Full bodied

2nd October 2022

It has been a fairly uneventful week here at LCDDB, with nothing much out of the ordinary for most of the time, viz…

…Tuesday, I had a letter from Liverpool Victoria telling me about a change of name to one of their business arms. The letter was only for information and didn’t require any action, which was fortunate seeing as it was posted on July 5th. I’m not sure where that puts it in the rankings, but a delivery time of 7 weeks makes it a likely candidate for a top ten position.

It was also the day that Stephen didn’t make it home for dinner till well gone 8 o’clock. Usually when this happens, it’s work connected but this time he was on an errand of mercy, one which called on his particular expertise. BFF Manuel needed his advice in finding just the right shirt to go with his suit for a wedding this weekend, and I’m please to say that the mission was a success. Firstly, because they found a shade of very dark French navy to match the suit, and secondly because we were able, for once where Manuel is concerned, to give rather than receive.

Stephen was back on familiar ground on Friday as he spent the day, or part of it at least, at the Carellis, but not till after he had an encounter with an old friend here at home when he was sorting the various recycling bins downstairs. He was happily moving one to the side to sort another when a mouse ran over his hand. It is some time since we had sight of any, but now their summer holidays are over in the fields we’ll have to hope they’ve booked a long lease on a villa in the Canary Islands as that will be much safer for them than trying to take up residence in our lumber room.

That would have been as exciting as it got if not for an event that took over the centre of MSP on Saturday. Divina Harmonia was an evening of wine tasting, food and music, that had been much trailed on social media – well, on Facebook and Instagram, as when we told Computer Luca about it, he was unable to find any reference to it generally on the Internet. We, being in the know and ever ones to support local events, especially where there is the possibility of wielding a wine goblet, lent our presence to the occasion.

The official kicking off time was 6 pm, so we thought that 7 was a reasonable time to arrive, the only drawback with that being there was nowhere to park in the immediate area (good, we thought, it means that people have turned up). We did spot a P for Parking sign, but as is so often the case, it was only a vague indication as we didn’t see another one till we were walking back to our car, which was parked on the street five minutes or so away, just past the supermarkets, to head home. “Oh, that’s where the car park is,” as Stephen said, realisation dawning a little too late.

As for the main event, the basic idea of it was this: there were seven local wineries with tables set up at various spots around the centre. As a punter, you could buy a ticket for one glass at €4 or five tickets for five glasses for €15 in whatever combination of wineries/types you chose (a tough decision, not) and when you handed your money over along with the tickets you got a glass in its own snazzy little bag to hang around your neck. To help the evening go with a swing, there was also food available (fried tasty pieces from the pasta shop or plates of meat and cheese and sausage sandwiches in the piazza) as well as live music in the square, with a couple of stalls with things to buy (if you wanted a pair of earrings or some beauty products).

We had a very pleasant evening. The weather, after being a little drizzly, was fine and suitably warm for the start of October. We sampled some good wines and all, apart from one, were decent measures. We even purchased, as the nice man from La Pila in Montegiorgio had what might be the best Montepulciano I have tasted (though granted, that doesn’t really mean very much, not being a world authority). It was far from cheap, but in that way one has when one is finding a reason to spend money without feeling guilty, we said we would buy a bottle as a treat for Christmas – and while we were at it we might as well have a bottle of his white as well. No such excuse was proffered when we later, at the end of the evening after coffee in Pina, bought a bottle of vino cotto and one of a vino cotto/visciola mixture from the man from Loro who was doing dolce, because by that time we reckoned we might as well be hanged for a sheep.

All round, we had, as I said, a good time, but as this was the first occasion such an event has been arranged, there are one or two pointers that might be considered (if someone has the good sense to ask me, that is) for the next one:

1. Live music was a nice touch to set the mood but sitting in the square eating your sandwich to a modern music combo playing at a volume more in keeping with a festival field around midnight was maybe not quite the thing. If only we had waited until 8 pm when it switched to a man with an acoustic guitar playing popular hits.

2. Having the backstreets (well, one of them) festooned with coloured lights to lead you to the two wineries that had been allotted sites down there seemed like a good idea, but maybe it might have felt more of an occasion if they had all been in the square and the lights had been used to give an impactful festive air to the piazza. It would also have avoided a slightly disquieting feeling that maybe you should be keeping your eyes open for people of a small stature in red duffle coats.

3. Having the odd map on the wall in a few places to show where things were was ok, but maybe handing out flyer size ones with the tickets and wine glasses might have been useful.

Small points, but it’s always useful to have feedback.

As for today, with the weather having had another change of heart and setting fair for a warm and sunny week, Stephen decided to put off the wardrobe changeover till next Sunday. Instead, he spent a happy hour or so clearing out the orto, removing the remaining canes and digging up the various plants. That done, it was time for him to turn his attention to the peach liqueur, which began macerating a couple of months ago when we bought some cheap, past their best fruit to use up the half litre of pure alcohol we had hanging around the kitchen, like you do. After straining, adding the sugar syrup and straining again, we were left with four bottles to add to our haul from last night, which should see us nicely through the winter, or, if things get desperate, to the end of the month.