Salcheto

Just below the town of Montepulciano, in a lovely valley filled with ripening grapes, is one of Italy's most forward-thinking vineyards. Salcheto has been making wines since the early 1980s, but in 2011 they made a major investment in organic and sustainable practices. They claim to have one of the lowest carbon footprints of any winery in Italy.

Their fermenting and aging facility is built partly underground and uses the earth above it as a cooling mechanism. The exposed sides of the round building are covered in coir fiber and completely planted with vines to disguise the structure so it blends into the surroundings and also to help maintain the desired temperatures. All of the lighting is done by the sun via solar lighting tubes. Even two stories below ground, the space was brightly filled with sunlight.

To mix wines, most places use an electric pumping system, but Salcheto has found a way to trap the naturally-occuring carbon dioxide gas in tanks below the grapes and they release the gas--as big bubbles--back into the wines at various intervals. These bubbles passing through the wine naturally stir up the contents of the tank without using energy or manpower.

All of the hot water used in the kitchen of the enoteca comes from the burning of all the discarded grape stems. There were so many interesting innovations here.

After our tour, we sat at long lovely tables, each made from a single plank of an ancient tree, and chose our lunch to accompany the tasting of their wines. Five different wines were poured, all made from grapes grown organically on the 56-acre property.

Lunch included a cream of chick pea soup, a plate of salumi and formaggi, then some vegetables from their gardens. It was all good and gave several different flavors to pair with the wines. We enjoyed the wines, but opted not to buy any bottles on this trip.

After lunch we drove to San Quirico, one of our favorite towns. There we walked around the streets looking to see if there was anything interesting for sale. There was. We finished the afternoon at the Bar Centrale, which is where all the locals hang out. It's a great people-watching spot.

Feed the hungry

When we are hungry and tired there's no better place for good food, good service and a good price than La Grotta.

Primi: whole pot of ribolitta for me, pici al tartufo for Joe

Secondi: arrosto di maialino for Joe, tagliata al rucola for me

Dessert: cantucci with vin santo, café

Wine: a bottle of young morellino di Scansano

Cost: 53€

Boh!

Here we are sitting in the parking lot in Cortona on the tailgate of the "macchina," which was "guasto" and we were waiting for the tow truck to arrive. 

So we had a great day then the car just wouldn't start. We called the roadside assistance number for Hertz and told them about our problem, which we believed to be a dead battery. The woman dispatched a tow truck that came very quickly. In the interim, we reminisced about the day in Umbria when our car was completely guasto and a tow truck came and took it away--leaving us on the rainy sidewalk with our luggage and no way to get another car. Now that was a bad day!

Anyway, this driver took the keys and got in the car. He turned it on. It started. "Come la facevi?" I asked him with incredulity on my face. He waved his hands across the dashboard like Merlin: "É magia," mi dica. 

Well, not sure I buy the magic stuff, but whatever dust this guy was sprinkling it was worth a 10€ tip and we were back on the road.

Domenica in Toscana

We slept a bit late to shake off the jet lag, then headed up to Arezzo for the monthly antiques fair. It was fun to poke around the booths, but I have to admit that there are no longer any bargains to be had since it's mostly tourists who visit the stalls. I heard far more Inglese than Italiano spoken there today. 

The one item I was interested in buying was a small enamel sign from a grocery store that listed some of their offerings like "pasta all'uova" "latte intero" and other staples. I might have paid 25€ for the sign, but the guy wanted 100€--typical of the prices we saw. Beh!

We found a new wine bar, which just opened in June, and spent some time with the couple that owned the place. They specialize in wines just from the area around Arezzo and Cortona. The guy was a great host and gave excellent suggestions on wines to try.

We decided to drive next to Cortona, since it was close by and found the town packed with people as there was a medeival archery and jousting festival happening there. Most of the folks wandering around were dressed more or less like Robin Hood--pointy toe shoes, feathers in hats, cell phones, brown tunics, etc.

Down one small, and quiet, alley we were beckoned into a tasting room by a woman from the Romeo vineyard in Montepulciano. I asked her why she didn't sell her wines in Montepulciano and she replied "troppi, troppi negozi di vini." We tasted all five of her products and were especially blown away by the Lipitiresco 2010, a wine that rated 94 in Wine Enthusiast this year. It was extraordinary. Their Vin Santo was also one of the best I've tasted. Gabriella Romeo was our gracious hostess and we enjoyed every minute of our impromptu tasting with her.

After some more strolling, we found a wine bar with a great view towards Lago Trasimeno and sat for a pleasant glass of local wine with a plate of typical bar snacks.

Siamo arrivati in Italia! And a brush with fame . . .

