by whit on September 20, 2010
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.
by whit on October 10, 2009
My favorite book as a child was The Secret Garden. My mother and I would read it every night and we would try out our best British accents and everything. I would completely escape into a different world of petticoats, wildflowers, ancient stone walls and ivy covered doors… I have a point, we will get there shortly.
On my last day in Terracina, Andrea brought me to a vineyard he said would be like no other vineyard I have ever seen and will ever see. We drove up into the Circeo mountains through Stone Valley to a town stopped in time some 50 years ago. Campo Soriano is only 11 km from the city center of Terracina but feels like an eternity away (they only got electricity about 20 years ago.) Here in this town is the vineyard. The Secret Vineyard. Or, rather, My Secret Vineyard. I would like to think.
Vines were growing around stones and along the curvature of the natural land. Large stones remained intact within the rows of vines. Evidence of midnight visits from roaming porcupines lay untouched. The earth was soft and bouncy almost, but rich due to the constant working of the soil to maintain even distribution of water content throughout. Looming overhead all the while is the centerpiece of the vineyard; the largest stone in the entire valley, remaining from the ice age.
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by whit on October 9, 2009
golden globes, plump sun-kissed orbs
a sea of wild flowers
and bumbling bees
intoxicated by the sweet nectar
of moscato.
OK, OK… I got a little carried away. And I am not much of an ode writer. But seriously, the moscato vineyards of Terracina are the most beautiful I have ever seen. Albeit, I haven’t visited most of the world’s wine growing regions, but I would bet these are high on some figurative list of vineyard beauty. The soil. the vines, the grapes, the surrounding gardens and olive groves, the view….the list goes on. I was lucky to be able to spend a few days with Andrea Pandolfo of Sant’Andrea, the man who never stops working. Literally. But, he brought me along to view his 2 prized moscato vineyards. Moscato is one of the most widely planted grapes in Italy, but it is almost always made into a sweet, frizzante wine with low alcohol (a la Moscato d’Asti). But Andrea is creating a fantastic DRY, still Moscato di Terracina. Terracina is located about an hour south of Rome on the coast. It is surrounded by clusters of small towns and farmland dedicated almost solely to agriculture and, you guessed it, grapes!
The first vineyard we visited, growing only moscato, was in an area called La Fiora. Vigaro and his wife work the land and tend to the grapes every day. They also have a garden (with pomegranates, artichokes and cactus fruit/fichi d’india) and an olive grove within the vineyard. They greeted us at the property’s gate and we followed them as they wandered through the 60 year old vines selecting grapes. Not for harvest this time, but for eating at home. Oh how I desperately wish this was where I got my “table grapes” for daily snacking.
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