SARDENGA

Paul ( the Wine Guy), " I promised to visit a vineyard in Sardegna....want to come?"
Elizabeth and me (the Wine Drinkers), "Duh...Yah!"

After a car ride to Rome and a short flight. we are on the island of Sardegna. Technically, Sardegna is part of Italy, but for all intents and purposes, you find yourself in a different country.



DORGALI

Our destination is the region around Dorgali, a two hour drive from Cagliari, on the eastern part of the island, This is the home of Cannonau di Sardegna, the ancient grape of remarkable structure.
Sardegna seems to be ringed with huge jagged mountains with white rock streaked with gold and red,  which plunge into the sea. Don't look for any scenic seaside roads here, it is all hairpin turns and switchbacks up and down the coastal mountains.

We descend into a valley that seems uninhabited, save for some vineyards and olive groves. The land is dry, rain being scarce.

Everywhere you look you encounter terrible beauty. It is as if some great ancient god ( they are still here, by the way) tore a large chunk of earth out, leaving this jagged mountain range.

As Paul talked wine business with Manuela, Elizabeth and I , along with Betty tried to absorb this wonderful paradise until it was time for the........

WINE TASTING
Atha Ruja

We were in a small stucco hut (cantina) tasting world class wines (92 point rating). What's not to like? But, as the day grew long we had to retire to the hotel on the other side of the mountains.

CALA GONONE

As we pass through a tunnel we emerge facing the Mare Tirreno and way down below sits the seaside village of Cala Gonone. What can I say, the town has a 'La Dolce Vita' quality to it( aside from the multitude of gelateria's). The beaches are golden red and the sea a stunning aquamarine.

At night we dined on local seafood and roast suckling pig, porcheddu. We promised our host to return in October for the harvest. We returned to Cagliari to catch our flight back to the mainland. But, I could not help myself and had to buy a 'souvenir' from Sardegna.

"The best tuna in the world!"
     - Tonino di Avellino

POGGIO ALLORO.....A Visit To A Family Farm In Tuscany

There it is, San Gimignano in the distance, recognizable by all it's medieval towers. We have been there to see some of the important and beautiful fresco cycles, and  now it is time to visit a family farm we have heard and read about for the past few years.....Poggio Alloro.

Once again we are on the wine trail with Paul and Betty.  After arriving and all the introductions and hugs went around it was only minutes before a chilled bottle of Poggio Alloro wine showed up with four glasses. As family members came to greet their old friends Paul and Betty and meet their new friends James & Elizabeth, more bottles chairs appeared along with additional  glasses and bottles of wine.

This is a true family farm where they raise what they eat. This is Chianina territory, the ghostly white cow...steer raised in Tuscany. Chianina is the beef used for Fiorentina steak that is famous here, generally huge and cut thick, grilled quickly so that it is barely cooked through.

After a glass or two of wine walk down to the barn to see the Chianina to find just how huge these white specters are! 

We pass Amico's vegetable garden. Amigo  it seems is the patriarch here  at the farm and this is just one of the chores he tends too. We later find that the fennel salad at dinner is from his garden. Everything here at the farm, including the wine is 'biological' or organic.

 Sarah, Amico's daughter, who we met at  her wine tasting in Yarmouth , Maine, of all places, invites us to join the family for dinner.

Local cured meats are served first.

Then......Amico shows up with the steaks, Chianina  beef, of course.

We understand that he is a master at grilling these fine cuts of meat.

On this night he grills in the spacious dining room fireplace.

Amico, as nimble as an acrobat, moves in and out of the fireplace with ease as he  tends to the steaks.

Finished with her work for the day Sarah joins us and pours wine  first for Betty and Paul, then for all at the table.

A fennel salad is brought to the table, along with bread.....everything from the farm.

The wine is delicious.

Steaks are ready. Amico salts them. They are ready to be served. Can't wait!!!

The beef is amazing and cooked masterfully. 

"Bravo!" Amico.  

After a perfect night's sleep, James wakes early and finds a place on the terrace overlooking San Gimignano ( San G.! as he calls it) to draw. He spoke of his interest in the rising and terraced landscape between the farm and San Gimignano. He makes a drawing, which will become a painting, so, that probably means a return visit here.

No problem!

Vineyards surround the farm.

It seems that everyone here on the farm has a task. When we arrived Russell was mowing and weeding, another  was in this shed cutting wood. Down at the cantina there were cousins putting 

labels on bottles........so much work goes on here from dawn to dusk, with great food and wine in between the work. Incredible.

The wood that was being cut in the morning it put in a wheelbarrow and wheeled up to the outdoor brick oven. Amico is there to arrange the wood for cooking the evening meals for the farm's guests. In conversation we come to understand that nearly everything that is on the family table is grown or raised on the farm. It is a tale of hard work with rich results, good work, good food, good wine, family and friends. We are all sorry we will not be at the table for this meal!

Sarah had a group coming to Poggio Alloro for a cooking class. The dining room is rearranged and readied for a lesson in pasta making. Sarah is a woman of many talents.

  

A Family Farm in Tuscany , by Sarah Fioroni

A Family Farm in Tuscany is a lovely book that Sarah has written about living and working on her families farm, Poggio Alloro.  She includes some of the traditional Tuscan recipes that are prepared here. James and I bought the book a couple of years ago, but now, being here it all comes to life. After meeting the people in the book and not only seeing the amount of work they do...everyone is in constant motion, I am so delighted to be here. You can bet that James and I will be using some of Sarah's recipes.

