Wines all around me...

Ok I thought I should do a little explanation of the wines of the Salento. I was going to say Puglia but then I did a little research and I realized I don’t know many of the wines from the Bari and Foggia area. Keep in mind I’m not an expert and I just drink a lot. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Anyway this is just a quick guide. Puglia is know for it’s wines that "for drinking" (i.e. more in quantity than quality) and there 25 DOC varieties and 6 IGT. Puglia alone produces twice as much wine as all of Australia so you have to drink a lot to get a handle on the different wines. The photo shows some of the bottles of wine that I like.

First the grapes and there’s THE BIG 3, Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Malvasia Nera, in Salento (for red wines).

The king of Puglian wine is the Primitivo, but not just any Primitivo. The Primitivo di Manduria is considered the best. So you have to have Manduria, a town between Taranto and Lecce near the Ionian coast, on the label if want to impress your friends with your knowledge of Salento wines. The Primitivo grape must be pretty tough because it can take the heat of Salento in the summer. I think most of the Primitivos are aged only about 12 months maybe a little more and you drink them within 4 or 6 years. I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of Primitivos at first but the taste has grown on me. The wine has bite, as I call it, because it’s usually 14% or 14.5% alcohol.

The next grape is Negroamaro (I’m not talking about the Italian rock band!) I think I read that it’s actually the most abundant grape in Puglia so some people would say it’s the most important grape variety around here. There are a many wines that use the Negroamaro grape as you’ll see. I like a good wine that’s 100% Negroamaro as it has what I call a good fruity flavor to it.

In third place among the 3 is the Malvasia Nera grape. Just this week was the first time I’ve ever had a wine that was 100% Malvasia Nera grapes. And Mino warned me that it was sweet and it is the sweetest of the Puglia red wines. It doesn’t seem like a very popular wine because usually Malvasia Nera grapes are blended into Primitivo and Negroamaro grapes to make other wines. There are also two varieties of Malvasia Nera one “di Brindisi” and other “di Lecce”. When you start blending, as you’ll see below the types of wines seem endless.

One of my personal favorites of this blending is Salice Salentino. Salice Salentino is a town between Brindisi and Lecce and it’s also the name for a wine that is a blend of 85% Negroamaro and 15% Malvasia Nera. I think I like Malvasia Nera best in a small amount like it is in this wine. So I’ve decided that 100% Malvasia Nera is a little too sweet for me but 15% is a good hint of sweetness.

Then comes Squinzano, another town between Brindisi and Lecce, that has a wine that’s 70% Negroamaro and 30% Malvasia Nera so you get the picture. I prefer the Salice Salentino to this wine in most cases. I guess this confirms that I’ve discovered my level of sweetness I like in my wine about 15% Malvasia Nera but 30% is ok.

And it goes on and on and on like this usually with Malvasia Nera as the smaller percentage. The next wine I plan to try is Platone by Al Bano Carrisi. It’s 50% Negroamaro and 50% Primitivo. I don’t think I’ve ever had a wine that was 50/50. Well I probably have but I just didn’t realize it at the time. Wow this is getting too long quickly. I didn’t even talk about using oak barrels or steel tanks or bottles to age the wine. I guess I should encourage you to experiment and find out what you like. Start with a Negroamaro or Primitivo and then try some of the blends. Enjoy

How about a little on white wines…

White wines are little easier. In the Salento they are generally cultivated in the hills of Locorotondo and Martina Franca. Their wines are made with the grape varieties Verdeca, Bianco d’Alessano, along with Fiano and Bombino Bianco. There are some other varieties of white wines in the Salento including Trebbiano, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Pinot Bianco. I think the Chardonnay and Sauvignon are catching on, as they are more recognizable to people outside Puglia. If they want to export wines they need the right names. There is a Salento Bianco IGT that’s 100% Chardonnay and another that’s 70% Sauvignon and 30% Chardonnay. I like the Verdeca from Locorotondo myself.

This image below I took from the www.tablewine.com site but the link to their source of it didn't work. It was from some government website. This link will take to an ungly but informative version of this image.

