Picking Grapes on a Podere

Most of you have been hearing us talk on and on for months now about "picking grapes in Tuscany" and how utterly excited we were for what could only be the most romantic and memorable experience there is to have! So needless to say when we were conjuring up ideas of where we would go throughout these travels, this "Tuscan Dream" was always at the forefront of our minds and we went into this experience with total enthusiasm for getting to really entrench ourselves in one of the oldest and most recognizable wine regions in the world.

To pull this off we once again called upon the WWOOF organization and became members of WWOOF Italia and its many participating farms throughout the country. We looked into any and all wine related farms and found what we thought looked like the most ideal situation for us to learn as much as possible. Tucked into the southern part of Tuscany, roughly halfway between Siena and Grosseto, lies a gorgeous layout of traditional Tuscan landscape with thousands and thousands of vineyard and olive groves. Seemingly as far as the eye can see you can see rows of vines, patches of olive trees and the trademark sleek, vertical cyprus trees surrounding the stone houses of this region. Not knowing what to expect, we took a long, once again, series of jam-packed Italian trains with our luggage to the ghost town of Monte Antico. The train station was abandoned and if we wouldn't have had our wits about us...we could have easily been convinced that we were rolling into an old western movie set with horse carriages and shoot-em-ups around the bend. A miscommunication on our part led to our hosts not being at the station upon our arrival so the eerie setting proved even more mysterious as we were NOT greeted by anyone. Tracking down a phone in this Italian-only area was a touch hairy, but we finally reached our hosts and found our way to their picturesque podere (farm in italian) that overlooked vineyard and olive trees.

Our hosts, Giorgio and Alda, turned out to be the sweetest WWOOF hosts we could have asked for. In their early 60's, Giorgio and Alda bought this already established farm around 7-8 years ago and have since then added more vineyard, a much larger cantina (where the wine is made and sold) and continually made improvements to the land for the last few years. Very laid-back, Giorgio and Alda made us feel extremely welcome. They have around 8 acres of vines and 12 acres of olives on the land that they, along with their two yellow labs, look after. Different WWOOFers come throughout the year but we contacted them back in late spring because they allow individuals to help in all aspects of the wine making process. Many of the farms throughout WWOOF Italia only welcome people for the harvest, but Giorgio and Alda, producing only 6,000 bottles per year, need help with several steps along the path of bottling quality wine. They lie in the wine region called Montecucco and the wine they make is mainly from native Sangiovese grapes. The bottle under the Sangiovese Montecucco DOC label (meaning 'denominazione di origine controllata' or 'specific to this region' using the sangiovese grape) and the wine is absolutely unreal! We were seriously impressed with how smooth and perfectly balanced the wine is and after drinking it now for the last few weeks...we are completely spoiled!

We started work on the 15th and each day varied completely to what needed to be done that day. Giorgio and Alda were targeting the harvest for the first week we arrived but the weather ended up spoiling the plans dramatically. To harvest grapes, the wine maker needs the grapes to be completely dry to begin. To much moisture will affect sugar levels which will then affect the end-result alcohol content, perhaps leaving the aroma or taste different to what the maker wants. So the harvest can never be planned perfectly as we soon came to find out. In waiting to begin the harvest, we spent the first few days cleaning the different wine presses (different for white wine and red wine), preparing the cantina for the incoming grapes and bottling part of the 2004 harvest --- which was a total stitch! We also spent a couple of hours putting labels on 2004 bottles and preparing them for shipments throughout their customer base.



The weather finally broke and we began the white wine harvest and the ensuing pressing and fermentation stages. The harvest itself went fairly quickly, hand-picking the best grapes and transporting them in crates to the cantina. Once there, we got to have some real fun...GRAPE CRUSHING!!! Before we could use the large circular press we had to essentially "hand crush" the bunches of grapes to prepare them for the final machine press. We did this by using large logs of wood to smash them down in between straw rugs that helped with compression. The layers of grapes were then ready for the final press that took this large amount of grapes and turned them into a large grape wedding cake! The pressing took about an hour and we were left with a huge circular mess of grape skin, seed and leftover juice that we had to bag up and put away for future grapa. But the juice is completely strained without any skin or seed and transferred into a large stainless steel cylinder for fermentation. Giorgio added the yeast and we let it sit for a week, allowing the sugar to be transferred into alcohol. The process ended up being quite different from the upcoming red wine harvest that would be the following week.


Without getting any more specific about the wine making process...let's just leave it at we had a great experience and got exposed to everything we could have hoped for in regards to making (and tasting) wine. We once again are completely thankful for the WWOOF organization that put us in touch with Podere Poggio al Gello and Giorgio and Alda. Without opportunities like WWOOF, it is virtually impossible for Americans to come abroad and find casual, seasonal work.


In addition to working on the farm these two weeks, we took two memorable side trips that landed us alongside family! Tom's family from Seattle (Uncle Bob, Aunt Nancy, cousins Ava & Isabel and dog Moxie) are living for a year in Florence. Being only a two hour bus ride south of Florence, we met up with them twice throughout our time on the farm. One meeting point was an afternoon in Siena, a proud region south of Florence and home to a stunning city known for the world's most famous (and probably oldest) horse race --- Il Palio di Siena! The former republic of Siena is made up of 17 "contradas" (or neighborhoods) and the Palio is a race around Siena's famous 15th century "palazzi" (unlike any other palazzi in Europe for those that have seen it). Twice a year, each contrada fields a horse and its jockey and there are two races (17 horses would be too much along the tight palazzi) that lead to the eventual contrada winner. There are heaps and heaps of rituals that go into this event (like everyone dressing up in medieval costumes)...but the most hilarious one is that doping a horse is actually encouraged among the horse trainers!!! They also have to line the 2 sharp corners with straw and mattresses. This event brings in over 170,000 people to watch this event...something that would surely be unlike anything you've ever seen.

We also spent 4 days visiting Bob, Nancy and the girls at their home in Florence! Absolutely amazing... Firenze is a cultural and artistic melting pot and home to the Renaissance. Capturing Florence in 3 and a half days was - of course - impossible and we left many of the "things to do" for when we visit the city again in November with more family.




Probably the best aspect of visiting Florence was just staying in Bob & Nancy's place! This place itself has an amazing and unique history as it is an old convent outside the city walls and encompasses a compound of land that is unique when you take into account its close proximity to the city center. Perfect for their dog and perfect for overlooking the city from their balcony.

The place is filled with original art from a famous German artist that lived and worked in their apartment. We could go on and on about all the historical facts about Florence, their place and Tuscany...but it just wouldn't do it justice. Visiting Florence and Siena is a must for people wanting to explore Tuscany and Renaissance art. Incredible!



Now we are off to Barcelona to visit Catalonia and Jill's mother, Barbara for 13 days. We'll hopefully write soon about our experiences there... Bye for now.