Today my program took us to a vineyard called Castello Delle Regine in Umbria, Italy. The vineyard was about an hour outside of Rome, so we got to take a coach bus there. On the way there, four of us played Euchre, best card game ever! I am not sure how this happened, but my friend Danny got away with going alone 3 times and winning each play! It was unbelievable. I had never seen that happen before! He must have rigged the deck. We arrived at the vineyard around 11am and started exploring. We learned about the ten types of wines the vineyard produces and some history of the vineyard. The first thing we did was see the Barrique cellar where the red and white wines age. The use of oak plays an important role in wine making by affecting the color, flavor, tannin, and texture of the wine in the final product. Oak comes in contact with wine in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods. Wine barrels made of oak have long been used as containers in which wine is aged. The size of the barrel plays a large role in determining the effects of oak on the wine by dictating the ratio of surface area to volume of wine with smaller containers having a larger impact. The most common barrels are the Bordeaux (France) barriques style which holds 225 liters and the Burgundy style barrel which hold 228 liters. The longer a wine spends in the barrel the more of the oak flavor it will take on. Strong flavors also result when the fermentation takes place in barrique. Aging in oak usually gives the wine vanilla, butter and spice aromas.
Then we had a contest to play. We split up into three groups and had to choose which wine came from which bottle. We sampled a merlot, carbonet, and a sangiovese wine. Unfortunately my team mixed up the merlot and carbonet wines, so we didn't win. I was impressed with myself that I could smell the wine and have a little sip and understand what wine I was drinking, well at least somewhat. After our wine tasting, we got to see the vineyards and the farm with unique breed of cows. The countryside was so pretty! I wish I lived on a vineyard! I love Rome and the city aspect, but the scenery in the country is gorgeous. I wish I could hike up and down the mountains everyday and take in the fresh air.
At about 2pm, we finally got to eat lunch. We went to a local place on the vineyard, basically someone’s house to eat. We had no idea what to expect from lunch except good wine. We again got to taste 3 more wines. This time they were: Sangiovese Rosso (red), Rosso Di Podernovo (red), and Bianco Delle Regine (white). I was not a fan of the red wines, but loved the white wine. It tasted like a fruit juice and was very easy to drink. We then realized that we were having a buffet style lunch, an antipasto, pasta dish, then dessert. The antipasto consisted of bunch of bread products which were delicious. Some were pizzas, but my favorite was the zucchini bread! The pasta dish was arrabiata (spicy tomato sauce!) pasta and the desserts were jam flavored pastries. The food was magnificent.
On the ride back I slept which was nice and now I am deciding if I should go out or not. It is my first weekend in Rome since a month ago....whoops. I am excited to sleep in tomorrow and have no specific plans. I hope to see the Sistine Chapel and do a night trip to Ariccia, a town outside of Rome. Ariccia is known for famous for its porchetta, pork that is roasted in herbs and wild funnel. It has a lot of little restaurants so we plan to go there for dinner tomorrow night! Sunday is up in the air right now, but I will probably go to the market and then maybe a bike ride? We will see! I cannot wait to sleep in tomorrow!!!
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