Near Heart Attack!

Ok I was about to have a heart attack when I saw the headline today “Poste Italiane diventa un operatore telefonica” (Poste Italiane to become a telephone operator) with a picture of Poste Italiane Mobile next to the headline. I thought they were going to offer a telephone network like Vodafone or something. I was thinking they would have ridiculous fees to receive calls, they would listen in on all your calls (after all they like to open your packages), and to would cost an arm and a leg to call someone. It turns out what they mean is that PI is coming up with a way to pay bills with your mobile phone. A truly good idea but it’s too bad that I fear the people in charge of it. I love the idea that I’m at trying to do some insane Italian paperwork (TV tax, hot water heater registration, apartment rental contract registration, etc….) and they say that I have to pay a bollettino to do it. Then I whip out my cell phone and punch in a few numbers and say, “Ha, it’s paid now give me my dam _____ (insert Italian thing here)”. Of course the big thing is going to be the security of this sending money by cell phone. I don’t know that people will trust it. I don’t, yet. We’ll see.
This morning walking to work I passed the cleanup of an accident. From the looks of it a scooter hit a car pretty hard. I would guess the kid is ok but I bet he has a broken leg. The car had the yield triangles in his direction so I assume he was at fault but I could be wrong. I’m still amazed that cars and scooters don’t hit more. I really think the kids spend so much time on their scooters that they are “good” drivers. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t mean good as in responsible. I mean good as in avoiding getting hit or hitting something. That’s why I don’t have a scooter. I would drive it responsibly and probably get knocked off it every day. The cars would assume I’m going slip in and out and when I didn’t they would be surprised and hit me. The kids drive like idiots but that’s all they know and it makes them tough to hit. I always signal when I’m turning right into my garage but I know one of these days a kid on scooter is going to be sliding past cars on the right and hit me. It’s been close a few times already but then again they always seen avoid the accident. That’s another thing I like about winter. Less kids on scooters.
Also back to the news. I see that Germany believes they can decrease their electricity usage by 40% by 2020 and England is working on lowering the amount used in households by 60% (but they say 80% is possible) by 2050. Meanwhile in the US we give the Green Car of the Year award to V8 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid that gets 22 mpg. Am I the only one that doesn't understand this?
This photo below I made it darker on purpose as I like the outline of the trees on the horizon for some reason.

Rome pictures, Ok!

So I guess I need to get on with the trip to Rome. Looking back I didn’t take many photos although it seemed like I was at the time. I take a lot of “classic” photos. This one below is the classic Castel Sant’Angelo with the reflection in the Tevere (with the "Angel Bridge" as some call it) . A must have for every traveler to Rome.



I mentioned that I had to go up to the top of the San Pietro and I did. It was more of a walk than Manni and his wife were expecting. I think it was the best weather I’ve ever had up there. Light winds and the temperature was fine for just a sweater. In the winter it’s cold and windy but you can see forever so it’s good for photos but you don’t want to linger. In the summer it feels cool but there is a haze and you can’t see far. Before descending into San Pietro I stopped at the gift shop and bought something for Nonna (it turned out to be the only gift I bought on the trip). Inside San Pietro it felt crowded. There were tons of seats set up because the next day the Pope was ordaining some new bishops. So it was getting late and I had the feeling that they were going to start ushering people out so they could complete the preparations. Below is the typical shot of San Pietro from the top of San Pietro!


One of the surprises to me was that the interior of the Pantheon is no longer under restoration. I wasn’t even going to stop in there because I thought it would be a mess but instead it was fantastic. The walls and ceiling look beautiful. I never get tired of admiring things like the Pantheon. Why, oh, why can’t we build things like this these days? I overheard someone say that there is a piece of plastic covering the top now but I couldn’t tell. It might be a good idea after all the work they did and if I can’t tell then I’m for it.


A night stop at the Fontana di Trevi and then time to turn in after a drink at “The Nag’s Head” near Piazza Venezia.


