I shall refrain from waxing too lyrical about how lovely Le Marche still is (following last week's post) or I fear that I will totally lose your spirit! Suffice it to say that there was one very rainy day, so let that act as proof that balance in everything makes you realise how nice the good bits are.
The running continued this week, and it is definitely suffering, from a combination of a) good food, b) excellent wine, c) the heat and d) just a general sense of laziness brought on by holiday. We still love the Abbadia, which is proving to be a real live wire of a place. Every morning it is full of walkers, runners, cyclists, smart suited architects holding a conference, and, occasionally, monks! No doubt in the literature it would be referred to as a ‘resource’, and I would wholeheartedly agree with that definition.
On Sunday we joined the rest of the holidaymakers and Dean and Lesley to go to the Mogliano Festival, an annual three day festival that involves all the usual Italian things - dressing up in historic clothing, races through the town carrying flags, and, strangely, turning the main piazza into a temporary garden with turf, shrubs, plants et al. That last one is strange to me. So, we found ourselves a table on the city walls, and joined in with the other townsfolk in eating huge amounts of pasta and fried food, all washed down with cheap and headache-inducing local red wine (€4 a litre I seem to recall). After quite a lot of this I was naturally up for anything, and so got caught up in some kind of ‘cirque du soleil’ demonstration in the aforementioned main piazza. This involved 5 men being plucked from the audience, and made to adopt a crouching position whilst tiny, highly strong young women clambered across us by gripping firmly with the thighs and hands! An experience, for sure, and one that my quads in particular took about 3 days to get over.
One other very enjoyable wine moment this week was when Lesley and Dean ran their pizza evening. How fabulous to have your own pizza oven in the garden! They had prepared the doughs, fired up the wood, and we got to stretch our own pizza bases, choose the toppings and watch the cooking! Before this, I took the opportunity to run a 'mini-tasting' of Rosso Conero, comprising:
Piantate Lunghe Rosso Conero 2008
Piantate Lunghe Rosso Conero 'Rossini' 2008
Moroder 'Dorico' 2005
The particularly special moment was that the 2008 is not on general release yet - we had to persuade Roberto to sell us a bottle, which he was only just sending out to journalists at the moment. Our commitment was that we would use is a) for a tasting and b) drink it within the week! So, Roberto, let me promise you that we did, and that it was much appreciated by the assembled crowd. It was great to be able to compare.
I am really getting into Rosso Conero wines...wonder where they can be bought back in the UK, eh?
And so, alas, the week draws to a close, and it’s time to return home.
Pip pip.
The running continued this week, and it is definitely suffering, from a combination of a) good food, b) excellent wine, c) the heat and d) just a general sense of laziness brought on by holiday. We still love the Abbadia, which is proving to be a real live wire of a place. Every morning it is full of walkers, runners, cyclists, smart suited architects holding a conference, and, occasionally, monks! No doubt in the literature it would be referred to as a ‘resource’, and I would wholeheartedly agree with that definition.
One other very enjoyable wine moment this week was when Lesley and Dean ran their pizza evening. How fabulous to have your own pizza oven in the garden! They had prepared the doughs, fired up the wood, and we got to stretch our own pizza bases, choose the toppings and watch the cooking! Before this, I took the opportunity to run a 'mini-tasting' of Rosso Conero, comprising:Piantate Lunghe Rosso Conero 2008
Piantate Lunghe Rosso Conero 'Rossini' 2008
Moroder 'Dorico' 2005
The particularly special moment was that the 2008 is not on general release yet - we had to persuade Roberto to sell us a bottle, which he was only just sending out to journalists at the moment. Our commitment was that we would use is a) for a tasting and b) drink it within the week! So, Roberto, let me promise you that we did, and that it was much appreciated by the assembled crowd. It was great to be able to compare.
 |
| Rossini |
I am really getting into Rosso Conero wines...wonder where they can be bought back in the UK, eh?
And so, alas, the week draws to a close, and it’s time to return home.
Pip pip.
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