Ciao amici - thanks for checking into La Vita Italiana once again! Today is August 15—a major holiday here in Italy known as "Ferragosto"—during which the whole country takes a nice break. Last year we noted the total cessation of all activity in August, but now we can put a name on it!
Check the link for more background, but in a nutshell, Ferragosto used to be a kind of agriculture-influenced Labor Day-like break celebrated on August 1. Later it was co-opted by the Catholic Church to line up with the Feast of the Assumption, and moved to mid-August. So now it combines the best of both worlds—a break from work, AND an excuse for a serious country-wide feast!
Chieri celebrated Ferragosto as best it could this year, most notably with a wonderful concert in the "centro sportivo"/park, Parco San Silvestro, on the edge of town. It was a pretty big-time production that featured music from la cinema—a 5-piece band playing selections from popular Italian films. We didn't follow all of it, but loved the tributes to "Amelie," "La Bella Vita" ("Life is Beautiful") and of course "Il Padrino."
Overall, not a bad night—an hour or two enjoying a cool summer night with live music, some gelato, and 200 or so of our fellow (masked and socially distanced) Chierese!
School is scheduled to start up again soon, so Barbara and I are doing our best to explore the area these last few weeks. So, where are my wine enthusiasts out there? Sit up and take notes, folks—I've been bragging about the great wines that are all around us here, but we haven't had a chance to really dig in and do a proper wine tasting weekend around here...until recently!
As I have mentioned before, the Piemonte region is home to so many delicious wines—but the most famous are those from The Langhe - from the word 'Langa,' meaning 'narrow strip of land.' The Langhe refers to the luscious hills and valley that sit between the Ligurian Alps and the Tanaro River. We're talking Asti, Barolo, Barbaresco, et al. This region is celebrated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and does not disappoint.
But wait—this post needs a higher level of oenological expertise than I can give you, so I have called on Atlanta-area wine expert (and connoisseur of fun) Nick Kaiser to guest blog for us today. Nick manages the wine side of the operations at the Krog Street location of Hop City, home of one of the best beer and wine collections in the city (HopCity's wine business has expanded so much in the last couple of years, they may need to change the original name one of these days). We've known Nick for a few years now, and he will always find you the perfect pour (yes, both quantity and quality). He's a huge fan of the Piemonte wines, and after a recent Zoom Happy Hour, we decided he needed to be the wine voice for this blogpost! Here's Nick's take on the region:
"In the Langhe, many of the prized exposures, known as sorì in the Piedmontese dialect, are home to the region’s most noble and age-worthy red grape: the native Nebbiolo. It's named after the thick morning fog (la nebbia) that prolongs the grape’s ripening process in the fall. Langhe producers of lore were fond of firing cannons into the skies, attempting to disperse threatening cloud banks around harvest time!
"Barolo and Barbaresco are two areas in the Langhe that historically produce the best Nebbiolo. Despite being a mere 20 minute drive apart, they each have their own unique expression of the grape. Barolo is "The wine of kings"—high alcohol, extreme tannin, dusty earth, tar, and a cellaring potential of up to 50 years. I refer to Barbaresco as "A ballerina with boxing gloves"—roses and violets, leather, tart red fruit, and a smooth baking spice finish.
"There isn't a better wine to have on your table with autumn and the cool weather approaching. I, and all my Atlanta wine friends are excited to break out Barolo with campfires, cookouts, and yes, a big Thanksgiving meal very soon. Please stop by Hop City some time; we would love to set you up for a great experience; cheers to you and yours!
Thanks Nick! ATLers: Be sure to check out Nick and Hop City nearby at Krog Street Market.
There are so many towns and vineyards to visit in this area, we had to narrow our itinerary to three places: Barolo, La Morra, and Barbaresco. They're all within 20-30 minute drives of each other, so it was easy to cover them all in one (admittedly long) day. Of course, we were driving, so we (meaning Barbara) had to be very judicious with our tastings.
Barolo is an exquisite little town; it would remind you of visiting Napa maybe 20 years ago, before it went super-commercial. Just a perfectly maintained village of super-charming streets and super-charming shops, cafès, and wineries. But it was strange to be there in late July—Barolo was definitely bustling with visitors, but comfortably so—it was very clear that in any other year, this beautiful, upscale town would have been absolutely teeming with tourists (maybe too many!). Of course, this isolation confers special status on us—many times we are the only Americans (hell the only English speakers!) roaming around Italy. Security at the Barolo "WiMu" wine museum (btw a good, but not great museum), asked to see our passports—they gave us a look that combined "how the hell did you get here?" with "are you even allowed to be here?" Then I overheard the people at the ticket booth say "oh I guess the Americans CAN finally come here again!" to which I responded - "sorry, it's just us...don't staff up quite yet!"
But we enjoyed our rare opportunity to see this town in a quieter mode—the highlight was a fun wine-tasting with our new friend Simone. I have done a few wine-tastings before but this was the best here in Italy so far—Simone's English was good, but he spoke to us 50/50 in Italian and his descriptions were so animated and expressive, we understood every word, and could actually taste the "oaken barrels" and the "citrus notes" (as well as Nick Kaiser's roses and violets!).
We didn't imbibe in La Morra, but it was worth the trip for the views, and the chance for me to practice driving stick up and down some major hills with the beloved Panda! The tourist bureau there is fantastic; they gave us a bunch of maps of "wine trails," for hiking and biking, that we'll try on our next visit.
But it turns out the best part of La Morra was leaving it (wait hold on, that's not a slam!). Barbara had stumbled on a reference to a—can I say 'funky'?—church on the outskirts of the town (thanks Tricia, for the Back Roads Guide Book).
The Cappella della Madonna delle Grazie, also known as Santa Maria delle Grazie, is a one-of-a-kind chapel with an intriguing story.
As the Slow Italy blog describes, the chapel was first built as shelter for workers in the fields. But after falling into a state of disrepair..."in 1999, the owners decided to infuse new life into the forgotten place of worship and commissioned two artists to renovate the little church, Englishman David Tremlett (b. 1945) for the interior and American Sol LeWitt (1928 – 2006) for the exterior. Using lively and contrasting colors, the two artists turned the place into a wonderful example of contemporary art. It is now known as Cappella delle Brunate or Cappella del Barolo in celebration to the vineyard to which it belongs."
On to Barbaresco, home of some of the most notable (and fairly expensive) wines from our region. Another absolutely exquisite little town, with well-preserved medieval buildings and of course multiple wineries.
Probably the most interesting moment was finding the Enoteca del Barbaresco—it sits in a former church in the center of town, and was a very welcoming place for us to experience the "ballerina in boxing gloves" first-hand. We had to be conscious of driving home that afternoon, or might have indulged a little more...but with this amazing caliber wine, a little goes a long way.
Wow, so much to experience in this part of the world. And all of it just an hour-and-a-half away from Chieri—we'll be back for sure!
Thanks for reading and take care everyone!