The other day we decided to return to some of the places we had been on our first road trip, to try to find where they might be harvesting the grapes, to take some photos and to do some painting. Since we had seen many vineyards around Montefalco, that's where we headed and we were not disappointed. We were so excited to see people out in the fields, picking the grapes and Bob took a bunch of photos while I sketched as the sun was going down. We also were able to watch these two guys who were standing on the back of a truck tossing crates filled with these gorgeous purple grapes into the machine that had a giant screw-like part at the bottom that churned the grapes and pushed them through an opening and down, where it looked like they were being separated from the stems and greenery. It was quite interesting to watch and these guys were having a good time, letting us photograph all around them as they worked.
It was a beautiful afternoon weather-wise and we had a lot of fun watching. We went into the Cantina afterwards for a wine tasting and purchased a couple of bottles. We wanted to buy a nice one for Sergio, our landlord, to thank him for all his help in buying the car and took the advice of the woman who worked there since honestly, we are not very knowledgeable about this sort of thing. Our usual criteria for buying wine is that the price be under $5 and the alcohol content around 12 or 13%. We like to try wines that are made locally and so far we have enjoyed almost everything and try not to go below $3 a bottle unless there is a sale on something we know we like. Not a particularly sophisticated technique but it works for us!
The area right around Perugia is filled with the olive groves and vineyards we see from our views but it is really fun to drive out into the surrounding countryside. The sunflowers are spent now and all the heads and leaves are brown with just a hint of the gold, now ochre, if there is any yellow left at all. The vineyards are heavy with grapes and should all be harvested within the next several weeks, along with the olive production and we are trying to find places to go to see this process in action. So anyone out there with suggestions of where we could take our kids who will be here in October and our friends who will be here in November, we would appreciate any and all suggestions!
Also, we are on the lookout for festivals - medieval or otherwise so, if you have dates and places you know of and would not mind sharing this with us, we would also appreciate that. I'll be writing about the one in Perugia on Saturday - "La Notte Bianca" that was amazing and posting some photos so check that out if you have time. The days are getting shorter now and the rain seems to have stopped for a while. The clouds have made for some incredible sunsets though. We are hoping for clear skies when Chris and Jessica arrive and are keeping our fingers crossed that we can show them around sans umbrellas. The nights are colder now and I am wearing more sweaters. During the day, if the sun is shining, it's still really terrific weather and we hope it continues and doesn't suddenly turn cold overnight!
Buona sera,
Rosemary & Robert
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment