Vinyard

I had been telling Marie's father we'd go to get wine. Finally we headed up the road to the village of Valeriano and the vineyard of Emilio Bulfon. Bulfon has dedicated his vineyard to recapturing lost varieties of grape. For example, Cividin was common in the 7th and 8th centuries as a banquet wine during weddings.

Emilio Bulfon

Our purchases of the day

Bulfon has reclaimed these lost grapes by searching through small private vineyards and gardens. It is not uncommon for somebody to have as few as 2 or 3 vines at their house with which they make a small amount of wine each year. Or the older private vineyards whose grapes are processed into red or white table wine at the local cooperative may contain a diverse variety of vines.

Of course, local people I spoke with don't think there is anything special about the wines. Everyone has a friend or family member who makes (or more often made) these varieties at home. Unfortunately, they fail to understand the varieties will only be saved through commercialization such as this. Without creation of a market, the older vines will gradually die and be replaced by commercial varieties.

WTF?

Check out Cooper's Yard, March 13th, below. I just posted the pictures and brought it up from a draft.

Sorry, but I'm busy.

Pordenone Garden Fair

Last weekend we went to the garden fair at the fairgrounds. There were lots of really cool plants. I knew the old olive trees cost a lot, but can you believe they go for up to $50,000? They are 300 years old, though.

There was a neat bonsai exhibit. This week I heard the artist on the radio and found out he has studied in Japan and is world famous. He even did Hugh Hefner's bonsai (boy, that's a joke waiting to happen).

There was this catus.

The coolest thing was this "Hand of Buddha" fruit. It's a type of lemon. Freaky.

Cooper's Yard

The other night we took Marie's parents (and Ian) out for rotisserie chicken at Cooper's Yard, a microbrewery nearby.
The decoration is great, and it's a comfortable family restaurant early that turns into a fun bar later on.
My neighbor Michele (not a girl's name in Italy) was there with his kids.
The chicken was great. Marie was good enough to get hers with salad.

I pigged out on fries.

Goodbye Barchetta

AKA "The Barbie Corvette" (thanks Chris), the Barchetta was sold yesterday. Despite being a Fiat, she never broke down on me. Thank goodness, because I could never find a mechanic to work on her.

When I first arrived in Italy in 2000 from England, I immediately decided to buy a convertible to enjoy all the sun here. The Barchetta took me all over Northeastern Italy, Eastern Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Croatia. If you really want to you can count San Marino also, but isn't that kind of pushing it?

She will be sorely missed, and I doubt I will ever have another like her.