A delightful time in Campania

I’m on the road again, this time I am flying into Rome with KLM – Royal Dutch Airlines. It’s a pity they don’t fly into Australia anymore, they were great. By now I am a fully fledged long distance flyer moving between Australia and Italy so often that my friends ask me where I am when they call me on the mobile. I get invited to a lot of wine events in Italy as an Australian representative, I judge wine shows and go to tastings so regularly that I am seriously thinking of leaving my job and living in Italy. However, I realise that by doing that I will no longer be asked to all these events as they want someone from Australia not someone from Australia who now lives in Italy.

I land in Rome and have a day all to myself as the other journalists won’t be landing for 24 hours. It’s something I’ve learnt on my trips, always arrive and give yourself time to get your bearings. I don’t suffer from jetlag going to Italy but I do need a few hours sleep to make up for sleep missed on the plane. A couple of hours and I am ready to hit the road. Australia is a long way when most of the other journalists are coming from around Europe and only have a two hour trip.

I act as a tourist wandering around Rome seeing the sights and not really caring what I do. I walk for kilometres, sometimes backtracking over places I have already seen. I don’t have a map but it doesn’t matter as I have nowhere to go and no one to meet. I am on my own and loving it.

Around 2.00pm I decide to have lunch near Piazza Venezia and I enter a little trattoria. The waiter says he can’t serve me. It appears they don’t do ones, only twos and above – ‘ones’ don’t spend enough money! I begin to wonder whether I will get the same reception from everyone and hesitate several times at different establishments. It’s the first time in Italy that I have been refused entry anywhere. Finally I find a restaurant in a little alley, it’s crowded but I find a table and sit down. The waiter comes and brings me basket of bread and he speaks English. I ask if one person on their own is okay and he has no problem saying that the other restaurant was foolish to throw away the custom.

After lunch I walk until my feet and legs are so sore I have to go back to the hotel to rest. It’s about 6pm and people don’t eat until 8pm when I’m to meet my friend Marina so I go back and lie down. At 8.15 I am woken by the telephone, Marina is downstairs, am I ready? As much as I want to go back to sleep, I can’t. I won’t have much time with Marina as it is so I have a quick wash and rush downstairs. I get back to the hotel at about 1.30am and have to be ready to leave at 7am, so much for my getting there early and resting up before the trip!

I head back to the airport, this time in luxury as Marina has organised a car to pick me up. I have to wait until everybody lands and gets through customs – I drink so much espresso with our guide as we wait the three hours to assemble the group which arrives in dribs and drabs. Thank goodness the toilets aren’t far. The last person doesn’t get to have a cup of coffee as we are now running late.

This time we head south to Campania and several wineries making wine from ‘ancient’ varieties. Most of them you can only get in Campania. Our guide on this trip will take us to a number of wineries around the town of Avellino but first we stop in Mondragone, a small town in the province of Caserta and a couple of hours north west of Naples. We have to be there at a certain time because the winery is in the very heart of the town and there’s to be a festival that night. Streets will be blocked off and we will get stuck if we don’t leave by 3.pm.

When the winery was established in 1880, it was surrounded by countryside but slowly the town has built itself around the winery. Not only does this make life difficult for us but also for the winery.

Cantine di Moio is built on land that was once part of the nearby sea. At some stage the land under the sea rose up and now four metres below the earth, the land is rich in fossils. Going down into the cellar you can see the walls which have been dug into the earth are full of shells and fossilised sea creatures.

We are met by the lovely Michele Moio and his son Luigi. Luigi, who is a professor at Naples University speaks wonderful English, Michele unfortunately doesn’t but hand signals and gestures can sometimes say as much as words. He is excited to see us and is constantly saying ‘looka, looka’ one of the few words he knows.

After we have been through a tasting of his wines and looked at the many awards, some dating back to the 20s and 30s, we are asked to have lunch with them. ‘It’s only a snack but you must join us’. We sit in the yard and they bring out Burrata, tennis-ball sized pieces of white, white mozzarella that oozes cream when cut. They had been made locally that morning. This is my first experience with Burrata and one which I repeat as often as  can. Olives, tomatoes and home-made bread were brought out and we were all given a never-ending glass of Falanghina. We could have been sitting at the best table in the world, the meal was so good.

It was sad to have to get up and go as we were enjoying ourselves so much but we knew that soon the streets would be closed and we had to make a move. We said our goodbyes and left just as the ‘municipio’ came with barricades, we got out just in the nick of time.

We headed for Avellino with full bellys and sleepy heads from the wine, some of us even had a little nap, dreaming I’m sure of the wonderful Burrata. Avellino was at least a two hour drive and we settled in, comfortable in the knowledge that if we missed dinner that night, no one really cared.

