One in particular, Moraiolo (black olive), extra virgin olive oil goes best with pasta and bread.
We also learned how to properly “taste” the wine. First, how to hold the glass. Use the 1,2,3 trick and count on your hand. Thumb and index should be on the stem and the middle finger should be on the underside of the glass, with the index and middle making a scissors.
Now that you’re holding on to it correctly, tilt the glass over a white surface (napkin, plate, anything white) to observe the color & clarity of the wine. A dark ruby red indicates a good red wine, while a bright & clear white is another good sign. If the red is really orange, the wine is usually too old and not drinkable.
Afterwards, smell your wine to get an idea of what’s inside. Once you find something, swirl it and repeat to see if you find a different ingredient this time.
Once you have a feel for it, take a small & quick sip to shock your mouth – it gets it ready for the alcohol.
For your second sip, “chew” the wine by swishing it around your mouth to take in the flavor.
On your third sip, swallow it and count for how long the flavor lasts in your mouth – higher numbers mean better quality wine.
Next was the truffle oil – otherwise known as liquid gold or the diamond of the kitchen. The reason for the rarity of truffles are that only dogs (or pigs but sometimes they eat them) can search and find them. They also have a very short season, right in September where festivals are held in their honor. This is why both the black and also the white truffles are so expensive, however they will last you a while since you only need a few drops of the oil. It is quite strong and very aromatic. White truffle is harder to find & more expensive than black – white is mostly used in oil and cooked dishes while black can be used for spreads and also cooked & eaten on its own.
Lastly was the Grappa. I didn’t enjoy this too much, – you take it as a shot and it tastes like moonshine. It is processed similarly to vodka but made of a particular grape instead.
In the town, we found this cute little dog sign.
It means – “I wait for you here” and used for dog parking
Too cute!
Well, that’s all I got!
Overall, this trip was amazing and definitely well worth the forty-five bucks.
Still playing catch up with my posts since I have way too many things to share with all of you but expect some more posts soon.
Ciao ciao!
