8 New Wines, Spring is arriving

11/03/2012

New rosemary plants in the winery landscaping project

Almond blooms

2 more almond tree photos, above and below

Pruning completed, next job is to tie those branches sticking up to the wire, but I have to wait for the sap to flow freely and then they become more flexible

Slightly out of focus peach blossom

And finally, apricot blooms

Greeting from PS winery and Nascondiglio di Bacco and the beautiful Marche.  We sat down with our 2 winemakers and a beautiful redhead to come up with our Bordeaux blend last week and after trying each of the 4 bordeaux varieties we had "in purezza", we proceeded to try the first logical blend which was based on how much of each we had in barrels.  That was pretty decent, but decidedly towards the Pomerol style with lots of Merlot.  I encouraged our chief winemaker to try some other blends and thus the next try was with 25% of each.  This was actually a bit better and really brought out the Cab. Franc.  Finally, we tried a bit less Merlot, more Cab. Sauvignon and equal portions of the Petit Verdot and Cab. Franc and that seemed to be the consensus favorite.  Final blend for this wine will be 1000 liters of Merlot, 750 L of Cab. Sauvignon and 500 L of the other 2.  The IGT Rosso or base red (with no barrel aging) for 2011 will either be half Cab. Sauv. and half Merlot or perhaps 40% of each of those 2 and 20% Syrah.  The 2010 Syrah has decided it will stay in its wooden barrels/tonneau for another year before release and rules dictate the same for the DOC Offida Rosso from 2010.  We will also be bottling the slightly wood aged Pecorino from 2010 as well as the 2011 Pecorino, which had a very low yield but is of high quality.  Finally a limited edition of 300 bottles of each of the Bordeaux varieties will be available in wooden display cases along with the blend.  Bottling is scheduled for May and release of the reds should be around Christmas, 2012.
The snow is gone for good and the fruit trees are blooming one at a time, beginning with the almonds, then just yesterday, the peach and apricot trees.  In waiting are the apple, plum, cherry and quince trees.  The grass was becoming a bit of a nuisance, so I broke out the weed eater today to clean things up a bit for guests coming tonight, so I guess spring is springing.
I can't wait to show everyone the labels, once they are ready, really cool ideas from our designer Cristiano with input from Raffaele, Alessandra and me.  The artists series is still in the works and will be used now for the Offida Rosso.   For those with an interest in these things, all the DOC wines from Offida have been elevated to DOCG status as of the 2011 harvest and we have a few new rules to follow, but this will be good for marketing purposes.

neve al nascondiglio!

Ha nevicato in tutta Italia, vero?
Bene, anche qui al Nascondiglio sono arrivati almeno 70 cm di neve, che stanno facendo molto bene alla vigna che accumula lentamente tutta l'acqua che le servirà per la stagione. I lavori nel vigneto sono momentaneamente interrotti, ma lo spettacolo ne vale decisamente la pena!

E per chi vuole programmare un bel periodo di feste e maschere non temete, per carnevale è previsto bel tempo e tutta questa neve (purtroppo) sarà già sciolta per i prossimi giorni.
Intanto godetevi le immagini!

inaugurazione alla cantina

Eccoci ritornati amici e con una grande notizia: a novembre abbiamo inaugurato la cantina del nascondiglio di bacco! La festa è stata davvero bella e piena di bella gente!
Durante la serata abbiamo avuto il piacere di ospitare una band di 4 artisti jazz davvero bravi ed un numeroso coro locale che si è esibito in musica folk.
Due ore e più di divertimento durante i quali abbiamo mangiato grazie all'opera dei ragazzi della Degusteria del Gigante di San Benedetto del Tronto e bevuto i nostri vini rossi e bianchi.
Una serata allegra e piacevole con amici e conoscenti per dare il via alla nostra nuova esperienza con il vino.
E per tutti voi che volete venire a visitarci, mandateci una mail per fissare un appuntamento e saremo ben contendi di organizzare un tour in cantina ed una degustazione dei nostri vini!

L'olio di 2011 e' pronto per assagiare, comprare a Nascondiglio di Bacco

14 ottobre
The new oil arrived at the b&b last night in time to give a liter to my climbing guests who were leaving today for Rome.  This year's oil is much greener and a bit harsher than last year's, so it will need a couple of months to get a bit softer before you pour it all over your salad.
Below you can see the difference in color between 2011 and 2010 and the oil really won't change color much over its life.

Ok, I'm back having done a side by side bruschetta tasting between these 2 and they are different, but both good with the new one having that fresh olive smell you only get right after pressing.

My Seattle guests were avid climbers and had hauled all their climbing gear to Spain and Italy, so it was up to me to try and find climbing places where the bolts had already been placed (I didn't know there were these special places all over the world).  As I am quite ignorant of this sport having limited my climbing experience to olive trees, it took a bit of googling and talking with my bike shop friend Brian, but I found a great place for them at Monte Rosara and they enjoyed scaling the limestone outcropping there.