Because we had to leave the winery early, our guide told us that we would stop at Vietri for a few minutes on the way to Avellino. Vietri is a town famous for its ceramics - the only problem was we had to get through Naples first. If you think peak hour traffic is crazy here, you should see Naples! I think all drivers who manage to navigate their way through Naples deserve a medal.
Seatbelts had just become compulsory in Italy - but only in the front seat, presumably no one gets hurt in the back. We spotted a man wearing a t-shirt that had a printed seat belt on the front of it - he was waging his one man war against wearing any form of safety harness, but he wasn't the only one. Soon we found lots of people wearing them, it appeared that they didn't like the new law in Naples.

We soon left the highway and the scenery along the way was of small towns and secondary roads, nothing of any real interest. However, when we got to our hotel in Avellino it was in front of a funicular railway, one that rose up all the way to the Sanctuary of Montevergine some 1480 metres above sea level. The funicular (really a cable car) would take pilgrims up to the top and bring them back. You can drive up the mountain but you don’t get the views.

The cellar door at Terre di Paolo

We arrived at the hotel, Hotel De La Villa , and with no appointments ahead that night, we all went to our rooms, unpacked and then met downstairs to go sightseeing. Free time on these trips is rare and so whenever there’s a possibility of even half an hour, it’s taken. Looking at the area around you is just as important as trying the wines. As it turned out, there wasn’t much to see except a whole lot of buildings built in 50s and 60s – not old enough to be of interest and yet not modern either.  We went back to the hotel and had dinner.

Next morning we headed out of town to Montefusco and to the Cantina Terre Di Paolo owned by Walter Mastroberadino, cousin of the famous Antonio Mastroberardino, the so-called archaeologist of wine. Walter and Antonio didn’t get on during that time and we were pre-warned not to mention Antonio’s name. I have no idea of the current situation but it seemed odd to be going to a winery and not mentioning the most influential person in the wine industry at the time.

We were shown around the winery by Luigi Mastroberardino, Walter’s son. Walter never made an appearance. The winery was fairly new, it was built at the end of a dirt road and it looked like a big yellow box. There was still a bit of work to do but I imagine it’s been done by now and probably looks spectacular.

Casa Dell'Orco - a fairytale

We left Montefusco and travelled a short distance to Pratola Serra, the home of Cantina Casa dell’Orco. Owned by exhuberant solicitor, Pellegrino Musto, the vineyards are full of vines and stories which with Pellegrino – you don’t know whether to believe him or not. It was the first time I tried Torte della Nonna which we ate with a glass of wine. The torte has been a firm favourite ever since.

The Di Meo winery 

Vines at Cantine di Meo

From there we travelled to Salza Irpinia and met Roberto Di Meo.  The winery, which is in the old hunting lodge of Caracciolo, Prince of Avellino, was established by his father and today is run by Roberto, his sister Erminia, and brother Generoso Di Meo. Roberto invited us in and offered us lunch in a rather rustic kitchen with a huge log fire. Homemade salami, home-cured olives, fresh tomatoes and cheese were brought out and we felt like relatives who had just dropped by we were so relaxed. Roberto took us out to the vineyards which were full of yellow flowers making the vineyards look very pretty in winter. Di Meo is famous for his Fiano di Avellino, which has a mild and toasty nutty flavour, and he makes several other indigenous varieties.

Too soon we had to leave as this had been one of the nicest visits so far but we had to go and see the most talked about winery of the region, the fairly new Feudi di San Gregorio. Everybody was talking about them, they were big news. They were expected to win a number of prizes at Vinitaly so we were anxious not to miss out.

Earlier in the day when we left the hotel, we had a new bus driver. He introduced himself as Luciano and he was very good ferrying us to all the different wineries and answering our questions as his English was quite good. He took us to Feudi and joined in taking us around. The winery wasn’t as complete as it is today so he explained all the work they were doing. After we had seen the winery it was decided that we would have the wines with our lunch (yes, a second lunch) at a local restaurant in Altripalda, a nearby town. The lunch was fantastic and the wines superb, I loved Serpico in particular.  Luciano had lunch with us and we thought how nice it was as the drivers don’t normally eat with us.

During lunch we had all decided to put a collection together as Luciano had done a sterling job and in Italy it is customary on these sorts of trips to tip the driver. Most drivers really appreciated it because they aren’t exactly well paid. Luciano was very knowledgeable about all the wineries and this was exceptionally helpful. We were finishing lunch when he said ‘how did you like my winery?’. We asked him had we gone past it or something because he would surely know whether we had seen it. He answered, ‘You’ve just been there and you’ve already forgotten. Feudi di San Gregorio, I own it with my brothers’.

We all burst out laughing because we were going to give him a tip when he could probably pay for our flights home from his pocket change. When we explained why we were laughing he accepted our mistake, he thought we had all been told who he was. Luciano then drove us back to the hotel.

