A little over a year and 125 blog posts ago, I started Brunellos Have More Fun.  Also around this time, I was settling into my cozy digs at Casa De Conciliis, working my very first harvest and beginning what would be the most marvelous adventure I’ve ever had. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic. So, I’ve decided to get retrospective and share some of my very favorite photographs from that magical time (and the posts that they accompanied). I mean, can you get better photography inspiration/subject matter than Italia??

Sit back, grab a glass of vino and enjoy.

It’s Raining Pasta- Sunday morning with a family in the kitchen. Happiness.

Mezzogiorno - aka Lunch at The Winery.

Ode to Moscato di Terracina- in Lazio with Andrea Pandolfo in some of the most beautiful vineyards I’ve ever seen.

The Secret Vineyard- my secret vineyard.

True Wines and The Ultimate Cellar- A day with Giampiero Bea at Paolo Bea in Montefalco.

The Lion Count & The Forgotten Varietals of Emilia-Romagna- Leone Conte, a wild Vespa ride & two people in love.

An Attic Full of Acid Never Tasted So Good- a peek into the Medici acetaia.

Liguria: A Love Letter in Photos- a stroll down the sea cliffs of the Cinque Terre.

A Lot of Olives Equals Not  A Lot of Oil- working the olive harvest in Tuscany with some donkeys and WWII parachutes.

Looking back over all these words and photos and memories, my heart aches (more than) a little. The people I have been so lucky to know, the laughs and stories shared, the glasses clinked and bread broken, the utterly breathtaking landscapes I have been able to experience…

If I never get back to Italy ever again, these could fill me with happiness for a lifetime.

To take a rest from the world of all things grape, I spent one week in a town called Monteriggioni (about 20 minutes from Siena) in the heart of Tuscany to pick some olives. Every day I was immersed in clusters of ripe olives and smooth silvery green leaves. I would pull my hands down the thin branches to gently release the olives and I could spend an hour or more on one tree to make sure every single olive was found and picked. Sometimes, I would crawl to the interior of the tree and gaze out through the canopy of olives and branches. It was kind of like my very own grown up fort. Or perhaps, my very own secret olive grove? Yes, I realize I already have a secret vineyard. But, a gal can have an olive grove too, for pete’s sake.

Each day we would set out to a new untouched section of the grove and work our way down the hill tree by tree. We’d start by spreading out the World War II parachutes we used as tarps to collect all of the falling olives. And then we got to work. After collecting around 30 crates (which could take almost 2 days of work), the olive mill was switched on and ready to press! All of this work is being done biodynamically and organically without the use of any chemical treatment to the trees or surrounding land. The olives are cold pressed, then left in stainless tanks for 6-8 weeks. Then bottled. That’s it. The “mill” is a super fancy machine that was created just a few years ago. Jens Schmidt, the owner and my gracious host, was the second person to have ever bought the machine and people all over the country and the world have come to visit to learn how to operate it.

The grove sits on a large piece of land with an amazing villa called, Villa Montecastello. Jens has lovingly restored it after more than a decade of work and has cultivated a healthy biodynamic land in which he has a full garden, wild herbs, cinta senese pigs, a family of donkeys, chickens, guinea fowl and even a few pigeons. It really is a magical little place. Not a bad place to call the office. Or home, for that matter. I think I could get used to this kind of life.