April 24 - Pomario, Umbria

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Last night we had dinner at a little local restaurant just round the corner and down the hill from our hotel. It’s called the Rinaldi al Quirinale and it specializes in seafood. When last I stayed here with Katie we loved it and it didn’t disappoint this time.  We both had a wonderful appetizer of a grilled prawn (the size of a small lobster) and a  grilled calamari.  Our main course was pasta with white sauce, lobster and shaved black truffle. It smelled divine and tasted exquisite.  With it we had a great super tuscan wine.  We sat outside and at the next table we met a lovely Australian couple ending their vacation in Rome.  We’ve found in our travels that Australians are great people to meet and chat with, but then I think I can strike up a conversation with most anyone.

This morning after a light breakfast our driver Fabio picked us up to take us to northern Umbria to the Pomario vineyard which is owned by the Spalletti Trivelli family that owns our hotel.  After an hour and forty-five minute drive we arrived at the place just outside Monteleone de Umbria.  The vineyard is at 600 meters and thus the vines and grapes don’t ripen quite as fast as at lower altitudes.  This place operates in a completely organic manner using no pesticides or chemical fertilizers.  There were a few interesting things our guide Stefania told us.  First, they have nearly 300 varieties of roses planted around the vineyard.  We have seen roses around vines before because we’d been told they ward off aphids.  Stefania told us they act as an alarm system to let the staff know that there is a particular virus which can decimate the grapes.  From the time they notice the virus on the rose bushes they have about one week to care for the vines.  The second thing of interest was that in between the rows of vines they plant a plant similar to a fava bean.  Those plants help to return nitrogen to the soil.  Around the vineyard Pomario has planted a heritage vegetable garden and heritage fruit trees to help to continue producing old fruits and vegetables.  They had a beautiful patch of May peas growing which, sadly, were not yet ready.

These vines receive TLC by hand every single day!

Beans between the vines to give them nitrogen naturally

Part of the impressive vegetable gardens

the last of the French oak casks which the reserve red wine ages in.  The wine spends 24 months in the casks

The cellar

This vineyard only produces 15,000 bottles a year (that’s only about 1250 cases) so they are a very small producer.  They do three harvests of grapes.  The first is in September when they harvest grapes that are not quite ripe and use them to make everyday wine.  The second, a little later, is the grapes that are truly ready and from these they produce their reserve wines.  They produce an excellent sangiovese which is not blended with any merlot which many wineries do.  Their third harvest is for a special vineyard which is located on a slope which gets cloudy in autumn.  There they hope for fog to come which creates a special mold on the vines. From those grapes they produce a delicious dessert wine called Muffato.  It’s a sweet white wine which tasted great with the fig cake we had for dessert.  I didn’t mention that our tour included a very nice lunch with wine pairings to match.  Everything was so good that we felt inspired to buy a case of wine and have it shipped home.  We can relive our time at Pomario in the months to come.

After lunch we had an opportunity to visit a small medieval village called Citta della Pieve but we decided to pass.  Between the walk around the vineyards and the delicious lunch and wine, we needed a little siesta so we headed back to Rome.  As it was we came back around five.  I forgot to say that along the way we passed the city of Orvieto.  For anyone who comes to this area and has the opportunity to visit that city, you should do so.  The place is situated spectacularly on the top of a sort of a mesa with a wall completely encircling it and it is absolutely beautiful. We’ve been there a couple of times and seeing it as we drove by brought wonderful memories.

Back in Rome we enjoyed the hotel’s open bar and ate a salad, some wine of course (the lovely rose from the vineyard we visited), and some yummy homemade gelato.  Who could ask for a better finish to the day? Tomorrow it will be time to say  "Arriverderci, Roma" and board our ship. I tossed my coins in the Trevi fountain so I should come back again some time.

Ciao for now!