Category Archives: Wine and wineries

Cantine Aperte a San Martino

Yesterday was Sunday, November 16 and there was a festival called Cantine Aperte a San Martino or Cellars open for St. Martin. We had gotten a brochure with the participating wineries and a map from a winery we visited last week. It was organized by Movimento Turismo del Vino Umbria. We had planned to visit one or two wineries and then have lunch and then maybe visit another.

The weather was threatening. The first place we went was just south of Perugia and it was closed (!) and it was supposed to be participating. So we headed south near Todi. This one was called Roccafiore. It was quite an operation. When we arrived it was raining and after going inside where they have a gourmet restaurant, spa and hotel, we found out they, too were not opening the Cantina because of the rain. Shoot. We called and made reservations for lunch and decided to try one more. This one was called Tenuta San Rocco – a cluster of confusing buildings and it was POURING rain. Finally we found their make-shift tasting area which was in a newish building with the bottling machines. The man was very friendly and there was another guy and a young woman there. They not only served us wines but also two breads, a sweet, nutty cookie, and hot bruschetta and then they roasted chestnuts on a little brazier right there on the floor!

Chestnuts in a cup.

One of the wines was the Vino Novello which is almost exactly like Beaujolais Nouveau from France. Very young and meant to be drunk right away. It was fresh and good. They explained that it was due to the St. Martin festival that they had olive oil, chestnuts, and new wine as it is the tradition. I found it all charming. They harvest everything by hand. At the end Dottoressa Grassini who is the owner and enologist came and met us. She also was very welcoming. All in all a very fun experience.

New wine.

Off to lunch at Locanda Rovicciano in Castel Ritaldi. We found it in our Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d’Italia book. Excellent restaurant. We were seated in a room with a big fireplace. I bet it would be cozy in the winter. There were large Italian families dining and many children. It was fun watching them. The kids were pretty well behaved and could go outside and blow off steam while their parents ate and drank wine. The table in our room had four women and four men. The four men sat at the end of the table, then the four women all together, and then the kids. So strange. We would never seat ourselves like that in the States.

I had the quail eggs with white truffles. They were fried and place on top of toasted bread with shaved truffles. Yum!

Luther had Maltagliata which means “badly cut”. And it was very irregular. It had onions and bacon.

I had the spit roasted Quail for an entree and Luther had grilled lamb. He pronounced it the best lamb he’s had here. My Quail was tiny and crispy and smokey flavored and not too much food. It was wrapped in bacon and I am pretty sure roasted over a wood fire. Very Very good. My Quail.

Here is the sky just before we went into the restaurant. Spooky!

All in all a fun day. This coming week will see us moving into our own place, or so we hope. I finished unpacking what I could unpack so there are not so many boxes. We went shopping Saturday and bought a vacuum cleaner. A Dyson Animal. We hope that will help us keep up with the cat hair.

Beautiful Fall day!

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to visit a restaurant with Susan and Gary that was recommended by our local Enotecca and also visit a winery in the Cannara area. This town grows the famous Cannara sweet onions to be found only here in the world! The weather was just spectacular for November 9. Warm enough for shirt sleeves and with that lovely Autumn slanting sunlight on the grapevines that have turned red and yellow.

First the winery. We headed up into the hills and stopped at an ultra-modern winery. It was not the one we intended to visit which was further down the road. This one, Tenuta Castelbuono had an enormous tasting room and some sculptures. I cannot imagine how much it must have cost. Perhaps it is um, money laundering? Anyway, they had two Sagrantino wines which we tasted and bought. Here are pictures.

ENORMOUS tasting room.

Click to appreciate the colors of Autumn.

The structure was designed by a sculptor. Very unusual.

After we visited this winery there were few others open on Sunday so we went to Cannara of onion fame. We drove into this little town which is situated on the Topino river, another St. Francis town with two medieval churches and the site where he gave his sermon to the birds. It used to be to be a lake until it was drained in the Middle Ages. We passed a sign advertising onions or Cipolla for sale. Couldn’t pass that up – world famous and all! We rang the bell and the lady came out and took us into the shed. As we entered the gate another car stopped with a family inside and asked us if they sold onions. We said yes and he was thrilled and gave out a Bellisimo and stopped to buy also. Only Italians would get this excited to buy onions. The lady began scooping onions into a bag, and scooping, and scooping! 2 kilos later (about 4 lbs) we left. Fun.

