with temperatures between 50 and 60 and sunshine.

Here are a couple of pictures looking back at the vineyard and the winery with the mountains in the background still snowcapped.
The weather is tricking some of the trees into blooming early like the almond and mimosa trees, but with luck there will be no more frosts.

Blooming mimosa

Neighboring vineyard with blue sky

New copper roof on the winery

Finally, I am sad to report my friend and former colleague/alum of UMKC, Damon Mountford lost his battle with multiple myeloma last night. Damon was instrumental in augmenting my passion and knowledge of wines of the world. He served as president of Cellarmasters KC for many years, organizing varietal tastings and educating all of us members on the diversity of grapes, growing techniques, and countries of origin, as well as the health benefits/risks of wine consumption. He delighted in cooking elaborate dinners for friends and would sit quietly, listening to the battles between arch liberals and conservatives he purposely invited together to provide entertainment. These dinners were accompanied by great wines he had collected over the years and he was always happy to share his finds. Today, I went up to the local grocery store and bought all the fixings to make a cassoulet, Dwight style and brought out a Zinfandel I am sure he would have appreciated. Here's to you Damon. I wish you had been here to try our 1st wines!

Burn's supper, haggis and Scottish reels, Osteria dell'Arco, the Ravilians live

2011-01-30T11:17:00.003+01:00

30 January, 2011
It's pruning time for the vines and currently we have finished with the newest vines, the hybrid Bruni 54, the Merlot and about a fourth of the Pecorino. That little job should take about 2 more weeks, then we go back and tear out the branches that are cut.
The winery is getting the finishing touches on the walls upstairs and bathroom fixtures have been chosen. The custom windows are being manufactured as well.
We have chosen bottle shapes for the wines to be bottled and are working on labels for the wine, with the thought they will be photo labels.
I actually escaped the confines of Nascondiglio di Bacco for a couple of nights in a row. Friday night, I combined a dinner at Osteria dell'Arco in Magliano di Tenna which is a great place for a dinner based on wonderful grilled meats cooked in the open fire in the dining room. I enjoyed a steak of marchigiani beef and as an appetizer a rabbit "porchetta". The little walled town is a little gem to explore during the daylight hours and is a couple of valleys to our north.

From there, I headed up to Montegranaro to listen to the Ravilians, a group who plays everything from Radiohead, Coldplay to Chris Isaak and has my friend Sigismondo on keyboards who's day job is owner of my favorite San Benedetto restaurant, Degusteria del Gigante.

And now on to the spectacular Burn's night which is a festival celebrated by the Scots and Robert Burns fans all over the world, traditionally on either January 25th or January 29th. I was fortunate enough to be invited to this event in Lapedona, again a bit north of us at the house of Graeme and Sarah Muir. I was un-kilted, but sported my Campbell tartan tie revealing my 1/8 Scottish heritage. Tim and Graeme however had the full outfit covered for the rest of us and Graeme wore his while traveling from London to Ancona on Ryanair, quite a problem for security with all the metal, I am sure.

The evening started out with smoked salmon on toast and Prosecco, segued into a reciting of the Selkirk grace,

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

Next we had Cock-a-Leekie soup prepared by Tim and Gina before standing for the Entrance of the Haggis!

Haggis is one of those things you read about and then swear you will never try it, but if you steal yourself with enough wine beforehand and maybe a couple of little shots of whiskey, it seems edible enough. This course is served with sides of tatties and neeps and since it is a night celebrating Burns, there must be a reading before enjoying this traditional Scottish dish and it is called logically enough "Address to a haggis"

Subsequently there are toasts to the hosts, the toast to the "Lassies" followed by their response or toast to the "Laddies" expertly prepared and read by husband and wife team, Tim and Gina. Each guest gave a reading with their take of a Scottish accent, mine was critiqued as being a bit of Irish and a bit of Scottish.

The italians present did a fine job with their readings full of aspirated "h's" which are non existent in the italian language. It was all great fun and then our hosts put on the Scottish music and taught us a few Scottish reels before everyone headed home.