Next: A chef makes a mistake and we enjoy ourselves in Friuli

 A typical cake from Campania. Make sure cake cools completely before serving.

Torta Caprese  

·         300 gm chopped Almonds

·         200 gm chopped cooking chocolate

·         200 gm butter

·         200 gm sugar

·         6 eggs

·         1 ½ level tspns baking powder

·         2 tbspn liqueur (a flavour that will go with chocolate)

·         Icing sugar to dust cake

      1.       Chop butter into small pieces and cream with sugar.

2.       Beat the eggs separately and add slowly to the butter cream

3.       Add almonds, chocolate, then baking powder and finally the liqueur

4.       Pour mix into a 28cm spring form cake tin and bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees.

5.       Let the cake cool on a wire rack and dredge with icing sugar

Oltrepo Pavese - Trouble is following us.

(Oltrepo Pavese is a small zone in the southern part of Lombardy. It is very agricultural.)

The Frecciarossa Estate

We arrived in Oltrepo Pavese without incident and we checked into the Hotel Italia, in the small town of Stradella.  Because of the unusual way Italians rank hotels, this was a purported to be a four star – it would barely make three star anywhere else. Totally bland and uninteresting, it’s not the type of hotel that you would recommend to anybody. It was clean but also small and dark with limited street appeal. The lobby was small and furnished with old fashioned lounge chairs and cluttered with lots of dried flower arrangements and nic nacs.Their bedrooms however, were clean and passable.

Our first appointment was at the local ‘Universita’ for a tasting with Marco Sabellico, a wine journalist with Gambero Rosso. In those days Marco was just starting out and had been at Italy’s most important wine magazine for a couple of years.

We turned up at the University in extreme heat, it must have been 100 degrees outside. The room where the tasting was being held had no air-conditioning and very few windows. Marco began his tasting of local wines and spoke knowledgeably about the area and grape varieties. He found his confidence as we all began to perspire. Slowly people began to leave the room, some even hopping out of the low windows. It was like an oven. Marco just kept on going and going, who knew that there were so any things to say about Oltrepo. As special guests we had to sit it out. Finally when the heat became intolerable and we were all parched as if we had been on a trek in the dessert, we got up and left. We never got to hear the end of his presentation but I doubt that we could have concentrated on it anyway.

Marco Sabellico

We went back to the hotel, most of us had showers to cool us down and then we went outside to a bar where we drank beer and spritzers until it was time to get changed for dinner. What had been a difficult afternoon turned out to be one of the best days of our trip.

One of the group had elected to have a sleep instead of coming out for drinks. He had slept for several hours by the time we had all gathered in the lobby waiting to go out. I won’t mention Bill’s surname suffice to say he is one of the nicest guys.

We gathered in the lobby and realised that Bill wasn’t with us. Someone went up to his room and called him, he was still asleep, probably jet lagged as he had arrived late. He said it would just take a minute to get ready. As he promised he came downstairs soon after. However, he looked a complete mess, his curly hair needed a cut and hadn’t been combed so it he looked like ‘Little Orphan Annie’, he wore a pair of old jeans and a crumpled t-shirt and the outfit was completed by sandals.

We explained that we were going to a rather swish sort of place and didn’t he think he should change. “Oh, yes, maybe I should”. He went back up stairs and was down again immediately. He had exchanged the crumpled t-shirt for a crumpled denim shirt but apart from that nothing else had changed and we left the hotel in fits of giggles. This was Bill’s version of formal attire.

Le Fracce

The next day we visited Le Fracce, a winery that was once owned by a relation of the famous Branca family. Fratelli Branca are famous because of their famous digestive Fernet Branca. We were told the winery was now owned by an institute but it was all very hush hush and we were never told what the institute was. It had beautifully landscaped gardens with a number of statues artfully placed but we didn’t try any wines and we never got to the bottom of the story. It was a very odd visit.
Following our visit to Le Fracce, we headed to a smaller winery where we would have a tasting and they would put on a home-cooked lunch for us. Once again I won’t mention the name as the visit ended up as a battle field with us, seven journalists, in the firing line.

What started as a very pleasant visit with the owner of the winery turned out to be rather nerve-wracking. The young man showed us around the winery which was particularly old but he was trying to rebuild and renovate with modern equipment. It was obvious that he was certain he could make it into the dream winery he wanted. He had finished winemaking school and had come back to the family farm. His father had tried winemaking in his youth and had given up as he couldn’t make it work, he never found it worth the effort. However the son had asked him if he could take over the winery and he said yes.

The son came back at a time when the Italian wine industry was going through a boom period with new technology and ideas, these he took on board and surprisingly the winery had started to make reasonable wines that were selling well within Lombardy – or at least in Oltrepo.