This was a sport I wanted to try when I was 14 and vacationing with my folks in Colorado, but I never got to try, just a bit in scouts.

The wines are pretty much all resting from the strain of fermentation and now it is about time to think about clarifying, just a tiny bit, my Pecorino and get it in bottles with a Reserve sticker.  The Montepulciano is staying on its skins for another week and then will be pressed. It has notes of mature fruit which comes from the dry, hot last 2 months we experienced before harvest.  The pH of all the wines is quite high and to stabilize the wines for bottling will be adjusted slightly lower with tartaric acid, the acid most prevalent in grapes.  At least the alcohol level of the Syrah, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon were all at or below 15%.  What a year!

L'ultima vendemmia, Arrostocini nel Campo Imperatore

3 Ottobre,

Somehow, the last harvest of the year came around just in time for my friends from England, Australia, Verbania, Latina, Ascoli Piceno and Caserta, Italy,  France, and finally a combo from Italy/India/Kent.

Will, Julia, Ema, Raffa, Fabio at the duomo of Ascoli

(England x 2, Australia, France and Italy/India/Kent)

Dining al fresco at Il Desco, my favorite restaurant in Ascoli, with a very well behaved dog!

 We were quite the international crowd picking the Montepulciano grapes which had reached 24 Brix, 7.2 Total Acidity and a pH of 3.5 or nearly perfect with all brown seeds and reasonable, not aggressive tannins.  While the yield was much lower this year, the grapes were all healthy and we finished in a single day.  As a reward for their fine labor, I treated everyone to a meal/festa in the newly finished tasting room with its great views under a great autumn sky with only the  peace and quiet you find here as an accompaniment.

Giorgio lighting the votives

 The ladies set up votive candles all around the winery inside and out and it was really a fitting closure to what has been a truly tough year of work and stress and worry about the weather.
The next day we headed into Abruzzo to Campo Imperatore under the Camicia mountains where films such as Ladyhawke, Krull, The American and others were filmed and where Mussolini was kept a prisoner after Italy surrendered in WWII and before the Germans broke him out of his hotel/jail.

Mt. Camicia, 2590 meters

Emma, Will's fiancee 

Matteo, one of Italy's most decorated young sommelier and classmate from my slow food master

Its nickname is Italy's little Tibet and it is a huge plateau and home to a bunch of shepherds, one of whom has capitalized on the suggestive scenery and built an abattoir for sheep with a large grouping of bbq grills suitable for ribs, cutlets and the specialty, arrostocini abruzzese which are little skewers of the best mutton you will ever eat!

My group with the family

another

the Nonni!

Raffa from the Rhone valley with his prized arrostocini

One of the cooks, Valentina handing out the last one

We joined Fabio's sister Nisha's in-laws who treated us to a feast unequalled in my life for this type of meat!  The spices were subtle and perfect, the meat was perfectly cooked and there was non of the flavor I associate with older sheep/mutton.  The area looked a little like something out of Mad Max, to be honest, but was a true "italian experience".  I can't imagine this type of thing anywhere else in the world and the place was packed on a Sunday with daytrippers and campers.

Father and son enjoying the wide open spaces of Campo Imperatore

Bacco digesting all the bones and sausages given him by the folks

BBQ Abruzzo style

Arrostocini!

Bacco found one on the ground and took advantage

Raffa from France, Silvia from Latina and our masters and Silvano, our great host/cook

The best arrostocini in the world

Right our of Mad Max, lighting the charcoal with a huge propane tank

La sala di degustazione e' quasi pronto!

7 September,
I have been taking care of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot wines, which are the only 2 not pressed thus far.  The analyses of the first wines make me laugh as the alcohol content for the Merlot is over 16 and the Pecorino 15.7!  The Montepulciano harvest will be Saturday and that will finish the work in the vineyard for the year.  Then comes the olive harvest the following week as everything this year is about 2 weeks ahead of last year.
Here are the photos of the almost finished tasting rooms.

last March

yesterday

I have swept and mopped the floors of the tasting room, put together 14 chairs and 2 tables from Ikea,

the main hall

some of the views from inside

the marble bar will go in front of the stools

the winter wine tasting station

the future kitchen

bought another 2 tables from my Thailand connection, and the fancy lamp from Germany has its first "note" written by my american guests from Fernwood, CA.

 Today, I finished picking up all the empty cigarette packages, plastic tubing, wood and brick pieces, and the rest of the trash the construction workers have thrown out in the last 20 months.  Then, I  cleaned all the windows, which was quite the job as there was old paint splashed on them, stickers to remove and a few months of dust.  The pictures need to be hung and the marble bar needs to be mounted, but the latter 2 are scheduled for tomorrow and voila'.

view from the "kitchen"

table for 8?

finally the doors are on

I think it is time to have a pre-inauguration party on Saturday night for all the folks who helped me pick the grapes this year!