Getting from Here...To There

Here There

As we tie the last vines we hear our very secretive neighbor call out to us once again. She has been making herself known on our frequent visits, but refuses to show herself. Her call sounds an awful lot like “cu-cu”, begging us to repeat it back to her. This is the first time I think we’ve ever heard a real cuckoo before. I look around, but I can’t see her. I call her a “her” because she doesn’t appear to be doing a lot of work while we are there. Female cuckoos are a clever, lazy, lot and get other birds to make their nests, and even raise their young. They will go as far as eating the other eggs in the hosts’ nest that they choose. They spy on the nests’ occupants closely, and can often mimic their eggs in color and size. The foster parents are none the wiser, and lavish the young cuckoo with all the love and attention that they would offer their own. Where’s the satisfaction in that, I wonder.
But then, as the spring sun heats up, and we can barely work past noon anymore, and whatever unseen, unheard bugs that have found a take -out lunch on my neck bring my frustration level to boiling point, I entertain the thought, for a while, of hiring someone to do this work. I’m in a sea of grapevines, and I know that if I stop now and linger on that thought for too long, I might give into it, so I put one foot in front of the other, and go to the next vine. It becomes apparent to us that we will have to move: either closer to Solopaca, or build something on the property. We should be doing this work in the early morning and late evening, but we live too far away for that right now. No one works in the afternoons here except us; it’s just too hot.
We are beginning to know our vines, and they are beginning to respond in a way that kind of makes us proud. I can’t help making the comparison between parents and children. It is very similar to the pride that I feel towards my own children when they accomplish or do good things. We have put the time into parenting these vines, and they’re responding, just like we had hoped.

We venture into a part of the vineyard that we haven’t been to for a while. We tend to spend a lot more time on the first rows than we do the last. As I am the first on this day to venture into this area, I am also the first to feast my eyes on a wall of overgrown cherry trees. We’ve heard locals refer to our part of the town as “Ceraselle” meaning “little cherries” for the now wild cherry trees that grow up here. I look up and there is a wall of green with bursts of bright red cherries. I’m delighted and I call everyone over to see it . Our son Adam acts rather blasé but it is he who took these photos:

Ron, my husband, thinks this should be the business name for the vineyard. The cherries are my pat on the back today…they seem to have recognized our efforts all these days, and reach out with their beauty to our tired spirits, and make us feel like it is worthwhile.
Something the cuckoo bird will never know.

Tasting notes tonight are of a local wine from Benevento. This wine, though not from Solopaca is from a town higher up the mountain in Frasso Telesino. It is IGT because of the use of the garganega grape which is not a local grape but more widely used in the Veneto region in Soave and Gambellara.

Azienda Agricola De Fortuna
Falanghina Beneventano IGT
Finile 2009
Grapes: Falanghina and Garganega
ABV 12,5%
The wine is bright, crystal clear and straw yellow in color, and almost transparent but with a slight tinge of green on the rim. It is fairly viscous with fairly quick tears, medium in size.

The town where the grapes are grown, Frasso Telesino, is located at about 374m above sea level, and has greater fluctuations in day and night temperatures than Solopaca where we are located, so I’m expecting to find more exciting aromas in the wine: it is intense with sweet, spring flowers like jasmine, and fruit-filled of pear, citrus, and definitely some flinty mineral tones, some almond. The wine is fairly complex in its aromas and presents an elegant bouquet. This wine has made a very good first impression.
To the taste it is dry, leaves behind a warmth from the alcohol, but is nice and smooth. There is a light and pleasant freshness from the acidity which is well balanced against the smooth feel of the wine. There is a liveliness there, but also a very persistent minerally,
flinty aftertaste which I think comes from the Garganega. What a lovely combination in a wine.
It is of medium structure, well-balanced, fairly intense and persistent. It has good overall harmonious qualities, and an elegant finish. Complimenti Azienda De Fortuna! It's late, and I'm afraid, I opened the wine just to taste, so I haven't paired it with anything. It's length and persistence would have be believe that it could handle a little competition from the food: perhaps stronger tasting fish dishes, medium-aged cheeses.

Buying a Vineyard in Solopaca, Italy.

