Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to an outing organised by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Policies, one of a series of events to promote certified Italian food products abroad.
The Theme was Etruscan Land, so we visited 3 wineries in the Cerveteri and Maccarese areas, and had lunch at a local restaurant, during which we were also offered a tasting of wines from a 4th winery. Altogether, a lot of wines for someone like me, who drinks on occasion a glass of red!
Our first stop was the Castello di Torre in Pietra, along the Via Aurelia, the Roman road which goes from Rome to France. One day, I'll just have to take to it in my car and drive all the way up, to practice my French!
The Torre in Pietra estate is a family owned and family run business and has been in the same hands for several generations and, incidentally, one of the family members used to live upstairs from us while I was growing up. I remember his cattle catalogues coming in the post! Mr Filippo Antonelli showed us round, and having found out his uncle used to be my neighbour, to make the world feel a bit smaller I found out he's a relative of the lady I saw on Monday to make arrangements for a catered dinner on the 19th. She told me about her patissière granddaughter from Milan, who also happens to be this gentleman's niece.
The winery has a fabulous grotto excavated in a tuff (or tufa) hill, the Mammoth Grotto, named after mammoth bones found in it. Tufa maintains a constant temperature of 15° C and a humidity level of 80%, which is ideal for wines. The farm turned organic three years ago and it will be certified next year, since by EU regulations it takes 3 years to switch from normal farming to organic. We tasted several wines, of which the Macchia Sacra white was my favourite, made with Fiano grapes. What really got to me was their olive oil: FABULOUS; the juice of life itself. I just couldn't get enough of it and had to buy a 5 litre can. For an organic oil, at 10 euro per litre it was very fairly priced, as were all other products. I also bought honey and chick peas, and the Macchia Sacra white, of course. Plus we were given some of their spelt pasta. I can't wait for James to taste them all and tell me what he thinks.
The farm is open every day, and on Fridays and Saturday it offers the added bonus of a local cheesemaker (Pitzalis) and vegetable farm (Caramadre) bringing their products for sale.
Being already quite satiated and tipsy, we moved on to Casale Cento Corvi winery in Cerveteri. Again, a family run business, producing wines and preserves. We were greeted by the owners who offered us a tasting of 6 different wines, 3 whites and 3 reds. They have the merit of having resuscitated an almost extinct variety of grapes dating back to Etruscan times, which they have named Giacché. Their Giacché Rosso has won several prizes, and is a very distinctive and rather unique wine, borderline passito. A rich, fruity, almost black liquid, impenetrable to the eye, whith notes of visciola (wild cherry) and dried prunes which, according to the owner, could be drunk on its own in front of the fireplace, or even with raw fish. I beg to differ with the latter. Maybe with tuna. The wine costs 25 euro a bottle, or 38 $ in the USA. They also make a Passito version of Giacché, reminiscent of Port but with only 15% alcohol and wothout the overly alcoholic quality and sweetness of port, very pleasant.
Our following stop was Trattoria Zì Maria, on the hills towards Sasso. There we were offered lunch and a degustation of wines from Tenuta Tre Cancelli. I must admit that by lunchtime I was rather past tasting wines and couldn't quite focus on the whites, rosés and reds..... Lunch was good, with the chestnut and ricotta ravioli at the top of my preferences.
We set off for the Onorati winery in a pretty merry state of mind. There we were greeted by the owner and his teenage son, who gave uys a very entertaining lecture on wine bottling and wine making procedures in English. The wine tasting part of the visit was slightly overlooked, and we were sat down at tables and only offered two wines, accompanied by divine roasted chestnuts and a local pecorino which flaked away like slate. Very special but, alas, so artisanal (the next door shepherd makes it) that it can't be bought.
Needless to say, the world is getting smaller every day, so I found out that our guide used to be a friend of my brother's in my teenages and we had spent countless afternoons playing together ina band and at my house being served English tea by my mother. My visual memory must be glitching big time, because I had NO recollection of him whatsoever.
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