Donna Macdonald will be teaching a Piedmont wine and cheese class on Tuesday, October 30 at 6:30 at Marche Provisions in the Eugene 5th street market.
Samples of 5 artisan cheese from small producers that is imported directly by Provvista Specialty foods. An interesting array of wines from some of Piedmonts better known producers like Bruno Giacosa and Produttori del Barbaresco will be sampled along with Cantina del Pino. Arneis, Dolcetto, Freisa and a Barbaresco from what many consider to be one of the best vintages of northern Italy - 1996.
Seating is limited. The cost of the class is $35.00 Contact Marche Provisions (541) 342-3612
...Portland, Piedmont, cheese, wine, Barbaresco
The origins of wine.
Where to begin?
To be fair we should thank the Greek god Dionysus (or Bacchas as he was later called) who was the son of Zeus. Greek mythology tells us that Dionysus taught humans how to cultivate grapevines and then press and make wine. This wasn't a big stretch since he was also the patron of agriculture generally and fertility in nature specifically.
All in all good things.
It should be noted that Dionysus/Bacchas had plenty of followers in his day. The women who came under his influence left their homes to live nomadic lives drinking and dancing and wearing lots of fur. They were called bacchantes (that could be the name of a band for sure), or maenads. They were also known to hang out with satyrs and centaurs, which certainly didn't help their reputations one bit.
If the Greeks get credit for the creation of wine, the Romans get credit for distribution. As they expanded their empire, they made sure there would be wine to drink along the way. Romans understood the various characteristics and soil preferences of different vines and through trial and error planting along the way and the old world of wine was born.
While the Romans were fond of wine and festivals, they were not happy when the celebrations called bacchanalia got exported to Italy about 200 b.c.. Bacchanalia were notorious festivals that were held in secret and attended only by women. The Roman government soon outlawed the gatherings claiming political conspiracies and crimes were taking place. The government left a provision that bacchanalia could go on, but only if they were told about it ahead of time. My guess is they just wanted to be able to crash the party.
While the first stomp of the footprint of the Roman Empire is how grape vines were distributed, the second wave of cultivation and dissemination can be attributed to monasteries throughout Europe. Wine was not only produced for personal use it was also a means for income and arguably a way to keep control of their flocks.
If reincarnation does exist, I would like to think I was card carrying bacchante....History, wine, roman, Dionysus, Bacchas
Every year the harvest season in Piemonte begins in late August when most of Italy is still on vacation. People in the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato hills start planning their harvest first with Moscato grapes followed closely by Arneis and other white wines while families in the Alta Langa begin harvesting and drying hazelnuts and chestnuts. But the major harvest revolves around Nebbiolo. This is the grape that makes both Barbaresco and Barolo wines.
The Italian word for the harvest associated with wine grapes is Vendemmia (it's racolta for most other things). The first sign the vendemmia is about to begin is when tractors start clogging the roads on their way to the vineyards and baskets begin to line the vineyard rows....Piedmont, Piemonte, wine, Italy, roero, Monferrato, langhe