It was surreal. It was awesome. Part of me was left behind in Sicilia. I'll post more about our trip to Italy from time to time, but for now, I wanted to point out one of our highlights, Planeta Winery. As we drove to the winery, we passed rolling green hills dotted white with sheep, rocky coastlines, the smell of the sea, and amazing vineyards and olive groves. I was constantly reminded of how young our history here in America is, as we daily trod over cobblestones, some hundreds of years old, some thousands, but, I digress. I was also astounded by the size of the vine stocks. They looked like trees compared to the relatively young vines we tend to see here. When we arrived, we were greeted by a young lady who asked if we were "ok". With a small bit of puzzlement, we said yes, we were ok. She then said, "no, no, have you eaten lunch?" We said, no, we had not. To which she replied, "then you are not ok". So began our visit to Planeta Wineries Sambuca di Sicilia, Ulmo, Sicilia estate, After our tour of the grounds, the stainless tanks, the oak barrel rooms, and the bottling facility, we were led back to a tasting room with a large table, beautifully set, with 4 wine glasses at each place. There was quite a spread, too, olives (their own they had grown and brined), olive oil (again, their own), bread, bread sticks, and cheeses. When I tried the bread that had been drizzled with the oil, I asked what kind of spice they added to the oil and was told, that's just pure olive oil. I had never experienced anything like it. It was so light, and fresh, and delicious. It was nothing like what we usually have here. When the bottle of olive oil was opened, it smelled like fresh cut grass. These oils were so exquisite, you could actually sip them for an olive oil "tasting". It was remarkable. Of course, the wine was also ridiculously good. From what we were told, some countries export their best wines, but Italy keeps their best and exports the second tier, which are amazing anyway. The wines were clean, and mature, with such flavor. Needless to say, we brought home several bottles of wine and oil. So, here's my shout out to Planeta Winery. There's a link in the "favorite links" section, too. I'll add a few pics, but they can never do it justice. Buon Appetito!
http://www.planetawines.com/the-estates-sambuca-di-sicilia.asp
 |
| Lovely wife and I (I do not smile, apparently) |
 |
| Barrels |
 |
| Frank and "small" bottle |
 |
| In front of Planeta olive tree |
 |
| Another smileless... |
 |
| Purchasing |
 |
| Some of the delicious "fare" |
 |
| Beautifully set up for our tasting |
 |
| The "shelf" |
 |
| Vines |
No comments:
Post a Comment