Saturday I was going to shop but instead I headed to the Trastevere area of Rome. At Home in Rome’s backyard but she wasn’t at home in Rome, if that makes any sense… I was looking for Piazza de Mercanti and I found it but not the Taverna de Mercanti she mentioned. The piazza is a strange shape and very quiet.

This is an unconventional shot of myself on top of the San Pietro. After that Manni said he’d take a picture of me if I wanted. I broke down and let him. I look like crap in the photo so I ain’t puttin’ it up! I love running my own blog.

Another unconventional photo. This photo was slightly out of focus so I decided to play with the chalk and charcoal effect.

The whole trip was rather uneventful. Nothing extraordinary. I didn't run into anyone famous or get robbed or etc. It did rain the minute I sat down to lunch on Saturday. When the rain stopped I finished my coffee and hit the road again. There is something about Rome that makes me walk and walk and walk. Why don't I take the buses or Metro or taxi more? Boh...

Where to start?

From the beginning of course. I would love to start showing you photos from Rome but let's start with the beginning. These photos are of the Puglia countryside. They were all taken on the train between Brindisi and Bari. The train was moving pretty fast and it was overcast so I couldn't get the focus and color I wanted. Also I was trying to find the cleanest window to shoot through. At Bari the train filled up and I had to sit in my assigned seat! Now I see why they want to have the Eurostar stop in Bari.

This one you can see how windy it was. I love how silver the underside of olive leaves are. You know it's windy when you see silver.

There's not just olive trees and vineyards in Puglia. There's also figs. See we have fall. The fig trees lose their leaves.

This one I like because the farmer is using he's land to the fullest. Most places leave the ground bare under the trees so they can rake up the olives.


Ok I did get one from Campania. You can tell because there are hills in this photo!!


Next time Rome...

Rome

Ok this should be my last quickie blog from Rome. Tomorrow pictures and all the good stuff. I'm proud of myself as we haven't been ripped off by a Taxi. Twice I was sure that he was preparing to give us the Grand Tour but both times I was wrong. We went from Piazza Venezia to Duke's and it was only 10 euro. I couldn't argue with that.
Today I hope to do some shopping but I'm not a "shopper". It's just not in my blood. We'll see how long I last.
Well, wish you were here and the Pope says ciao.....

Duke's

Well it looks like I'll keep the month of blogging goin but I don't have much time. I had Thanksgiving dinner at a place called Duke's. The people at the hotel said it was "American" so we gave it a try. It was not at all what we expected. Manni said it best, "I was expecting some place like Hooters." Instead it was a very nice restaurant with great food. Pretty expensive but then we did have desert and some good wine. It wasn't like any Thanksgiving back home but fun nonetheless.

Today we had THE big work meeting, which went better than expected. Then we were off to San Pietro. We arrived just in time to go up to the top of the cupola. Then on the walk back we stopped at the Pantheon. Can I just say that I'm thrilled that they are finished with the interior renovations. It looks amazing and to think I almost wasn't going to stop in because I ASSUMED it was still a work in progress. Never assume, right?
The weather may turn to crap tomorrow so the next post may be from home with photos.

Happy Turkey Day

Well have a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm off to Rome but I'll leave with this Mohawk quote. I figure they always taught us in school that this whole holiday only happened thanks to the Indians....

To be a human is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.
Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.
Thank you deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.
We give thanks to green, green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth's floor.
Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry.
Fruits and berries, we thanks you for your color and sweetness.
We are thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.
Thank you, all the animals of the world, for keeping our precious forests clean.
All the trees of the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us. Thank you all the birds in the world, for signing your beautiful songs for all to enjoy.
We give thanks to you gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from the four directions.
Thank you, Grandfather Thunder Beings, for bringing rains to help all living things grow.
Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.
Thank you Grandmother Moon, for growing full every month to light the darkness for children and sparkling waters.
We give you thanks, twinkling stars, for making the night sky so beautiful and sprinkling morning dew drops on the plants.
Spirit Protectors of our past and present we thank you for showing us ways to live in peace and harmony with one another.
And most of all, thank you Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts, so we will be happy and healthy every day and every night.
Translation by Chief Jake Swamp

More good stuff...

