Grappa

A little diversion this week on the basis that Grappa is a - or rather the - by-product of Italian wine production; and that as you’ll maybe want to try it during your stay in our Abruzzo villas, (or simply after a meal at any Italian restuarant anywhere in the world), it’d be useful to pick out the good from the bad and the ugly.

Distil the residue from the year’s production of a single-grape variety wine - and you’ll end up with a single-grape variety Grappa. And that’s the current buzz. Here in Abruzzo, we’re treated to Grappa Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Grappa Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Further afield, you’ll find the likes of Grappa Prosecco. Generically, you can pick up Grappa Chardonnay or Grappa Moscato from the sweet Muscat grape…

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Leave your Abruzzo holiday villa in Ascigno and head for Casoli, where you’ll pick up the signs for Gessopalena. Twenty minutes later, you’ll be looking at one of Abruzzo’s best-known - and best-loved landmarks.

La Morgia is a massively-imposing wedge-shaped chunk of limestone, 130 metres (426 feet) high, that squats midway between Gessopalena and Torricella Peligna. In the mid-1990s, after exhaustive and persuasive discussions, the region of Abruzzo, the province of Chieti and the comunes of La Majella gave their permission for several natural features in the area to be used as settings and components for a series of integrated artworks.

The Greek artist Costas Varotsos chose to work on La Morgia, with the specific aim of bridging the distinctive notch at the crest caused by mining…

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Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo -
Barone Cornacchia 2005…Casalbordino 2006…Bove ‘Roggio Antico’ 2007

A triple tipple for you this week - and a confession too. I’m actually not the world’s biggest fan of Cerasuolo. It’s not that I don’t like rose wine - far from it - but if we’re talking pink, the one for me that’s above all others is Rose de Provence, that magical traditional blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault that I could quaff happily until the cows have come home, had a bath, eaten their supper, watched some TV, been tucked up in bed, told a little story and drifted off into blissful sleep.

And what is Cerasuolo ? Nothing more elaborate than the juice of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes that’s been left in brief contact with the grape skins to impart that characteristic pink tinge…

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