Ok just to get things out in the open...the past few weeks have been pretty darn epic! Its hard to know where to start. We here goes...
Three weeks ago we headed to Multilpuciano in southern Italy to visit a small brewery there. Fantastic places with tasty brews, Their brewery tour was walking into a room and talking as the brewery was pretty much a large garage. They had an interesting beer that had a bunch of local ingredients and another one was aged with brunello (a tuscan wine). That night we headed to some hot spring pools nearby. The next day I woke up early and went up to Florence with our meat guy here to help sell some of our salumi products at an agrarian festival in the city. It was awesome, albeit very long. I maned the register which actually worked out well as I could practice my italian numbers.
My past work weeks have been filled with preparing for the grape harvest, doing more legna, trimming hedges, and a bunch of other random stuff for sure. But two weeks ago we harvested all of the grapes throughout the week. It is an intense, exhausting process but a bunch of fun because it is really 'all hands on deck' as everyone from that can work the harvest does. Very sticky hands, tons of bees and grape throwing are some of things I am going to remember most.
Then some adventures began...we visited two wineries last Friday, one conventional, one biodynamic. The biodynamic one was true eye-opening...one of my best experiences here. The whole process was utterly fascinating (no additives/sulfites whatsoever...and only natural yeasts from the skins were used). The name of it was Colombaia. I could go on and on about this place. The next day we ventured into Umbria (right east of Tuscany) to visit yet another winery (Paolo Bea) in Montefalco. Coming here this was the only place I had on my docket to visit and it truly lived up to the expectations. He is produces some cult wines that have a large following in the states. Again he is a natural winemaker and he makes wines mostly made with the local sagrantino grape. Here I tried probably the best wine of my life a 2003 Sagrantino Passito (a sweet wine) Then I headed south with a few from the program and visited Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We got to see the bustling parts of Naples, have great pizza, drive on the Amalfi coast and, yes, visit a local winery (Feudi di San Gregorio) It was great to have coastal weather and just get to see a completely different part of Italy.
>>> I am reading this post a few days after writing it (as I accidentally did not post it when I wrote it) and I feel I need to add a bit of perspective on these experiences. Understanding 'why' these places and people had an impact on me is almost more important than the aesthetic beauty of the experiences. The common thread in the winery visits and in much of the labor I do on the farm is that they are united in simplicity. The simplest way possible (albeit most difficult at times) will bring about something that is more beautiful and wonderful than complicated processes. The natural winemakers were somewhat prophetic and fiercely apologetic about the methods which they used. Less is more. During the grape harvest, while it would have been easier with a bunch of machinery, the people to people interactions one has whilst harvest grapes is and will be a solid memory from my time at Spannocchia. The 'hands on' nature of crushing and processing the grapes we are doing in the cantina again is so simple yet wonderful. I look back at the producers we have visited, the food we have tried, the work we have done and the simplicity and astounding beauty of it all is, as the cliche goes, a memory I will never forget. Hard to believe I will be back home in less than a month. I look forward to seeing all!
Today I am kinda taking it easy as I had a little spill yesterday while I was cleaning a tank in the cantina. All is well though! Just banged up my big toe so I'm walking quite tenderly. Maybe some reading and a nap now :)
Ciao, a dopo!
