by whitney on February 12, 2010
Yes, Valentine’s Day is upon us. The hearts, the greeting cards, everything coming up roses, pink and other shades of flesh and blood. Do I sound cynical and jaded? Nah. Just single. But seriously, I really don’t mind this somewhat saccharin day. If anything, it is an excuse to eat copious amounts of chocolate. And let people know you love them (or don’t love them at all and would NOT like to be their Valentine.) 3rd grade traumas seem to be arising. I think I shall take this moment to look back at some of my favorite sweet Italian things this year. It helps balance the “bitter.”
Uva Fragola= Strawberry Grape. A wild Italian grape that mysteriously tastes like fresh strawberry. I need these in my life. Why do they not grow in America?
Limoncello. In the words of the wise Clune McClune, “It’s like a musical instrument, but you can drink it.” Wise, indeed. It is thick and lemony and sweet. I like it chilled over ice. Just delicious.
Moscato grapes dried on the vine for sweet moscato passito wine. Peach-candied burnt orange-tangerine raisin candy. I could have spent the whole day in the vineyard with a lawn chair, a book and my arm within reach of a cluster.
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by whitney 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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