Buona sera from Radicofani, which Joe and I have taken to calling "Windicofani," since the wind never stops blowing here. Not a problem though.

Our travels yesterday were without incident--boring, in fact--and we arrived in Montepulciano in time for a stroll up the hill and a pleasant lunch at La Dolce Vita. 

We were enjoying our meal and realized that people kept stopping at the table behind us and fawning all over one of the English guys sitting there. They were asking to take selfies with the guy, getting autographs, etc, and I kept turning around to see if I could figure out who he was. I asked our waitress  "Hey, who's the famous guy?" She didn't know either, but was obviously very curious. So I took a good look at his table, saw a luggage tag on his case that said Madden and googled "UK actor Madden" on my phone.

Well, this guy Richard Madden (who I've never heard of) is wildly famous now as he's a star in Game of Thrones, and was Prince Charming in the recent remake of Cinderella, featuring Lily James of Downton Abbey.

Here he is: 

After lunch, and seeing no additional celebrities, we waddled back down the hill and procured some groceries for ourselves.

Port Royal Farmers' Market

There were a few new vendors when we went to the market this morning. It was nice to see that all our old favorites were there, but having new things to try is always fun.

This guy had a table of chanterelles--wild golden mushrooms, which he said were not cultivated. I had no idea that these "very French" mushrooms actually grew in South Carolina. We bought a pint for a very reasonable price of $6. 

Another vendor had a booth of nothing but freshly-made gazpacho. He was offering tastings and when we tried it we both agreed that my gazpacho, using Joe's fresh garden veggies, is much better. Still, for people who do not know about gazpacho, it's a great, healthy food choice worth discovering.

This very cute Italian "truck" made by the Vespa company was selling homemade gelato in many exciting flavors. I don't typically eat gelato in the morning, but I enjoyed seeing the antique truck kitted out in such a capricious way.

The raptor ladies were there, demonstrating their rescued birds and seeking donations for their rehabilitation after accidents in the wild. This petite screech owl named Odin was so unbelievably small--he only weighed about 6 ounces--but looked as serious and unflappable as his much larger rehab mates.

Done for the day . . . Sheesh!

It's just after noontime and I have already had it with Beaufort. 

We arrived last night around ten to discover a house filled with dead bugs. Palmetto bugs (aka big roaches), flies, silverfish and many other shriveled up and mostly unrecognizable dead things. They were on every floor, windowsill and countertop--even in the bathtub. Thus, we began our vacation with broom, dust pan and vacuum. Before going to bed, I rolled all the covers back to see what was in the bed. Luckily nothing so I went to sleep, but woke every ten minutes thinking I heard buzzing, maybe laughing.

This morning, we realized the second floor air conditioning was not working so we called our guy Sammy, who came in half an hour and studied the situation. Looks like we have a leaking coil, which will cost about $1,500 to fix. He'll have his estimate to us later today.

Then, I made a list of things we needed at Publix and opened the garage door to get out my Saab, which has not been driven since May. I opened the door to find fuzzy white mold on all the plastic parts--door, steering wheel, console, radio. Yuck, just yuck. I closed the door and took the rental.

Then I went to Publix and was nearly hit--twice--by very agressive drivers. The agression did not stop when I got into the store as people were operating their shopping carts as if it was a roller derby rink instead of a suburban supermarket. I was looking at the blueberries and a woman stood behind me and loudly said "Excuuuuuuuuusse-Meeee." I thought I was blocking her path, but turned around to see that she had plenty of room to pass me. But nooooooo, she wanted to be in the exact spot where I was standing. "I want to look at the blueberries," she snapped. Honestly!!

Then, I paid for my groceries, headed home and was unpacking the car in the driveway. Joe came out to help, but on my second load from the car I dropped a pack of napkins on the asphalt, which split open and blew all over the driveway. Two hundred fifty of them. So, in the 90 degree heat, on the hot driveway, when I HAD IT UP TO HERE already, I ran around chasing napkins.

Now I am sitting in my favorite chair in my office and I plan on sitting here the rest of the day or until my luck turns around--whichever comes first.

Ugh!

ADDENDUM:

So, when I finally got up the nerve to leave my chair, I headed outside to wash the mold off my car. I backed it out of the garage, got a bucket of disinfecting floor cleaner and a sponge, and started wiping down all the affected surfaces. This took about 30 minutes, and when I was done I opened all the windows to dry the car out. 

Well, it started to get dark and thunder. I went outside to close the windows in the car and it was DEAD. Dead as in four open windows, no power, lots of rain. Joe was on the golf course so he came home and we were able (with the help of Greg our big, strong, handsome neighbor) to push the car back into the garage where it can grow all manner of molds and MUSHROOMS as it sees fit.

Ugh!