What we didn’t know was that the old man was extremely jealous of his son’s success. While we were having lunch and talking to the son, the old man kept on interrupting and saying it was his winery and the son shouldn’t forget that. He knew how to make wine and it wasn’t that difficult. We were in the middle of the two men as we tried to keep things below boiling point and it was obvious the old man thought he could take the son on in a fight and win. The mother could see the old man getting upset and tried to placate him with plates of different foods she had prepared for lunch.

All of a sudden the table erupted and it was on for young and old. Food and plates went flying while we hopped out the back door very quickly. In a surreal moment, the mother thanked us for coming as if this was all normal. We quickly got back into our mini bus and waved goodbye and sped off down the driveway.

I don’t know why but trouble seemed to be following us no matter where we went. Was it us?

Part of the Certosa of Pavia - The Cloisters, a magnificent Abbey in the area worth visiting

Thank goodness our next visit was to Frecciarossa where normality reigned. I am very fortunate because I have been able to maintain my relationship with the family Odero for many years and each time I see them it’s as if I haven’t been away.

Frecciarossa means Red Arrow. It was so named by Margarite Odero’s grandfather who established the winery before WW1. It was passed on his death to Margarite’s father, Giorgio and now she runs the business. She is well inot her 70s but you wouldn’t know it, she is so energetic I can’t see the business moving to her daughter yet.

The magnificent villa at Frecciarossa

Frecciarossa produces a number of wines, one of the most unusual is a pinot noir fermented as a white wine. They also produce Sillery (named after a race horse) and Le Praielle, their most popular and well know throughout Italy.
The winery and Villa are surrounded by vineyards and farmland, it is truly a little piece of visual beauty. When I have stayed at the Villla, I have slept in a room at the top of the house with sweeping views of the countryside.

Although by this stage we expected trouble, after all it had been following us, but a visit to Frecciarossa was cool and calm and probably just what we needed.

After leaving Frecciarossa it was still early enough for us to catch the Soccer world cup on TV. We were invited to watch it on a ‘big screen TV’ at the villa of Vercesi dei Castellazzo.  The Vercesi family were very nice and allowed us the use of their big lounge room and TV. Obviously they don’t watch much TV because large to them meant portable TV to us. We had to sit rather close to it to recognise any of the players. But we were in Italy, in a villa above a village named for the family and we were fed and watered very well. I don’t think any of us will forget that day when we were lords and lady of the manor!

I have included a recipe for Malfatti, a traditional recipe of Lombardy. We were served this dish several times, each time slightly different from the last. These little dumplings are also made in Tuscany where they are known as Gnudi – both claim to have invented them.

Malfatti.

This is one of Italy’s oldest recipes first mentioned in the 1300’s. Originally a plain meal eaten by the poor, it has been changed over time to become quite sophisticated with the addition of ricotta, spinach and parmigiana.

Makes enough for 4

1 lge bunch         spinach or Swiss chard (or 1 packet of frozen spinach with the water squeezed out)
250 gm                ricotta cheese
125 gm                Parmigiana, finely grated
1                           egg
200 gm                plain four
                             salt and pepper to taste
½ tspn                 nutmeg

1.          Boil the spinach, drain and dry with paper towel so that there is no excess water. Chop finely.

2.          Mix all the ingredients together.
3.          When all ingredients are combined well take teaspoon-sized bits of dough and roll them into balls. To make it easier to ball the dough, wet your hands. Make sure the balls are small and tight because if they are loosely packed they will come apart when boiled.
4.          Have a saucepan of water boiling on the stove and place the balls, a few at a time, in the water. When they come back to the top they are cooked. Take them out and replace them with more. The cooked malfatti can now be added to sauce or butter and sage.

Do Not handle the malfatti too much or they will fall apart. When adding them to the sauce 

(tomato or gorgonzola) drop them in gently. If using butter and sage, roll them over gently to coat

them. If you want to,  you can bake them in the oven covered in sauce.

Frecciarossa Wine notes :

Sillery - Harvested by hand and gathered in small crates to prevent damage. Grape selection is done by vine and by vineyard according to the ripening. Made from 100%Pinot Noir.
Fruity, richly intense, long lasting with hints of white flowers, citrus and balsamic notes.

Giorgio Odero - The grapes are harvested by hand in small crates to prevent damage. They are picked with a careful grape selection so that only the best grapes are used. The wine is warm, intense and very well balanced, very elegant with a long lasting fruity flavour and good ripe tannins.

Giorgio Odero is considered by Gambero Rosso, Italy's leading wine and food magazine one of the     best Italian Pinot Nero and has been awarded the top award of 3 bicchieri twice.