Before leaving we stop in the cantina to buy a few bottles of wine to take back to Panicale.

Paul imports this wine, so we will buy more when we return home.

Another final look at San G. before leaving.

Hugs go around. Betty walking arm in arm with Amico back to the car. He gives her a  potted rose, an old rose from Poggio Alloro. She will loving put it in her garden.
This is how great memories are made.

Mille Grazie, Sarah, Amico and all at Poggio Alloro.

UMBRIA.....Montefalco

 Montefalco is old. Old not in the sense of  deterioration or frailty, but old in its earned stature of having a long history predating the time in the early Middle Ages when it was known as Coccorone, continuing through Roman occupation when in 1249 it was sacked by Frederick II.  The town was rebuilt and in the 13th Century became a free commune, until it came under Papal rule in 1449, where it continued until recent history with the unification of Italy in 1861.


Montefalco is often referred to as "the balcony of Umbria" having beautiful views across the Umbrian plain. Walking through the narrow stone streets of the town you are easily transported back to the Medieval days, where one can imagine life as it was then lived. In fact, Umbrian hill towns all attest to a similar history and endurance. Much has happened here over the centuries, and as you spend time here you get a sense of that continuing longevity and in part a testament to why Italy is so beguiling. Italy envelops you.

We came to Montefalco for three things, art, food and wine.The Church of San Francesco dates to 1335, and has an important fresco cycle painted by Benozzo Gozzoli . Gozzoli was commissioned to paint a fresco cycle of  the Life of St. Francis. He painted this from 1450-52, in a narrative of 19 significant events from his life, beginning with his birth.
Here in this chapel we are alone. This fresco cycle painted with the masterful hand and carefully composed narration of the life of St. Francis by Gozzoli brings us from Medieval into the Renaissance.

Just a note....The Church of San Francesco ( deconsecrated)  is now operated by the town and is
 called Museo Civico San Francesco.

In the above panel Gozzoli  portrays, for the first time St. Francis wearing the familiar brown habit with the rope belt, signifying his devotion and call to a life of poverty, having given up a life of wealth. It is here in this panel the narrative shows us St. Francis meeting St. Dominic  (1215) in Rome. It is said to be Rome due to the obelisk's depiction in the painting. For anyone who has visited Rome, you know that obelisks are all over the place!

Gozzoli uses the architecture (of the Renaissance) along with the figures not only to convey the story of St. Francis, but to create composition. He is incorporating perspective, line, and color to make this fresco cycle visually exciting.

There is one panel depicting St. Francis' Blessing of the Birds ( no photo, sorry), where Gozzoli places St. Francis in an Umbrian landscape and in the distance is Monte Subasio,  the Monastery at Assisi, Montefalco and the small village of Bevagna. I did not count, but was told that there are 13 kinds of birds in this panel including a swan, pheasant, raven , thrush and of course, the ever present magpie.

Piertro Perugino ( Pietro Vannucci)
The Nativity, 1503

The Church of San Francesco also has a fresco by Umbrian painter, Il Perugino.
Perugino is Umbria's "favorite son", I guess that's fair to say. Here The Nativity is painted with an Umbrian landscape in the background that is centered on Lake Trasimeno. The familiar Lake Trasimeno is often seen in a Perugino painting and it is the view that James and I see from Panicale.

The Nativity ( detail)
Perugino

WITH OUR HEADS ARE FULL........

Time for lunch. When we mentioned we were going over to Montefalco for the day it was unanimous by all that we should have lunch at L'Alchemista.  We had a leisurely lunch and the food was excellent, so much so that I did not take any photos ( at least I will blame it on that). We were with friends so we were probably just talking too much, and eating to remember pictures! L'Alchemista goes on our list of places to return to. We each had a glass of a different Sangrantino, a unique and splendid local red wine. This being an enoteca, James selected a bottle to take back to the house to have some evening with dinner.
Somehow our day trips to see art always end up with a good lunch included.

Selection, yes...... a good selection and the proprietors are happy to assist with a recommendation, if you'd like.

After lunch we walked around town. There is a linen shop, Pardi, on the Corso Mameli, that I wanted to stop into
 but it was still closed for the afternoon. Next time.

The last stop we decided to make while in Montefalco was to a vineyard.  That morning,while James and I were having cappuccino at Bar Gallo, both Aldo and Daniela suggested
 we visited Arnaldo Caprai vineyard. 

Here we learned more about Sagrantino wine. We knew that it was once considered a religious or sacramental, contemplative wine, but we also found that the story goes that...
 Pliny the Elder, 1st century aC wrote in his texts of the Itriola grape, the one that Sagrantino is made from, likely originating from Asia Minor and transported here by Pilgrims.
Now that's pretty old!

We drink Sagrantino when we are in Italy due to the fact that the production is small, and not widely available outside Italy. This is an Umbrian wine and only a handful towns  that include Montefalco, Bevegna and Spello can grow and produce Sagrantino. Often it is Sagrantino Rosso that we buy, but sometimes we will splurge on a bottle of Montefalco di Sagrantino, and for a bigger splurge a bottle of Sagrantino Passito. Passito was the first Sagrantino I tried when several years ago James had read about it and bought a bottle. It was completely heavenly.

The Umbrian landscape from Caprai vineyard......stunning.

Bella Umbria.