There are many people who have made their way to Solopaca over the millennia for a variety of reasons: Archeological digs have revealed that people have inhabited the area since pre-history. The first to plant vines on its verdant slopes were the Etruscans and then the Samnites. Virgil and Horace both make mention of the wines of Solopaca back in the 1st century B.C. The Romans thought of it as an area worth preserving for its important shepherd trails.
To reach Solopaca from Napoli you must first travel along the Strada Statale 7, Via Appia, the road that was first constructed by the Romans as a strategic military route from Rome to Brindisi. Almost 2000 years later, I followed the same route and made my way to Solopaca in search of a vineyard to buy.
In December of 2009 we bought a vineyard in Solopaca. We live and work in Naples so our vineyard had to be within commuting distance of our work. Our research, our pocket book, and some divine intervention led us to Solopaca.
Our criteria were an existing vineyard, preferably with DOC grapes, small enough that my husband and I could handle on our own. We looked at well over 20 properties over a period of 8 months, hemmed and hawed over a few of them and finally settled on the 1st property we had seen.
The divine intervention came in the form of a man called Peppino Riccardi, a geometra in Solopaca. When you buy a house or a piece of property in Italy it is necessary to have a geometra who’s job is something between that of a surveyor and an architect. (For more info on what a geometra is see the following website: http://www.keyitaly.com/article/geometra-checklist/ )
He is younger than he looks, dresses like a country gentleman but with baggy pants that are somewhat too long, a blazer that is too big, over a vest. His eyes resemble Mr. Magoo’s and his office is a jumble of fading stacks of blueprints and papers that look like they’ve been sitting in the same place since the 1970’s. He’s a one-finger at a time typist, and doesn’t see the keyboard very well, and is not sure where the letters are. Watching him fill out forms can be a painful experience for an impatient person such as myself.
When I first met him, I was in the company of my agent, Maria, who couldn’t understand why it was taking us so long to decide what to buy, when we had clearly seen all that there was to see. At that point we had our heart set on a piece of land that was part vineyard and part olive grove with a stupendous view over the Caldaro valley and the hills beyond. We had been back to see it many times, invited an architect from Rome out to see it, but something prevented us from moving forward. The owners were anxious to sell and Maria, our agent, was feeling their pressure. She finally brought me to Peppino, whom she said would answer all of my questions. In his office, Maria patiently asked me to explain to Peppino my concerns with the property in question. I thought about this for a moment or two, then explained in my broken Italian that I think it might be just fear of the unknown, that it was a big step for us, that we were afraid: afraid we wouldn’t like it in a town where we would be the only foreigners; I also explained that we were afraid that maybe after a while, we would want to move back to Canada, and would we be able to sell and get a good return on our build. Peppino asked me a simple question. “What is your goal in buying this land?” I said we wanted to first concentrate on growing good grapes, and then possibly have a winery.
The agent, went on her way, and left Peppino and I to visit the property that we had in mind. As I drove I noticed that Peppino crossed himself whenever we passed by the cemetery and everytime we drove past one of the 8 churches in the small town of Solopaca.
I showed him around the property, and explained to him our grandiose plans for the property while his expression became more and more perplexed. Finally he spoke.“Senti, io sono un uomo onesto….so I must tell you something. “Yes it is a beautiful piece of land and the view is meraviglioso…but I thought you told me that you wanted to grow good grapes, and eventually make good wine. Look around you…do you see any working vineyards here? This is olive country. People don’t even live out here. The land is dry and it is best suited to olives. Now show me another property, because you will never get your money back if you build a home and a winery here.”
His words were like a big Stop sign that suddenly appeared behind a cover of fog. The fog suddenly lifted, and all became clear. He recognized our fear and confusion, and led us to what we had set out to find. We settled on the first property we had seen…way back when we were clear about what we wanted. “Cerasella” as the area of Solopaca is called where we have bought our vineyard, was in our price range, is an existing DOC vineyard, has the perfect inclination on a verdant slope of the North side of Mount Taburno, looking onto Caldaro river and valley and mountains beyond, and is the right size being just under 1 hectare or 2.5 acres. It is known for its well-exposed, well-drained land, in clay-calcareous soils. It had been there all the time, patiently waiting for us to see its beauty, its practicality, its potential.
The name Solopaca comes from its 11th century name “Surrupaca” which literally means “opaque sun”. This has been interpreted as a land with a lot of sun or paese del sole which has inevitably led to its destiny as the most intensely cultivated viticulture zone in Campania. The sign on the way into town today says, Solopaca, citta’ del vino. It is nestled along Mount Taburno and stretches 2 kilometers horizontally at about 250 meters above sea level. Today it has a population of about 4000 inhabitants.
When you buy a piece of property in a place where there is so much history and folklore, you never really own it…you borrow it for a while, you become but a page of its story: One that started long before we arrived, and one that will continue on after we leave it.
The road to Solopaca is a new route for us, but the footsteps that led us there are deeply cast in the ground and history. We just needed to look for the signs through the fog.
Wine Review:
Pampanella 2009
Masseria Vigne Vecchie
Falanghina DOC Solopaca
100% Falanghina
It is bright straw color and green around the rim. It has medium legs and the label reads 13% alcohol. The perfume is subtle with scents of fresh spring flowers, and fragrant citrus scent. It is dry with a lovely smooth finish. While it may be subtle on the nose, it offers a long minerally aftertaste, typical of Falanghina. This wine received an honorable mention at the 2009 International Biological Wine Fair promoted by Citta del Bio. As with all Falanghina’s this would be a perfect accompaniment to fish dishes, but because of its mineral aftertaste it could also stand up to white meats and medium aged cheeses.
Sources:
http://www.seguendoulisse.it/regione-campania-contenuti/?id_cat=16&id_contenuto=48&language=en&index=Seguendo-Ulisse-BENEVENTO+AND+PROVINCE-SOLOPACA
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solopaca
http://www.savourthesannio.com/blog/
http://www.sanniti.info/indexen.html
http://www.tigulliovino.it/dettaglio_articolo.php?idArticolo=969
http://www.cantinasolopaca.it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way