Flying into trouble

Flying into trouble

The Collosseum in Rome

Back in the 90s, before I found Emirates (lovely airline, recommend them to anyone), Alitalia still flew to Australia. I had been on Alitalia planes within Italy and I thought I would try them internationally. It was my one and only flight.

Smoking had been banned at this stage by most airlines but it was still allowed on Alitalia. I booked a non-smoking seat, not worried about how they separated non-smoking from smoking. I figured they would put all the smokers in a separate section, how, I wasn’t sure.

I boarded the flight and discovered that they had made the last four rows smoking, of course, I was in the fifth row from the back and might as well have been in one of those smoking rooms you see at Asian airports where people desperate for a smoke are puffing for all their life is worth. We had a cloud of smoke above our heads and a cacophony of coughing for most of the flight.

I was seated next to a girl from British Airways and an elderly lady from Calabria on her first trip home for 40 years. We started a conversation and apart from the smoke we had a pleasant first leg of the flight.

When we arrived in Bangkok we had the normal turn around as people left the flight and people got on.  I lost my companion from BA as she was catching a connecting flight to the UK. A man got on to take her place and we took off. Conversation had slowed as we were getting tired and basically run out of conversation.

A young lady in the same row but across the aisle, who was still in holiday mode – she was wearing very little and what she was wearing was more suited to the beach – got up to have a cigarette. She went to the back of the plane (a whole three metres!) and joined a group of young Italian men who had got on in Bangkok. She stayed with them for about 20 minutes but they must have said something she didn’t like as she came and sat down again. One of the young men followed her and tried to convince her to rejoin the group. Unfortunately he was holding a cigarette and found it necessary to hold on to my seat. His cigarette kept dancing in front of my face as he puffed away and then relaxed. His hand was pulling my hair every time he held on to the seat again. I complained but he was concentrating on the girl. He kept looking around and saying sorry and then the cigarette and hand would come back. The flight attendants were no where in sight so I was stuck. He finally got the message and removed himself to the rear of the plane and I thought, great, we will have some peace now.

But I was wrong, the fun had only just begun!

There were six or seven guys standing at the rear of the plane and they were all drinking. They had boarded in Bangkok and must have been well on the way to being drunk  there.  The flight attendant kept bring them two and three drinks at a time (illegal but this was Alitalia) and then disappearing to have a cigarette himself presumably.

They got through all the beer and then all the scotch on board, finally draining the drinks pool to gin and coca cola (yuk!), they got rowdy and stated moving around the back of the plane. The little old lady sitting next to me started getting nervous and several other people started complaining to the group as well. Me, being a busybody, went to the galley and asked the flight attendant to have a word with them and to stop bringing them alcohol because they had obviously had too much. I was told that he was serving them alcohol in the hope that they would soon fall asleep and not to worry.

I got back to my seat just in time to see the ringleader trying to open the back door of the plane. I am presuming that he was so drunk that he didn’t know what he was doing because no one in their right mind would try and get some fresh air that way. I have found out since from a friend who is a Qantas pilot, that it is impossible to open the doors mid-flight.

A number of people saw this and we all pressed the buzzer for the flight attendant. The ceiling lit up with little red lights as we were all very nervous by this stage. The flight attendant came back to see what was wrong and managed to get most of the group to sit down. They managed to stay in their seats for about five minutes, just long enough for the flight attendant to disappear...again!

The rowdy behaviour started again and an older female flight attendant (about 50 – Alitalia aren’t ageist, it’s their only good point) came down the back and yelled at them. This seemed to have a settling effect, rather like mum screaming at you. Again they sat down. They did fall asleep or kept quiet for about 20 minutes. The rest of the passengers at the back of the plane, who seemed to have been forgotten by the rest of the flight staff, finally had some peace. It didn’t last long.

Sure enough they woke up and started get active again. This time the poor old toilets at the back of the plane caught their attention. They started to rip out the paper holders and spray the soap around making an awful mess. Toilet paper was thrown as they seemed to relish this new game.

This time everybody started yelling for the flight attendant and he came quickly. He realised he would not be able to control this on his own so he called for reinforcements. We presume they were from the flight deck because they were in full uniform including caps but several men came and restrained the ringleader and one other male and put them in their seats and handcuffed them to the arms. The others got a stern warning and were told to sit down in no uncertain terms. All of this was going on in Italian so heaven help the passengers who didn’t understand.

The journey continued and soon we were landing at Rome airport. We landed and taxied to a spot, miles away it seemed, from the terminal.  Soon buses appeared and we all disembarked and got on.  However, the buses didn’t leave and we stayed there for about ten minutes, all crowded together, hot and sleep deprived. We wondered what was going on, we didn’t have to wait for long. Soon we heard police sirens racing to the plane. The police ran up the stairs of the plane and about five minutes later came down with the two handcuffed passengers and the other four young men. The staff on board had prevented them from disembarking. The passengers from the rear of the flight had all got on the one bus and we let out an enormous roar as they were placed in police cars and then swiftly driven off. My only regret was not being there when they went to court and telling them how terrified people actually were.