Wine tasting, pruning season, winery update, Offida carnivale,

2011-01-17T15:38:00.000+01:00

17 gennaio
We sat down with our 2 winemakers for a 2 hour tasting of our various wines which have been sleeping plus or minus int their stainless steel tanks since November without any disturbance. We are trying to look into a crystal ball and see what will become of them as they age in or out of oak barrels and whether some merit an early release, etc. My Pecorino is still improving but a bit funky in the aromas, but I think it will come around after being split in two with half aging in oak and the other half remaining in stainless. Raffaele's Pecorino is fine right now although, it too will mellow a bit over the next few months, at which point we may bottle it and offer it to visitors. The Syrah is really fun to drink, very varietal and is another candidate for an early bottling, perhaps blended with some of our lighter Montepulciano. The Montepulciano "super" is probably going to spend a longish time locked up with a bunch of Cabernet Sauvignon in a 2500 liter oak botte, while all the other reds will be in tonneau and barrique.
So far, so good and our fingers remain crossed.
Tomorrow, we will be inspected by the local engineers to certify the winery was built in a fashion which complies with all the minute rules of the country and will be a time to decide on color schemes for the outside which is plain concrete right now. The inside walls have just gotten another layer as well and the place is seeming less rustic.

It has been a funny 2011 with dense fog arriving frequently and confining me to the house at night. This is another way to get moisture to the vines, though, so if the rains are not going to arrive as they do normally this time of year, the "nebbia" is a good stopgap.
I have finished the pruning of our youngest plants, the Incrocio Bruni 54 which is a cross between Verdicchio and Sauvignon Blanc, so when the lymph starts flowing in Spring, they are ready to tie on their wires.
As is always the case, winter is a slow time for the B&B with the rare straggler showing up, sometimes at the last minute. We hope this year we will fill up for Carnevale in Offida, with its running of the bull, (below)

various balls, costume and regular and the weekend zaniness in Ascoli Piceno before Fat Tuesday, which ends the whole shebang with the carrying of the 4-5 meter flaming torches through the streets of Offida.

Buon compleanno Torrin, Cassoulet e Bacco con suo figlio

2011-01-08T17:51:00.000+01:00

8 Gennaio 2011
Today is my son's 31 birthday, wishing him the best in Thailand! Bacco is shown here with his love child. Pongo is about a year and a half now. Daddy Bacco in the foreground got his shots today and weighed in at 36 kg, (79lbs) all muscle, fortunately. Since the Doblo got smashed up, he has been suffering in my z4 and begging me to get him another van.

Yesterday Bacco and I hiked above Ascoli, site of more than a couple of hermits back 6-700 years ago and we explored around their grottoes.

Today has been a day to cook Cassoulet, a hearty winter dish which always puts in mind my friend Damon, who is the Cassoulet king of KC. I have put a definite italian touch on mine as I have access to the forbidden cured meats of Italia for mine.

Before the oven

After cooking with the bread crumbs and Parmigiano on top.

Finally, an update on the wines and construction of the winery. The wines are resting nicely at a temperature of about 8.5 C. We have a big tasting with our winemaker and assistant next week and will plan out the future as best we can based on our tasting. The difficult part will be to limit how many wines we offer, the combinations are endless. The winery will be painted in the next week or two, but there is still a lot to finish upstairs with a very hopeful finishing date of mid March.

The roof is on the eastern part where the grapes will arrive in the future and the winter wheat is peaking its head up, all destined to make Barilla pasta (seriously)

Now, I have to think deeply as to what wine I will have with the Cassoulet. I am leaning towards a 2000 Hugel Riesling I picked up in Alsace. What do you think?

Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia, the most wonderful cathedral in the world!?

2011-01-03T12:03:00.000+01:00

1/3/11
I highly recommend a jaunt to Barcelona for all you world travellers, if for nothing else, to see the works of the architect, Gaudi. I love all his stuff, although it might not be for everyone. The cathedral, still under construction on its main entrance is truly fascinating with one entrance the birth of Jesus, the other side, the passion and the resurrection under construction, The inside is awe-inspiring with all sorts of symbolism as are the towers with Jesus' and Mary's yet to be completed. While there, try out the restaurant Osmosis!

Above, the Sagrada Familia, various buildings designed by Gaudi and Guell park and a private residence by the same architect.