So tomorrow I’m heading up to Rome. I’m excited because I haven’t been there for a while and the weather is supposed to be great. I “sort of” have plans for Thanksgiving. I’m meeting up with a coworker and his wife in Rome since we’ll be at the same hotel for the same meeting Friday morning. I say sort of because neither of us is sure when we will be at the hotel and where we can go to eat. I hope it works out.

I’m also excited because I should be taking the train during the day so I’ll try to get some photos along the way. My biggest worry is NaBloPoMo! What if I don’t have time to find an Internet café and make a post Friday or Saturday? I could blow it all right here! At worst I’ll just pop into a café and say, “All is well, wish you were here and the Pope says ciao” and there won’t be any photos. Then I should be back in Brindisi Sunday so I can fill you in. I could drag out the photos from Rome and make the last few days of NaBloPoMo easy.

I also hope to do some Christmas shopping up there. After all IT IS that time of year! There is much more of a selection in the shops in Rome but I need to make sure I don’t get ripped off! And that’s frickin’ easy these days with the dollar trading even lower against Euro. I think a lot of my Christmas shopping will have to wait until I’m back in the US, right before Christmas. So maybe I should say I’ll be window shopping this weekend and trying to get some ideas. Man, do I need some ideas, as my friends and family have to be tired of getting olive oil and cheap wine as presents. I have to come up with something else. Last year was great though because I packed a 5 liter metal drum of my favorite olive oil in my big suitcase. It made it back to the US with no leaks (but it did have a big dent in it like they tried to bust it). Then I bought some glass bottles at World Market (made in Italy too) and proceeded to divide up the oil between several people. I could try that again. I won’t try bringing in a salami from Norcia again as that was taken away by the mean Customs guy in Newark. He probably enjoyed it. Bastardo.

Brindisi also has a new place to eat. It’s not really a restaurant. It’s something I never thought I would see in this town. The name is “Hara” and they call it a “Finger Food/Sushi Bar”. That’s right kids we have ourselves a Sushi bar in Brindisi. I haven’t been in it yet. I asked my neighbor if she wanted to go (because she’s the only one I know that would try something like this) and she said yes but then hedged when came to deciding what night. I think she had second thoughts. Maybe we’ll go after one of us has heard something good about it. It shouldn’t take long for word to spread. It’s a small town.

Whining

Ok, I’ve been whining a lot again. Time to get back to good stuff. There are some things I like about winter and Italy. One is the new wines (that’s a given) but along with the vino novello there’s roast chestnuts. Here they go together like peanut butter and jelly (which by the way, don’t go together here in Italy!!) Now we’ve all heard in that Christmas tune “chestnuts roasting on a open fire” but I’m pretty sure that I’ve never had them until I arrived in Italy. Now everyday (from October until sometime in January) I pass the contraption you see in the photo. The veggie place has this super excellent chestnut-roasting machine made by Rosalba’s husband. It has a drum (with little fins) that rotates like a washing machine only slower and over flames that cook every castagna to perfection. I’ve never even tried to roast my own chestnuts and why should I with this thing just a few hundred feet from my front door? So many times I’m coming back from shopping or the gym and I catch that smoky sweet smell. It’s all over and I have to get at least 2 euros worth to snack on. Then at home I proceed to throw one of the shells on the floor to the delight of the cats. They bat it around until it either gets under something where they can’t reach it or I’m walking around and not paying attention and suddenly I hear a loud CRUNCH under my foot. Once they actually managed to push the shell under the throw rug in the hall. I almost fell on my ass at the surprise of stepping on a rug that crunched.

I may have mentioned it before but another thing I love is having the shudders open. The sun is our friend again. I would like to have the shudders open year round but I learned from the locals that in the summer that’s just not a good idea. Your apartment gets hot quickly and it won’t cool down. This time of year I get to welcome the sun in to try to warm the place up.