I had a flight to catch for Linate ( Milan’s second airport) so I hurried through the airport to the domestic terminal. I had about 50 minutes to wait but was dreading another flight on Alitalia. I knew it couldn’t be as bad as the flight I had just got off but I had already decided I would never fly with them again – when and if I got home.

The Duomo in Milan

After an uneventful flight I arrived at Linate and after finding the rest of the group, travelled to our hotel in Oltrepo Pavese.

Next: A family argument and beautiful villas.

Adventures in Trentino

Trip to Trentino Part 2

As we started our little trip around the city of Bolzano, me in my polo neck jumpers in paradoxically Italy’s summer hot spot.  (You have to go to Siciliy to find warmer weather in summer). Tempers simmered below the surface for Aaron and Alex and they sat as far away from each other as they could on the bus.

This was a pity because I got on with both men and it was a genuine mistake on Alex’s behalf but Aaron didn’t see it like that – maybe if someone else and not a German, there wouldn’t been as much bad feeling.

An alpine road bordered with vineyards

 Our visit to Trentino included visits to Viticoldori Caldaro, Cantina Produttori  Cortaccia,Kastelaz Elena Walch, Josef Niedermayer,  Hofstatter, Cantina Produttori San Michel Appiano, Produttori Colterenzio, Cason Hirschprunn, Cantina Vini Peter Zemmer and Alois Lageder. As you can see from the list, not a lot of help for me because only one brand was available in Australia at that time and my employer wanted me to do a write up of my trip.

Viticaldora Caldora

The only thing about Viticoldori Caldoro (Kallerei Kaltern)  that I remember was Lagrein, a rustic red wine that grows prolifically in the area due to the hot summer temperatures that I was sweating through. At that time the grapes were trellised using the pergola system which was very pretty but these days nearly all vineyards have been swapped over the guyot, a more modern style. There are approximately 350 hectares of Lagrein grown around Bolzano.

I believe you can now buy one or two brands of Lagrein in Australia, is very dark in colour yet it is unsettling because the palate doesn’t live up to the expectations of your eyes. It is a light wine with aromas of raspberries and plums and is slightly spicy with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. It is strangely a good food wine.

Elena Walch Barrel

Lago Caldaro

Next came Elena Walch, where we met the lovely Elena and her husband. We saw their vineyards rising nearly vertically behind the winery and we were taken on a little excursion to Lago Caldaro, a beautiful wetland and filled with popular holiday resorts. On returning to the winery, we were taken on one of the first of many interminable barrel stores. If you want to bore a wine journo quickly, take them on the tour and see how quickly they switch off. Their eyes glaze over and they start to lose concentration. But if you definitely want to kill the moment, follow the barrel store with a bottling line.  A bottling line is a bottling line, they all do the same thing but because the winery has outlaid so much money they want to show you – believe me they all work in the same way!

Elena Walch’s barrel store was nice one, it had several large carved and painted botte (large barrels) at the entrance. It had been there for many generations so for once it wasn’t the same boring tour, at least the beginning wasn’t. Of course, as it was my first trip I was still excited about everything and barrel stores and bottling lines still enthralled me.

Our little bus took us to our next destination up mountain trails and along roads where we had magnificent views and you really do feel as if you are on the top of the world.

Neidemeyer

We travelled to Neidermayr for which I cannot remember a thing and then Hofstatter where we met the most arrogant and unpleasant young man. I won’t mention his name. This young man, supposedly the owner, whether it was an act or he was just immature showed us around the winery and the house on the property all the time with a superior attitude of look what I have and you don’t. I hope he has become a lot more humble these days.

Later we saw San Michele Appiano (very nice but nothing to report) and Colterenzio, which was located in the most perfect alpine setting. Colterenzio was where we really noticed the confusion of having two different names in two languages, Colterenzio was also known as Shreckbicle (German) Both names were up on the wall outside and we asked what the Shreckbicle meant and we were told by the director that it was the real name of the winery – he was German.

Colterenzio - Shrekbicle

All the other wineries have disappeared from my memory except for Alois Lageder and the town of Magré.

The town of Magre

Alois Lageder is an unusual person. He is very affable and gentle and he think before he does anything to make sure he doesn’t affect the environment. His winery is built on the side of a hil so that the rock it stands on keeps it cool. The winery is constructed in such a way that the wine always travels down using gravity instead of motors. It uses a motor only once when it is pumped up to be bottled. The winery is made of wood and uses wooden nails and non toxic natural glues, the windows are louvered in a certain way so that the offices in the winery do not need air conditioning. It is the most amazing winery.