MY WONDERFUL YEAR by BACCO

2010-12-31T12:33:00.000+01:00

2010
JANUARY

SWIMMING IN THE ADRIATIC, DON'T WORRY, I HAVE A FUR COAT

FEBRUARY

MY FEBRUARY BONE AND MEETING UP WITH MY SON PONGO AT HIS HOUSE

MARCH

MAKING DOGGIE SNOW ANGELS AND ENJOYING THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING

APRIL

SOCCER SEASON

MAY (QUASI)

GUARDING THE GUYS WORKING IN THE VINEYARD

JUNE

MY FAVORITE "SENTIERO" (TRAIL), GOLA DELL' INFERNACCIO, DRINKING MY FILL OF FRESH MOUNTAIN SPRING WATER

JULY

CHECKING OUT THE WINERY CONSTRUCTION, ANOTHER WATER SOURCE FOR ME

AUGUST

KING OF MT. SIBILLA

SEPTEMBER

HERE I AM INSPECTING THE NEW STAINLESS STEEL TANKS, HARVEST IS 2 WEEKS AWAY

OCTOBER

MIKE, MY NEW HIKING BUDDY AND OTHERS FROM KC AND CO BACK IN GOLA, YEAH!

NOVEMBER

SOMETIMES A LOCAL PUDDLE HAS TO SUFFICE, ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT RIGHT AFTER DAD GIVES ME A BATH

DECEMBER

WAITING ON THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR FOR THE PASSING OF THE BATON FROM FATHER TIME TO BABY NEW YEAR

BUON ANNO NUOVO!!

WISHING YOU FROM THE 1ST DAWN OF 2011 A JOYOUS YEAR FULL OF RAINBOWS

COME VISIT!

2010 year in review

2010-12-30T16:32:00.000+01:00

30/12/2010
The year is drawing to a close and I first want to thank all who have followed along on the blog and especially all who came to visit Nascondiglio di Bacco this year. Each year gets busier and thanks to my old and new american friends, we extended the season into November this year.

The January photo shows our vineyard looking west in a month of rest, as yet too soon to start pruning.

February shows pruning in the Merlot vines and with help we finished in about a month.

March shows the layout for the winery excavation in white and ground was broken.

April brought bud break and tying of each of the 30,000 vines with at least 5 elastic ties to train them along the lowest wire. Again we had help with this job which lasted into May. Also you see the totems we placed in the 2 Ferraris worth of reinforced concrete which formed the foundation along with 53 columns -13 meters deep into our clay earth, all to satisfy the new building regulations initiated after the earthquake in L'Aquila.

May found us with walls for the winery and late May the flowering of the grape clusters.

June amidst copper and sulfur treatments almost weekly in the vineyard which are the only substances allowed as we are organic, the construction continues apace with a deadline to finish the lower section before harvest.

July was spent at the house of Gina and Tim with perhaps the largest meeting ever in Ascoli Piceno province of expat americans-4.

Early August shows the grapes having just finished veraison, changing colors from green to purple meaning about 6 weeks remain until the harvest. This year was a bit late in all respects due to low temperatures and cloudy days.

September deserves a spot all its own as miraculously, the working part of the winery construction was finished in time and the new toys arrived to crush and destem and later press the first arrivals, the Merlot.

The last three months saw more grape pressing and work in the winery with racking of the wines to prevent off characteristics. We were blessed with good fortune our first year with all the wines coming in with good numbers as far as alcohol level (13.4-14.5%), pH and total acid levels. After a little hitch with my Pecorino, all is calm and correct and we have a big formal tasting with 2 winemakers named Roberto prior to transferring almost all the wine from stainless to oak.

Lots of americans came to visit in October and November which are good months for me to show folks around. Olive harvest just takes 3 days and pruning is done in December, so I got to put on my tour guide cap a few times and see some new things as well.

The olive oil this year was a grand surprise and the 100% frantoio (one of our olive varieties) oil is the best we have made in my opinion. The pruning, 50,000 cuts, was finished with no major injuries this year prior to my only visit to the USA where I enjoyed seeing great friends, skiing, eating wonderful foods and making a dent in my remaining wine cellar. All ended with an early Christmas celebration with my family which was thoroughly enjoyable.

As I can't stay long away from my buddy Bacco, I returned on Christmas day to a happy pup.

The rainbow picture taken in November pretty much sums up our "most difficult year" which while stressful for both Raffaele and myself, has ended with great promise, turning out about as well as possible with happy, healthy wines, a prospective importer and distributor lined up for the US and an improving economy.

