......you probably have a plumbing problem! At least that is what happened at this year's annual Sagra dell Uva Grape Festival in the city of Marino. Every year, since 1925, the city of Marino celebrates one of the oldest wine festivals in Italy. Marino is located in the wine making region of Lazio in the Alban Hills south of Rome. This year the festival had a delightful turn of events when residents turning on their taps were surprised with a free flowing supply of local wine. Sad to say we were not there. But we did get our share of local wines and food while traveling all over Tuscany with my buddy Sanjoy from California. Having just returned, hence my lack of postings to my blog, I must say I am missing all that good food and wine. We visited the major DOCG regions and some of the more important DOC's like Montalcino, Montepulciano and
Bolgheri.Driving along the Strada del Chianti ( SS 222) you get a wonderful sense of what the Tuscan countryside is like. That large picking basket just seems to be waiting to be filled up and 2008 appears to be bountiful with good quality grapes throughout the region. Just look at those beautiful bunches of Sangiovese grapes. Lush, ripe and mature and oh so sweet. These were scheduled for picking the day after our visit to the vineyard. Click on the pic to get a better view.
In my next posts I will be going into more details about some of the wineries we visited. All well known and all outstanding producers. Names like Ruffino, Cecchi and Ornelaia are recognized around the globe and we had the pleasure of visiting with them. Met an outstanding young winemaker in Bolgheri and was really impressed with his style of wine. I will be telling you more about Alessandro Dondi at the Castello di Bolgheri.
Tuscany, one big happy vineyard and I am already looking forward to a return visit. We maybe going through some world wide financial crisis but I tell you Italian food and wines give me comfort and lifts my spirits. But then good food and wine tends to do that. I will leave you with a message captured in this picture taken outside St. Francis' Basilica in Assisi. Yes, we did get in
some fantastic sightseeing and of course sampled local foods and wines.So Peace to you all, enjoy your wines and good things are bound to come your way.
