8/20
I got to work in the lab a little bit yesterday and it was really interesting. The man who runs the lab is like your typical mad chemist. He is out of his mind and always on edge and stressed out, but he is obviously very smart.
On the drive to work today I was a little disappointed to see that what I had previously thought was a beautiful river that flowed through the vineyards (from the pictures online and the banners on the wall at the Nora‘s) was just a small pond for irrigation. Oh well. We were greeted by 12 samples to crush and get to the lab. I like to tasting all of the grapes before we crush them. It is neat to see how the wine begins and compare the different grapes. After collecting only 2 samples I was sweating profusely and sticky everywhere. I spent most of the morning covered in juice and surrounded by bees. Yup…definitely not in Vegas anymore!
I visited some of the vineyards today and was able to see the soil and grapes on the vines. There are 400 hectares of vineyards here with almond and olive trees alternating between them. 12 hectares of this is composed of alberello vines (some 40 years old) which are pretty rare in Sicily. The vineyards range from local varieties like Catarratto, Inzolia, Nerello Mascalese, Nero D’Avola and Perricone to Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cabernet. They also own an island with vineyards of Grillo and Malvasia.
We also visited Case Vecchie where the estate’s garden is. Basil, tomatoes, arugula, ect. are all grown here. It smelled great! Probably because of the tomatoes that were drying in sun (yum!) All the antiques from the winery are also kept here. We got to stay home after lunch today and we have tomorrow off since we’re not that busy yet. Most of the grapes will not be picked until next week or the week after. This is nice since we will be working 10 hour days, 6 sometimes 7 days a week, starting next week.
We went to dinner at the best restaurant in town tonight. It was up on a hill and overlooked the countryside. Very cute. I was shocked at how cheap it was. I spent $10 euro on a great meal that included wine. Our entertainment for the night was the town football game. Men from the age of 16-30 all get together to play a game of soccer and everyone in town goes to watch. The weather was perfect. It is warm during the day, usually around 90, but it cools down at night. Everyone in town is outside, relaxing or walking after dinner.
I got to work in the lab a little bit yesterday and it was really interesting. The man who runs the lab is like your typical mad chemist. He is out of his mind and always on edge and stressed out, but he is obviously very smart.
On the drive to work today I was a little disappointed to see that what I had previously thought was a beautiful river that flowed through the vineyards (from the pictures online and the banners on the wall at the Nora‘s) was just a small pond for irrigation. Oh well. We were greeted by 12 samples to crush and get to the lab. I like to tasting all of the grapes before we crush them. It is neat to see how the wine begins and compare the different grapes. After collecting only 2 samples I was sweating profusely and sticky everywhere. I spent most of the morning covered in juice and surrounded by bees. Yup…definitely not in Vegas anymore!
I visited some of the vineyards today and was able to see the soil and grapes on the vines. There are 400 hectares of vineyards here with almond and olive trees alternating between them. 12 hectares of this is composed of alberello vines (some 40 years old) which are pretty rare in Sicily. The vineyards range from local varieties like Catarratto, Inzolia, Nerello Mascalese, Nero D’Avola and Perricone to Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cabernet. They also own an island with vineyards of Grillo and Malvasia.
We also visited Case Vecchie where the estate’s garden is. Basil, tomatoes, arugula, ect. are all grown here. It smelled great! Probably because of the tomatoes that were drying in sun (yum!) All the antiques from the winery are also kept here. We got to stay home after lunch today and we have tomorrow off since we’re not that busy yet. Most of the grapes will not be picked until next week or the week after. This is nice since we will be working 10 hour days, 6 sometimes 7 days a week, starting next week.
We went to dinner at the best restaurant in town tonight. It was up on a hill and overlooked the countryside. Very cute. I was shocked at how cheap it was. I spent $10 euro on a great meal that included wine. Our entertainment for the night was the town football game. Men from the age of 16-30 all get together to play a game of soccer and everyone in town goes to watch. The weather was perfect. It is warm during the day, usually around 90, but it cools down at night. Everyone in town is outside, relaxing or walking after dinner.
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