Happy 2011 to everyone and thanks again for a wonderful 2010. dds

California Zins, fresh powder, friends and family

2010-12-15T16:42:00.001+01:00

15 Dicembre

Yes, we are loco and no, we didn't ski there

View from the top of Larkspur with my gracious hosts

The night of the celebration of the lives of Raffaele and Bacco who survived a Doblo destroying car crash. Norcia and Beccofino

I am back in the USA for the 1st time in a year, which sounded strange when I told that to the welcoming customs agent in Denver. Got my bags X-rayed and cleared after being honest and telling them I was carrying olives, cheese and olive oil-3 of the essentials of life.
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/your-money-today/staticslideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=26422035&gt1=32078
Check out this link above which I am almost in full agreement with. I visited a store in Boulder this week selling a DOP Umbrian olive oil which was made from olives harvested in the 2007-2008 season which means it was already expired! 50.00! I told the owner who said the oil had just arrived from his supplier. Shame on that supplier and buyer beware. I say the best way to buy olive oil from Italy is from the producer in person. My oil sells for from 14-16 dollars a liter at Nascondiglio di Bacco, is organic and this year is stellar. I am not going to pass judgement on Trader Joe's oils, but I am betting much of their inexpensive "italian" olive oil is made from olives grown in Spain, Morocco or Tunisia and your spanish oils are usually made from only 2 types of olives vs many hundreds in Italy, and are easily recognizable and not to my liking.
I am trying my best to make a dent in my remaining wine collection which are getting older as I am and I am not sure either of us are getting better. The tasted wines to this point have been 1995 Piper Heidsieck champagne (94 pts), 2003 Seghesio Zin (86), 2003 Seghesio Old Vines Zin (90), 2001 Ridge Geyserville (88), 2002 Ridge Geyserville (90), 2003 Puligny Montrachet (89) with those being my ratings. Don't worry, I had help. Kudos to "The Kitchen" and their sommelier Tim who had Umani Ronchi Montepulciano on the menu.
Today, new snow has arrived at Beaver Creek, so I can't wait to get on the slopes. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends in MO soon and some time I need to finish my last assignment for UC Davis, so I can pass my winemaking class and move on in my studies.

Thanksgiving at Nascondiglio di Bacco

2010-11-28T19:27:00.001+01:00

28 Nov.

Doreen with the 20 lb turkey trussed up

Yes, there was one other male presence: Graziano

A great weekend is coming to an end after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner here at the B&B. We were blessed with visits from expat americans from as far away as Florence, Todi, and Spello. Everyone pitched in with the cooking of traditional dishes like a 9 kg turkey, corn and polenta souffle, pecan pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a few things made from our homegrown fruit, like a quince pound cake and a persimmon upside down cake. Wines were pouring freely and were from 3 countries with my highlight being my last bottle of 1997 Dunn Howell Mt cabernet. Thanks Mr. Dunn for that gem!

Doreen and Naomi a tavola

Naomi from Florence

Brenda and Doreen

Brenda, Doreen and Lisa

Bacco met a new girlfriend who had her way with him as she outweighed him by 7 kg. They had a blast playing and I don't think there will be any forthcoming puppies?

Beatrice and Bacco

I led a tour of the winery for everyone with a tank tasting and hopefully the young wines made a good impression on my sommelier friends.

Today, everyone slept in and then we lunched on turkey soup from the stock made the night before. It was a nice touch of americana in the Marches. Thanks to all for making the journey and making the weekend special!

Olive season is officially ended, Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T18:42:00.000+01:00

24 Novembre
Olive season 2010 is now officially ended. I have cut 50,000 branches +/- from our 100 trees and Raffaele "Pyrolini" has been busy burning them. The nice thing about olive trees is you can pretty much ignore them for 11 months of the year and God will take care of them for you. A bit of rain, a lot of sunshine, not too many of the flies which lay their eggs inside the olives, a properly timed harvest and the oil just comes out pretty darn good. Having said that, last years oil was much softer in style than this year and I couldn't tell you why. This year the oil is just exceptional and I didn't do a thing differently.
Grazie al Dio, I only fell once during my tree climbing and no ribs were broken this year. Once again, I highly recommend a bit of tree climbing for those of you who are baby boomers, it's a blast.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!
The photos are of a recent full moon, Bacco not playing nicely with the frisbee, Bacco in the zona Sentina refuge near Porto d'Ascoli and our olive press which is all done without exposure to oxygen with the latest in modern olive smashing technology.