In the vineyards he grows grapes bio-dynamically, he puts cows horns full of sulphur in the corner of each vineyard and has work done in the vineyard by the phases of the moon. He also uses the Kaballah to name the various vineyards – the Kaballah uses no vowels so he has some weird names – he adds vowels if the letters need it.

Alois Lageder

But, it must work as he has delicious wines.

After the visit to the winery, he walked us back to his house through the town of Magre. It was quite strange, most people knew him and treated him like royalty, men took their hats off and women bowed their heads.

We went back to his house where we found out his wife was a ballerina (what else could she be, she’d have to be in the arts field somewhere) and that he had organised for one of the best chefs from Switzerland to cook dinner for us. Being only a few kilometres from the border, the chef had driven down that day and spent all day preparing a wonderful feast for us and had also matched the wines with a variety of recipes which were given to us. Conversation at the table saw me ask Alois a straight question. All the guys knew where I was going and tried to stop me but they wanted to know as much as I did. I asked him if he was worried that some people would think he was whacko with all this mumbo jumbo.  His reply was that it didn’t matter what other people thought and that he had to be happy in his own mind.

 We had a wonderful night, one which I will never forget because our host was so generous with his time, the meal was superb and he didn’t mind me asking him if he was whacko!

I have had emails and Christmas Cards from him since so at least I know there are no hard feelings from my terrible faux pas many years ago.

Next Installment: An interesting flight then Oltrepo Pavese

Trip to Trentino

Trip to Trentino

My next trip came about by a fortuitous meeting while waiting in the rain for a taxi in Verona. One day after the fair I was with two importers and we were trying to catch a taxi back to our hotel.  It was bucketing down and the queue was rather long. We started talking to a young girl in the queue ahead of us. She was from California and worked for a woman who had a PR company in Rome. The woman had an idea of doing press trips around Italy and would I be interested. Of course I had to say yes, wouldn’t you? Since then I have been to Italy many times on one of Marina’s trips or under my own steam and we have become firm friends. These days, more often than not, I go for other reasons but no matter when I go to Italy I always try to fit in a visit to Rome to visit Marina.

The mountains rise up above vineyards

I arrived at Milan airport ready to travel up to Trentino Alto Adige, a region known for its beauty and rugged landscape. I was so excited. I met the others in my group, journalists from all over the world: a couple of guys from the USA, a German who had lived in Canada for many years, a Frenchman, an Englishman, a Dutchman.  Each of them with a different personality and this was the time when I learnt that not all personalities travel well together.

I spent all of my teen years growing up in Australia and the chance to see real mountains were few and far between. A trip to the Snowy Mountains doesn’t compete with the magnificence of the Dolomites. Towering above the road with the added charm of old stone churches built hundreds of feet up just doesn’t compare. Australia has many beautiful sights but the mountains now look like big hills when put next to these big boys.

A house amongst the vineyards

On the way from Milan to Bolzano we found out about the region from our driver, a young Italian guy who lived in Bolzano and who was extremely open. He told us that in the area in which he lived (Bolzano) they spoke three languages: Italian, German and Ladin – a local language. This was because the Austrians felt more of an alliance with Austria and wanted the Sud-Tirol ( the name of the area as far as the Austrians were concerned) to become part of Austria again - after all it only became part of Italy in 1919.

The Italians were very relaxed about it because it was part of Italy and they felt it was their natural right to be there. So the Sud -Tyroleans speak German and the people of Trentino speak Italian with some cross over. In a number of provinces on both sides Ladin is the official language.

You really notice this problem because everywhere you go, the street signs are in both languages and most companies have two names, it is very confusing.

Castle Toblino on Lago di Garda

It took us about five hours on the bus to get to our destination but getting there was half the fun. The mountains appeared to be so tall (about 3000+ metres) and for part of the trip we drove through a valley carved out by a prehistoric glacier, the road was so flat but the area was only a few hundred metres wide. The landscape remained the same until we reached the upper end of the Adige river and we found ourselves in Alto Adige (High Adige). The it softened, we left the mountains behind and we passed through Bolzano. Fortunately I have since learnt that Bolzano is a beautiful city, back then we were only driven through the industrial sector.

We finally got to our destination, the Hotel Rungghof. It was a lovely hotel, a large building built in the fashion of houses in the area but larger. It was built near the top of the hill and the views were spectacular – on a clear day. When I learnt we were going to the alps I went prepared, turtle necks and thick jumpers, trousers and boots.  It was 33 degrees celcius and they had a swimming pool – which everybody was able to take advantage of except me! I learnt to research all my trips after that.

