Today I was moved, along with two other students, to the
advanced class. It was very intense but fun and interesting. Onward! After morning lessons, a couple friends and I
went to lunch at a local restaurant. I
had lamb, potatoes, and a glass of wine.
I forgot to take photos!
In the afternoon we all headed out of town toward the Itrian
Valley to visit a vineyard and winery.
Puglia is working hard to enter the world stage with their wines and I
was very impressed by what we saw and tasted today. The maker is I Pastini and they have a clear,
passionate and traditional approach to growing their grapes and making their
wine. They are huddled in the valley
beneath a medieval city called Locorotondo.
I believe we will be visiting this hilltop city in an excursion soon.
The young woman who gave us the tour was knowledgeable, explaining that Puglia has three perfect things for winemaking: heat, rock and wind. They specialize in white wines, the varietals that thrive in difficult conditions. The heat, well, I haven’t said anything about it yet but let’s just say, it’s almost skull-splitting… and I LIKE heat. As I said in a previous post, this region is super rocky with really very little soil so the varietals have to work really hard to survive. And the wind is essential as well because it keeps insects at bay. They follow many of the French planting methods: Vines are planted close together which creates a kind of competition for moisture and it forces the roots downward, into all that lovely limestone; Also, roses are planted at the end of every row because if any type of insect enters the picture, they tend to go for the roses first so it helps they detect if there are any predators of the insect variety.
Then we were taken through the warehouse where they store and then bottle their vini.
And then of course, on to the tasting. We tasted a prosecco, 2 other whites, and 2 reds. It was a delightful day.
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