Potatura, pruning of the olives. random thoughts and photos

2010-11-19T19:39:00.000+01:00

Right now is olive tree pruning time. I have another 42 trees to go and want to finish before I come back to the US. I am studying my enology lessons from UCD and just finished assignment 3. I am a bit sorry the class didn't start 3 weeks earlier as I am learning stuff that would have been useful for the fermentation. The wines are all resting quietly and without problems. We should get our barrels of various sizes in about 3 weeks and the wine will be transferred once again when they arrive. Above are a couple of pictures of our surrounding countryside, the B&B from the east with the vineyard in the foreground and a couple of photos I have forgotten to show of a little gem called the Tempietto in Rome inside the church of St. Pietro di Montorio. Well worth a visit and designed by the first architects of St. Peters cathedral. Supposedly this was built on the site where Peter was crucified. It is a perfect little building! Also there is a doctored pic of Rome from the Gianicolo hill at near sunset.

I have been having a ball this autumn with all the american guests from East coast to West and a bunch of friends from around KC. Thanks everyone for visiting!

Pressing the Montepulciano, racking the other wines, new olive oil

2010-10-29T20:06:00.001+02:00

29 Ottobre
Where does the time go? We picked the Montepulciano grapes 2 weeks ago and today pressed them. An error was made during the harvest and some grape must was exposed to more skins than another batch. This resulted in one tank being a "lighter" wine in both color and tannin extraction than the other. The one with more skins is seriously good, though, so it seems we will profit from the mistake.

We also racked all the wines off their muddy lees again to clarify them, so the day was long in the winery. However, now we have a week off, so I can concentrate on studying my pinciples and practices of winemaking book, pruning the olive trees and entertaining my KC guests.
We harvested in the neighborhood of 1800 kg of olives this year and had a record yield of 213 liters of really good olive oil. Last year, the oil was a bit mild for me, just the way it was, but this year we are back to a full bodied, bitter, spicy, fruity olive oil which will mellow in the next few months, but now is a monster. Actually 3 monsters as we made 2 single variety oils and one blend. Below are Leccino olives.

We got our 1st snow in the mountains 2 days ago and the vineyard leaves are turning red, orange and yellow signifying the arrival of Autumnal weather. The year has been full of work and I don't imagine we will have another this difficult, but in retrospect, like all years at my age, it flew by.

I hope everyone has a safe, fun Halloween, a holiday which is taking off like wildfire here in Italy. Here is your harvest moon to trick or treat by, almost looks like a jack-o-lantern.

Touring with KC friends, Civitella del Tronto, Gola del Infernaccio, etc

2010-10-14T20:55:00.000+02:00

14 OTTOBRE
Here are some photos from a few of my favorite local places to visit. We saw a lot of the Ascoli Piceno province, visiting cheese makers, wineries, fortresses, national parks, chocolate factory, salami producers, churches, piazzas, a lavendar farm, the plateau of Castelluccio, a cooking school, lots of good restaurants and that is just a start. Here are pictures also of San Leonardo church up in the mountains and the work of a Franciscan brother who has put every stone in place the last 40 years. Fr. Pietro Lavini is now 83 and says he will never finish. It was first built by the Benedictines in the 800's and had completely collapsed with the few standing parts having been used as an animal stall before he started his work. A similar story to St. Francis in some ways.

Mike getting ready to enter the "mouth of hell"

Elizabeth's lavendar farm at Lavanda Blu near Carrasai. She also taught the ladies how to make incredible olive ascolane!

That's Fr. Pietro on the left building the bell tower.

He refused to let anyone set one stone on top of another although he did get help with iron work and some friends help him in other ways. He lived up here alone until last year when his heart trouble forced him into the lower altitudes in winter. He still does midnight mass on Christmas eve up here.

Greg trying out some rose hips

Bacco in his favorite place-midstream

I love the altopiano of Castelluccio, this pic was prettier in winter

Civitella del Tronto, last fort to fall in the unification war of Italy, a great view and great place to visit.

Autumn leaves at altitude