The beginning of the private road leading to Hotel Rungghop

We were invited by the wife of the owner to come and have a snack after we had checked in. She said we must be tired and hungry and she would put out a buffet for us. We all went up to our rooms and freshened up and then came down to the buffet – after all we had missed lunch and wouldn’t be eating until 9pm.

I came downstairs and our German companion came down before me. There was a spread of cold meats, cheese, bread, all sort of accompaniments, it looked delightful. However, Alex the German, who had sussed out one of our companion’s, Aaron, a guy from the USA was Jewish, got very upset. He demanded that they take away all the salami because Aaron couldn’t eat it. He thought he was doing the right thing but Aaron didn’t see it that way. He had just entered the room when Alex was making the request.  Aaron got very hot under the collar and told them to leave it, he would eat it. Alex then said he couldn’t eat it because he was Jewish and it kicked off. It seemed that WW3 had started!

Moving on to Vinitaly

Vinitaly here we come but first...

In my last post we had arrived in Sirmione ready to get to work at Vinitaly. I was writing for a national liquor magazine for the trade at the time and I was going to do a three or four page report. I ended up writing 12 pages. What I expected and what I finally saw were at opposite ends of the spectrum. I defy anyone to come back from Vinitaly for the first time and not be impressed, but before we get to Vinitaly I want to mention a little bit about Sirmione.

Sirmione

Sirmione is a town on the shores of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy and I also think in Europe – though I could be wrong about that. It is a really popular place because it has something for everyone: water sports, Gardaland for kids (though this isn’t really in Sirmione but in another town down the road), restaurants, thermal spas, accommodation of all types, tourist attractions and historical sites – it’s also 40 minutes away from the romantic city of Verona. During the season several outdoor musical spectaculars are held in the outdoor are close to the lake. It is an ideal place to go for a holiday due to its proximity to several others towns and it’s in a wine making area for those who love a drop of vino.

Sirmione is a town of thermal spas so for quite a large part of the year there is a smell of sulphur. Thermal spas reached their peak in the 1960s with a number of holiday towns reaching capacity. These extend down to Tuscany where a number of places have literally hundreds of hotels which are now being turned into apartments as the popularity for sulphur baths wanes.

We stayed at the Albergo Sirmione, one side of which is right next to the water. I had a lovely room on the lake side and each evening I could watch the swans as the floated close to shore looking for food in amongst the rushes. It was extremely peaceful.

When we arrived at the hotel I decided to get some laundry done as I would be there another seven days.  Ed McCarthy, a well-known wine journalist in the USA was in the next room. He asked that when they came to pick mine up could they call on him and get his as well.

The housemaid duly came and took mine while Ed had decided to take a shower. The housemaid knocked on his door and he quickly wrapped himself in a towel and handed her the bag and said wash and iron.

The next day when the bag came back they had washed and ironed everything –his underpants and socks included for which he received an enormous bill. He expected them to wash and then iron the things that required ironing. Of course, being a hotel and willing to charge for everything, they took the opportunity and ironed everything. Ed is now much more careful about sending his laundry out.

Villa Giusti, Verona

Vinitaly

ICE had put on a coach for us everyday which took us directly to the event. It took about an hour each morning because of the traffic but it did allow time for sightseeing out of the coach’s windows each day.

We would arrive at the gates to the exhibition centre and wait at the gates until we were let in. It was like going to a concert or football match, there were thousands of people all wanting to get in the turnstiles first, pushing and shoving and then finally popping out the other side. The exhibition was made up of about 8 padiglione (Pavilions) – it has grown over time and now covers an area of 95,000 sq metres, it has  over 4000 exhibitors and receives more than 150,000 visitors.

I was very fortunate as I had planned to accompany two Italian-born importers around the fair. What a wonderful time we had, each day we would have appointments to meet their clients and each night we would be taken out for dinner to different places and then driven home to Sirmione.

It was exhausting but fun and I learnt a lot about Italian wine. I made friends on that trip who I still regard as friends today, I often visit them when I am in Italy.

One importer in particular brought in some big names whereas the other had an assortment including some bargain basement lines but it didn’t matter where we went we were treated as old friends.

The largest Mortadella I have ever seen

We saw people in medieval costumes wandering around the fair, the largest Mortadella you have ever seen, minstrels and other strolling musicians. Lunchtime the food outlets were crowded with thousands of people trying to get served and the way the Italians have the Cassa – where you order and pay – and then go on to the serving people making you line up twice,  make it doubly annoying.

People in Medieval costume

The toilets were another bone of contention, being in the media meant I could use the bathrooms in the press office but my companions would have to line up and we would waste about half an hour a day while they went to the loo.

Wandering Minstrels

I didn’t take as many photos as I should have and the whole thing is now a distant memory but it was the birth of my love of travelling around Italy.

Sampling wine