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I am about to open the storage box with the Christmas stuff!
And I am looking forward to opening a couple of wine bottles we purchased many years ago and labeled with some cute washi tape as an admonishment: wait for it to age, wait, and earn a great experience.
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That's why today's word is VINO, wine.
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Wine is in Italians' DNA, no doubt.
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It's hard to imagine a gathering without a bottle placed in the center of the table.
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Abstainers are rare.
Some people drink wine daily, a small glass for lunch and one for dinner, most only on weekends, others only on special occasions.
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We are introduced to the wine culture at a very young age, with a mixture of seriousness and goliardery. The kid that gets his first drop - literally a drop, don't get me wrong! - is surrounded by giggles, jokes, and glances of approval.
I've always considered this and the following years a gradual education to drinking.
But, be aware, we are addressed to savoring more than drinking. We are told drinking wine "fa buon sangue" (lit. makes your blood healthy) and that quality is fundamental.
We seldom see drunk grown-ups (there are exceptions, of course, and we do have alcoholics scattered around the peninsula!). Tipsy grown-ups, of course.
Fundamentally, wine is not something to drown in to forget your problems; it's a pleasure you concede yourself or a digestion aider after lasagna!
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Teenage years come for everyone, and I'll not be here pretending I, like my friends, didn't go through that era in which you drink, and drink, and drink, and risk.
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It's when you get your first job that things start to change. Those first responsibilities and early wakes address your habits and reduce your drinking considerably. But there are always weekends.
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A couple of decades have to pass before your liver influences and detours, once more, those habits. When, suddenly, having a whole Fiorentina steak for dinner becomes out of the question, passing the second glass of wine glass stacks in. You can do it, of course, but you start realizing that when you do, you won't sleep. You try, just in case, a couple more times, but then you give up. White flag.
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As if to compensate, your taste and demands evolve. Since all you will have is a glass, two on occasion, you look for the best wine you can afford.
You start studying production, qualities, soils, bouquets, and pairings; you want to learn everything about the fascinating world of enology... you stop to smell the roses wines.
I have two educational wine board games that occupy many of our wintry, homey nights. And I can't count the times a conversation with friends starts with a relate on the last (fantastic!) wine, one of us discovered.
Our excitement when opening a new bottle is comparable to that of my nieces when they're allowed to put on a little makeup.
The first sip always brings a solemn moment of silence to let everyone concentrate on it.
Our road trips quite often include a visit to a winemaker. When there, a rustic tasting and hours of conversation fill our souls and satisfy our famine for adventures.
I can't tell you the next step, but I'm certainly thrilled to see what aging will bring to my wine life!
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And you? What's your favorite wine? How do you like it? How do you live it?
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What to eat in Turin
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There are many things to eat in Turin, but here's a sweet and short list of the unmissable.
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Italian gifts made in Italy
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Italian gifts made in Italy: "regali" for your family and friends who are in love with Italy.
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If you stumbled upon this newsletter for the first time...
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I live in glorious Rome. I love pasta, "melanzane alla parmigiana," hats, suitcases and airports, Christmas, and books.
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Through this weekly correspondence, I aim to share what living in Italy truly feels like. Of course, this is my point of view: the neighborhood where I live, the places I go to, the food I eat, and the trips I take. I try to broaden it by recounting traditions, asking the people I meet, and time-traveling through my memories or those of the Italians around me. Hoping this will be entertaining, informative, and, most important of all, authentic!
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Was this entertaining, informative, or just a bit fun?
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