Another thing I love is how green the countryside is this time of year. For a couple months there in the summer it’s so dry and brown but now it’s nice and wet and green and it will be like that until May or June. It’s like Ireland. Ok maybe not that green but it’s all backwards to what I’m used to. In the Midwest by now all the trees are bare it’s looking bleak and winter like. You’re hoping for a snow to make the cold weather worthwhile. Here there are a few trees that loose their leaves so there are some trees that are bare like it’s winter but everything else is too green for me to accept that it’s winter. I mentioned how a large part of the park Torre Gauceto burned in August with the hot, dry summer we had but if you go out there now you can’t tell. Sure it doesn’t have the taller trees and some bushes it had but I think it will recover quicker than people are predicting. I also think the Gargano area will recover quickly too. I would like to drive up there to see. I bet the natural areas are recovering faster than the man made houses and businesses that burned. Mother nature is good like that.

This photo below is of an interesting sunset we had Sunday night. It was really low in the sky so it was almost hidden by the other buildings around me. The clouds were thick and just had this one hole that allowed sun through for about 5 or 10 minutes. Then right in the middle was this one palm tree that sticks up above the buildings. I’m taking this photo from the 4th floor (5th to you Americans) and that tree is about the same level as my apartment.

Fast Food Italian Style

That was supposed to be the title yesterday! Let's just forget yesterday. Today's photo I call "cooking minestrone", pretty original. Hey I'm an Engineer. I'm better with acronyms!!
Well yesterday I guess I was trying to do too much with my poor computer. It just was running very slow and locking up all the time. A coworker game me 2 CDs of music and I was desperately trying to copy them so I could give them back today. Problem is these were homemade CDs and old. Some parts were just not readable. In the end I copied most of the songs. I saw that I did get one song that I’ve been dying to find (and don’t say iTunes as it’s not a song worth paying for). It’s “Gianna” by Rino Gaetano. There is a tribute band to Rino Gaetano here in Brindisi and when they play “Gianna” the place turns into that scene from Animal House when they play “Louie, Louie”. It’s hilarious so I now I have the original and I have to say the live local version is more fun. I need to learn the words but that won't happen listening to the song, so here they are:

Gianna Gianna Gianna sosteneva, tesi e illusioni
Gianna Gianna Gianna prometteva, pareti e fiumi
Gianna Gianna aveva un coccodrillo, ed un dottore
Gianna non perdeva neanche un minuto, per fare l'amore

Ma la notte la festa è finita, evviva la vita
La gente si sveste e comincia un mondo
un mondo diverso, ma fatto di sesso
e chi vivrà vedrà...

Gianna Gianna Gianna non cercava il suo pigmalione
Gianna difendeva il suo salario, dall'inflazione
Gianna Gianna Gianna non credeva a canzoni o UFO
Gianna aveva un fiuto eccezionale, per il tartufo

Ma la notte la festa è finita, evviva la vita
La gente si sveste e comincia un mondo
un mondo diverso, ma fatto di sesso
e chi vivrà vedrà...

Ma dove vai, vieni qua, ma che fai?
Dove vai, con chi ce l'hai? Vieni qua, ma che fai?
Dove vai, con chi ce l'hai? Di chi sei, ma che vuoi?
Dove vai, con chi ce l'hai? Butta la', vieni qua,
chi la prende e a chi la da!Dove sei, dove stai?
Fatti sempre i fatti tuoi!Di chi sei, ma che vuoi?
Il dottore non c'e' mai!Non c'e' mai! Non c'e' mai!
Tu non prendi se non dai! Vieni qua, ma che fai?
Dove vai, con chi ce l'hai? Butta la', vieni qua,
chi la prende e a chi la da!Dove sei, dove stai?
Fatti sempre i fatti tuoi!Di chi sei, ma che vuoi?
Il dottore non c'e' mai!Non c'e' mai! Non c'e' mai!
Tu non prendi se non dai! Vieni qua, ma che fai?

I played around last night doing the effect Kent told me about. I used a long exposure and them zoomed in with the shudder open (something the books all say never to do). I managed a few fun shots looking out my window.
This is multiple cars!
My favorite!