Vineyard Tour and Market

On Saturday, I woke up early and I had a wine tasting event in the cutest little suburb town called Civitella.  It is located on the border of Northern Lazio and Umbria between the hills and the clay canyons of Civitella d'Agliano to the west and the fertile plain of the Tiber Valley to the East. The natural beauty of the area has remained untouched by urbanization and industrial development and still offers breath-taking landscapes, dotted with woods and lakes.  In a bus, it took about an hour and half to get there.  We arrived at family vineyard with the family name of Mottura.  We first arrived at a big warehouse and met the owner of the vineyard and went inside and he began to show us how the wine process works.  Inside the “factory” part there were huge silver machines where the wine was fermented and we could taste and try the wine at different stages.  The lesson was a huge chemistry lesson and I learned that it is such a complicated process.  Wine making essentially involves the mixing of fruit juice and sugar and then adding yeast to convert the sugar to alcohol. I learned that while wine is generally made from grapes, other juices can be used as the base.  The reason grapes are the usual fruit of choice is because of their high sugar content.  Alcohol is the by product of the action of yeast on sugar.  Grapes contain enough natural sugars to allow full fermentation.  When using the juices of other fruits sugar generally has to be added as the fruit generally does not contain sufficient natural sugar for full fermentation.  Also there is a different process for white, red, and champagne which makes the process even more intricate!  The blank white wine won the best wine in Italy in 2009 so he focused on teaching us how to make the white wine.  There are three parts:

1. Preparation (picture of grapes on the wine)

The first step in making a white wine is to have the grapes just ready. They need to be picked not only at the proper time in their life cycle, but also at the right time of day to ensure the acids and sugars are all at the right balance for the wine. The grapes are picked carefully, to prevent bruising, and often first put into a cleaner that removes spiders and leaves (and, one winemaker told us, occasionally mice!).  Next, the grapes are put into a machine which gently squeezes the juice out. For a white wine, all skins and stems are removed at this point. They would add a tannic flavor to the wine, and a color as well - neither are normally desired in a white wine.

2. Fermentation (picture of the big silver machines)

The liquid is held in a stainless steel vat. In this vat, the sugars inside the grapes are turned into alcohol by yeasts. Some wineries use only the naturally occurring yeasts that are found with the grapes. Others have cultured yeasts that they use year after year. This fermentation process typically takes from 3-4 weeks.  Temperature is very important during this stage - it also affects flavor and color. Often cooling pipes or even garden hoses with holes in them are run around the vats, to maintain the temperature.

When fermentation is complete, white wine can then go through cold stabilization. This process requires the wine dropping to almost freezing, to precipitate out the tartaric crystals that can form. The crystals are quite harmless, and this process can affect wine flavor, but it is done so nervous consumers do not panic when they see crystals in their wine bottles.

3. Aging (picture of the barrels above) going can be done in barrels, or now it is even done in stainless steel vats with oak chips along their bottoms. Often, during aging, a special bacteria is added which allows malolactic fermentation to occur. This additional fermentation, often noted with a "ML" on the barrel being used, converts the malic (sharp) acid into a lactic (mild) acid. Barrel aging in general allows the wine to absorb some of the flavors of the barrel, giving it an oaky and smooth taste. White wine is normally aged for less time than a red wine is. It might age for up to a year to give it the correct amount of flavor, or it could be bottled immediately. White wines are normally drinkable right when you purchase the bottle, although there are some whites that do benefit from a few years of aging.

After tasting the wine at different stages we got back on the bus and went out to the actual vineyard where we were able to eat the grapes off the vine.  They were really good and sweet.  The vineyard is 130 acres and it was beautiful with the Italian country side in the background and it felt like you could just see plants for miles and miles.  After seeing the actual vineyard we went to his estate to eat lunch and have some more tasting.  When we got there he took us down to the cellar where we saw where all of the wine was aging.  It was so cool!  It was 50 meters underground which keeps the wine at a perfect 44 degrees.  It was huge and actual ran under the entire center square of the city.  There was barrel upon barrel and signs with the age of the wine.

Lunch was a delicious red sause past pasta, chicken and potatoes, and apple pie.  At the different stages of the lunch we were taught about what type of wine we should me drinking and the different type of grapes and their taste. 

Procanico: produces sparse bunches, is very resistant to rot, reddish-gold in colour, it is of limited yield but has distinctive personality.

Verdello: has compact bunches, a dark green colour, high acidity and fine and delicate bouquet.

Grechetto: our favourite variety of which three different clones have been selected, has rich, heady, lasting bouquets together with full and persistent body. Drupeggio or Rupeccio, has a flowery bouquet and velvet-smooth body.

Chardonnay: the base for our classic method "champenoise" sparkling.

Merlot, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Pinot Noir: all red varieties very often apt to turn to great wines in our area.  Rule number one was white wine always away from the table and food and red wine during your meal.  He kept saying how important it is to drink the right wine at the right time beacuse the wine enhances your food.

We loaded back in the bus and I was back in Rome by 6.  I then relaxed for a little and then went out with my friends Maddy and Bridget to Trastevere.  Trastevere is where my school is located and I have never been there at night before.  Trastevere maintains its character thanks to its narrow cobbled streets lined by medieval houses. At night, both natives and tourists go out to its many pubs and restaurants.  I got a huge scoop of gelato and had a great time people watching. 

On Sunday morning, one of my roommates Marni and I got up early determined to go to a market called the Porto Portese.
This is the biggest flea market in Rome, and one of the biggest in Europe, where you can find basically everything but food, from Murano lamps to cheap underwear to auto parts. We were told to go early and watch your purse.  Luckily for us we did not bring a purse because we found out it was 3 miles away so we decided to run.  I put some money on the bottom of my shoes and we tied our house key to our shoe lace and were off.  We ran along the river for awhile until  we needed to turn right onto a busy road.  We found the market and it was a huge mob scene!   There were different entrances for different things.  Enter at Piazza Ippolito Nievo if you are shopping for antique furniture, lamps, curiosities, rugs, furniture old lace and embroideries. Enter from Piazza Porto Portese if you're in the market for pots and pans, clothing, shoes, house wares. It’s a bit overwhelming but it’s fun because you never know what you might find, so long as you’re willing to press on through the crowd to find it.  We just got back exhausted after calculated we ran slash walked about 8-9 miles today!  Right now I am waiting for my water to boil for a nice egg salad sandwich!

The town had cats everywhere!  On every other car and perch possible.  This is a picture of a few cats eating a pasta lunch!