Wine Tasting!

This weekend Umbra organized a wine tasting trip to a vineyard in Perugia called Cantina Chiorri. Their wine was the best i've tried here (keep in mind i haven't been trying any nice wines yet, just the ones you get for 3euro at the store)

We got a tour of the vinyard and learned how wines made and whatnot. Then we tasted and ate! We tried 3 different type; biano, rosse ,e roso and ate bruschetta, formaggio, e proscuitto (which is literrally all anyone eats in Italy)

This is the Chiorri vineyard! They only made wine with the grapes they grow right here. They could do a lot more business if they outsourced more grapes but they chose not to.

This is a box of their wine- They sell Chiorri in New York and New Jersey, i highly recommend you buy Grecchettal; a sweet white wine served best with roasted chestnuts! and with appetizers. yummo

Wood barrels.




This machine here replaces feet in the grape smashing process.

A huuuge tub of wine.

Steel canisters.


Francesco!! My favorite Italian- he runs this vineyard and guided our tour. His wife is expecting a baby girl any day now- Marie Francesca.
First you look at the legs and the nail, smell, and taste!
"Wine has to be your lover"

The 'tastings' were actually full glasses of wine. Heres the rosse, which I don't usually like but damn was this goooood
Grecchetta
After we drank and ate, we all went for a walk through this cute little town. It just so happened to be one of the most beautiful days in Perugia- clear sunny skies and 55 degrees =)


Along the way Francesco had us stop at a neighboring vineyard. Apparently he helped this guy prune the vines the other day. It takes a village.Bellisima

I will own a vineyard one day. I promise.

Ben, this is what Finnegans will look like.
I'm never coming home.

Camminiamo

At one point I thought I would never wear sunglasses ever again.
Francesco said we can all come back at harvest time- around novembre- to work on his vineyard.
Um see ya later college, I'm moving to Italy.
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!
Before I left I told everyone to expect me back in March with my parents. I can't wait!

Perugian Food.

So last night, Umbra hosted a Perugian dinner at this really nice 100% organic restaurant that's right in the center They had this man named Reberto (i think) talk about all the food we were being served and whatnot, it was cool. We started with a proscuitto and pecorina cheese platter, then a gorbanzo bean soup-type dish that i really enjoyed, then a chicken liver pate-i couldn't enjoy it, followed by a lamb stew made from the lungs and heart which was surprisingly good-i still couldn't really enjoy it, THEN tripe in a tomato sauce; and for those of you who do not know what tripe is, its cow intestine (once again i did not love), THEN a pasta dish that had duck meat sauce- it was okay, THEN a more plain pasta dish made with a tyipcal pasta shape of Umbria, but i forgot the name of it, THEN finally a panecotta which was this yummy fruit cake deal. The dolce (dessert) came was a strawberry liquer that is very hard to found and i think might even be illegal to buy? or something like. A friend of mine took detailed notes and pictures so ill be sure to get them from her.

Tonight, Umbra is hosting another dinner only this one is FREE. its in an hour so I'm outtie.

Casey's Pictures

Firenze.

My awkward stance. Pigeons in Italy are WAY more annoying than NYC. they can literally tie your hands back and steal your food. I've seen it happen.

MMMmmm panino!

Someone doesn't quite fit in.

gelato!! Though Grom is MUCH better than this place

Still not a great shot between all 3, oh well. i still love youuuu

Mom, I think I'm buying this for you.

The effects of a night in a hostel...

Ti Piaci

Hidden little dog in the maret, and Suzanne got to give him a little puppy treat =)

Totally wasn't kidding about the beds!

I want to be IN this window

I got a nutella flavor and mint chip. The mint was better.

Andrew, me, Lauren, Suzanne, Casey, Maggie SHOES.

More windows

From the top of the Duomo...

From the Pante Vecchio...Casey's kinda good with cameras. Not really though.

The have a carosel in Firenze too!

Oh and they took the one down in Perugia Yesterday, it was sad.

Oh and today, in its place, was a Communist rally, oh italy.

HA I was talking about when this guy with 2 lazy eyes came up me and asked me a question in Italian. Not only did I not know what he was saying, but I also couldn't tell if he was looking at me. SOo hillarious and awkward.

Steps of the Duomo =)

Proof that was did in fact climb all 463 steps to the top.

These are Andrew's pictures: