Friday September 23
The room was in what used to be the second floor loggia of the wineries storage building. There are 6 rooms that have been converted, with 6 more coming for next summer. The bed was very comfortable and there was individual heat in the room, which was great as it was a cold night. The agriturismo “La Piazza” www.agriturismolapiazza.it sits in the middle of 16 hectares of grape vines, which in the morning mist was just as you’d picture it. The Da Farra family owns and works the land, Jose (Yozay) was the chef of the previous night’s meal, complimenti! They were extremely friendly, and were happy to show us around the cellar underneath the house, with wine bottles so old that nobody knows how long they’ve been down there. The best part was that we arrived during the Vendemmia, which is the grape harvest. So Jose took us down and let us take part. A pair of shears in one hand and a huge bunch of grapes in the other. Snip, turn, toss in the bucket, turn, snip, turn, and so on. When the bucket is full you move to the next bucket, when the whole row has been clipped you wait for the tractor to pull up and you dump the bucket. As you dump the bucket you toss it over the vines to the next row, and the whole thing starts again. We were just messing around, but it was fun. The 3 fellows who were really doing it had a whole lot of work ahead of them. We left them as the sun was just starting to beat down, which seemed like a good time to split.
From Wine to Castles... we did a huge back track and returned to the Val D’Aosta. We had 6 castles on our list, and were excited to get to them. Unbelievably the first 2 were closed for restoration, the next had a wonderful courtyard but you couldn’t go inside, we were unable to locate the next, Fenis castle was open but we arrived after the hours of operation, and the last one was too far away by the time we got to it. It was a bit disappointing for us, but I would definitely recommend a tour of this area. It was time for the night’s agri. It was a climb and half up the mountain, but definitely worth it. The Agriturismo Au Jardin Fleuri www.agriturismoantey.com was just finished in June, so we had a great new room with a huge bathroo, and a balcony looking out on the mountains in front of us. Artaz Valter and his wife were very accomodating, and gave us directions to a great Pizzeria. There were more than 60 different topping combinations. The morning was brisk, and the smell was a mix of mountain air, and the large number of cows in the area, but somehow it fit the place. We actually had to stop at a cow crossing on the way out. These cows are special though, they are the only ones in the world who produce the Fontina cheese.