Now onto our restaurant called Hazienda Ristorante Cafe. What else would you name an Italian restaurant? It was one of those holiday places. It had apartments to rent for holiday makers and a swimming pool, great views of Assisi up on the mountain. We ordered the 4 course degustation menu. After we ordered the owner warned us that it was a LOT of food. Uh oh. Well it was a lot but we managed it. No picture, sorry. We had an antipasti with several fried specialties like onion rings (famous onions!) fried sage leaves etc. Next was a pretty plate with three fried dough circles on which were three poached (famous) onions on top of a parmesan cream sauce with drizzled balsamic (heaven!). Next were Raviolis in a parmesan cream sauce. The Secundo or main course was supposed to be horse but we couldn’t deal with that and had them substitute lamb, grilled, not great. Over done and gristly but thankfully not a lot to eat. We skipped dessert. Burp!

Back in Umbertide they were having a big market with clothes, jewelry, roasted chestnuts and peanuts. Happening place. Pictures.

Chestnuts being roasted.

Today, Monday, always a slow day. BUT it was an unusual Monday because our kitchen was due today!! I went over to the house to grab some things I needed and take a little walk. They were washing the floors in preparation for the kitchen.

We also got good news from Gary that Luther’s long-in-coming medicines had been delivered to him (2 months!). It is so funny, Luther’s name was on the package, we had my sister send it to Emanuele’s office but no-one was there. BUT they knew other Americans lived nearby and they MUST know the recipient so went to Gary’s house. He paid the duty and we met on the Piazza to take delivery and pay. Also Susan brought me my share of the Famous Cannara onions. Now I need to figure out how to fix them to take advantage of their special qualities.

Here is the Pedini truck delivering our KITCHEN!!!

I’ll go over tonight to see the progress. So exciting!!

Another day, another winery and lunch :-)

So Luther decreed that we had to go buy some more wine. He chose a place or two down in the Sagrantino wine district. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from our house. The day was fine. We found the first winery called Particaia which means plough. When we exited the car we were assailed with the overpowering odor of the new harvest of crushed grapes. The older gentleman who met us at the door of the office was super nice. He took us to the big building to see the vats with the piles of grape peels and juice.

Then we walked up to the tasting room where he showed us the previous years harvest aging in French oak.

We tasted three wines and bought a couple of cases. The old gentleman turned out to be the owner and vintner! He was super welcoming and I have to say, his property is beautiful.

They had a dog. His name was Flick. He reminded my of my dog growing up, Cricket.

We went to one more winery. They were not as welcoming. In fact they pointedly looked at their watch when we arrived at 12:15. I guess lunch was getting near and they didn’t want us hanging around.

Next came the really big adventure. We were looking for a restaurant called Ristorante 4 Piedi & 8.5 Pollici. It means the restaurant of the 4 feet and 8 1/2 thumbs. I have no idea why they call it that. We had a map from the internet. We tried to use the GPS but it didn’t recognize the street. We drove up to a small hill town but we knew that was wrong so went back to Bastardo. Yes it’s really called that! It is an unattractive town with little to recommend it. The review we read said the restaurant was hard to find. Boy were they right! They said it was in a strip mall. Well after driving slowly around the streets and asking two people we finally found it behind some big tents and in back of a big supermarket. There were no signs for it anywhere. Typically Italian.

It is a quirky place. Strangely decorated. The people were friendly and welcoming. There is no menu. They come out and recite what they have. We chose the Antipasti to share and a pasta. Hand made Strangozzi pasta (local specialty) with onions and ham. The Antipasti was a multi-course affair. Here are pictures and descriptions. It was a great lunch.

Started with a plate of ham, mortadella, mozarella, a grilled mushroom which was spicy and a round of bread with melted cheese inside. I didn’t take a picture of that plate. Next were slices of pecorino cheese with two little dishes, one home-made applesauce and the other a conserve of something I couldn’t place. They both paired with the cheese nicely.