January Activity in Umbria

Although the weather is really changeable at this time of year, there's still room for some glorious sunny, blue-skied days - perfect for getting out and exploring the beautiful hills in our area of Umbria.

It's January and the vineyards and olive groves are alive with activity.  This is the time that the vines and olive trees are pruned back ready for the new seasons growth.  Bonfires are everywhere, they gather all that precious olive wood and burn it!!  I guess it could've been used to make some chop sticks, but normally they just burn twigs!  I just know how expensive anything made in olive wood is!  It always makes me think - surely something could be done with the wood, but not being skilled in wood-turning......... 

They burn the long shoots of the vines too, but not all of them, you see very neat piles of them at the ends of the vine rows.  They're used to tie the next seasons shoots to the training wires - natural resource and much cheaper than using binding twine!  We were given some vine shoots to do what we wanted with and we used them on the barbeque - they gave the food a wonderful smoky, very slightly winey flavour - delicious!

I think my favourite time of year for the views is around  November when the leaves of the vines turn all the colours of Autumn. Looking at the colours of the vine leaves tells you the grape variety!  Like a mini New England spreading across the rolling hills.  You can spot Sagrantino easily, it's the only one that turns a beautiful autumnal red!

Just a short one today, we're very excited because we've just been reviewed on Trip Advisor!
More later!

The grape harvest - Vendemmia 2009

The vendemmia is the busiest time of year for the cantine and it's best to watch the proceedings from a safe distance to avoid all the equipment that's snaking over the ground! The cantine usually take on extra people to help over the grape harvest and everyone works incredibly hard to get the grapes in while they're perfectly ripe - each grape variety is harvested at slightly different times starting - in Umbria - around the end of August. Up at dawn and finishing as the early autumn light is fading -you learn never to invite a wine grower to any events in this period - they won't accept!

We went to watch in September 2009 and it was fascinating to watch the mixture of old tradition and new technology working hand in hand! Health and Safety kinda takes a back seat when all thoughts are towards getting the harvest in, and the grapes into the vats!

In the picture you can see one old hand pulling the grapes from the tractor-trailer with a wooden hoe into a stainless hopper which separates the grapes from the the stalks and leaves and then the grapes go one way through a large pipe into vast stainless steel vats, the rest gets spat out into a skip. Notice what the ol' man is standing on? Safe huh?


The large pipe is hoisted by hand up a step ladder and fed into the top of the vat, then the grapes are pumped in and left to rest for a few days. We were surprised to see that at this stage the red grape juice was white- the colour comes from the skins - the longer it stays in the vats the stronger the colour. We saw a vat that was filled the day before (they take HOURS to fill!) had the lightest tinge of pink.  We tried some of the grape juice and it tasted wonderful!  Smooth almost viscous, delicately flavoured.  It has a hint of what's to come months and years down the line when it becomes the delicious local wines of the Montefalco area - the fabulous Montefalco Rosso, the wonderful Montefalco Sagrantino - aged in oak for a year before continuing the ageing process in the bottle, the rich Merlot, the plummy Cabernet Sauvignon, the classic Sangiovese, lovely on its own but also forming around 70% of the Montefalco Rosso (with a minimum of 10% Sagrantino and the rest made up of grapes of the wine-makers choice, it ensures that every Montefalco Rosso is unique to its own cantina.)  The crisp whites of the area - Grechetto and Trebbiano Spoletino,  We also tried some grapes that will become the fabulous dessert wine, Passito, it was amazing - the Sagrantino grapes slowly dry on racks in a well-ventilated loft space - where they remain for around 3 months losing something like 70% of their juices. We tried just a couple of the grapes and you could really taste the wine that would develop, just from that little taste!  There is some white Passito too, Grechetto & Moscato are a couple that come to mind, both delicious and as with any real Passito, they're not sweet wines, but dessert wines - a subtle difference, but one worth noting!  The Passito is normally paired with either dark chocolate or strong cheeses.  Either one is excellent - my personal preference is for a lump of parmigiana - the more aged the better - and a glass of the Sagrantino Passito!

After all that difficult observation, watching Roberto and the others hard at work at Cantina Dionigi, we were exhausted and needed a glass of wine or two to relax ourselves again!  Luckily, there was plenty of wine to choose from, and myself, Mark and my Mum sat and took a well deserved rest sitting out on their wonderful terrace!

Gusto's journey, continued...

..... It was a simple idea, take small groups of folk around the cantine (vineyards) of this area and introduce them to the delights of Umbria - the fabulous award winning wines, the authentic rustic cuisine, the delightful people and the incredible countryside.

We'd been on a wine tour in the summer in Napa Valley, California and although it was good, we knew we could improve on the experience! Firstly we decided that everything would be included in the price of the day. The only exception to that would be anything that folks bought during the day! We wanted to look after people for the day 110%, we wanted them to come away from the day with fabulous memories and want to come back for more! We wanted to make it such a great day out that the people who came on our tours wouldn't be able to help recommending us!

Although we're both experienced in the hospitality trade, setting up a new business, even one as simple as this, in a foreign country has been interesting, to say the least!

Anyway, that aside, we did it! The fun part was, and still is (we're not going to stop looking) sourcing the cantine and different places to eat lunch! We are concentrating on the smaller cantine, and out of the way quality places to eat, but as the tours are customer led, we will listen if the consensus is to visit the more well-known places. It's your day!

http://wwwgustowinetours.com was created to stimulate the senses to make you yearn for a day out with Gusto!

More later.......

The idea

A few years ago we started doing wine tours for our friends and family whenever they came to visit us in our chosen home of Umbria. They all enjoyed the experience and it was a chance for us to show off this relatively unknown area of Italy. We know that people are starting to be aware of it, but it still seems to be talked about as Tuscany's poor relation! Everyone knows the Tuscan wines - who hasn't gone to Tesco's for a bottle of Chianti? Personally I'm more often than not disappointed in the Chianti's I have tried. However, the marketing is strong and it's difficult to persuade some people that there may be a contender out there, and when it happens to be Tuscany's neighbour, well.....

The first time that I tried a Montefalco Rosso was a total revelation! I was so impressed by the deep chewy nature of the wine that I soon progressed to trying the Montefalco Sagrantino - 100% Sagrantino grapes, only grown in this part of Umbria. They have the highest levels of polyphenols and tannins of any other grape, and these are the building blocks of a full bodied and complex wine that will age very well indeed. The wine is aged in wood barrels and stainless steel for a minimum of 30 months to soften those massive tannins. The result is superb!

We wanted to do something in this business!

Gusto Wine Tours was born!