Mt. Pizzo, Vettore and Torrone hike from Colle, Montegallo, AP, Le Marche

30 Luglio, 2013
It has been a long time since I posted something for you few who have yet to enter the world of facebook, where all my latest is made available daily.
This is an exceptional hike for those who want to climb the tallest mountain in Le Marche without the crowds of the trails from forca di Presta or Castelluccio.  The 1500 meter altitude gain and approximately 15 km distance puts most people off, but if you are up for it, this is a much more interesting way to climb Vettore.  I am on a quest, as is Bacco to climb all the 2,000 meter peaks in Le Marche and after this hike we have 2 to go.  This hike bagged 3 although Mt. Vettore was a 3rd timer.

This picture with our winery in the middle shows all the peaks we climbed on Sunday.

And this view is from a bit closer at the cute little mountain town of Montegallo.  

The hike starts out promisingly enough with a little waterfall and a shaded path which leads to the church below

This is the little church Santa Maria in Pantano built long before Columbus arrived in america

My Belgian guest Sven on the trail up above timber line, with Mt. Torrone behind him. That will be the last of the 3-2,000 meter peaks we will summit on this hike and is on the way down from Vettore.

Bacco is nice enough to rest when I do.

Here is a nice iPhone shot from Sven of Bacco and I atop Mt. Pizzo with Abruzzo in the background

Here I am on the crest from Pizzo to Vettore. We have, at this point, seen only 2 people on the trail and passed them, as I am sure you guessed.

Atop Mt. Vettore where a lightning strike, I imagine, has bent the cross 90 degrees.  The last time Bacco and I were here, the cross was straight.  Note the Tibetan prayer flags tied to the cross. I am wearing my Estes Park, CO shirt and the altitude of this summit, the tallest in the Marche, is the same as that of E.P.  To arrive from trailhead to the top of Vettore with Pizzo thrown in (20 minutes round trip) took 3 hours and 25 minutes.

Mt. Vettore in the background as we walk along the crest you have seen in those pictures from the B&B and Montegallo.  First we head down (and then back up) to Mt. Torrone

Looking west left to right, Cima del Lago, Redentore and Pizzo del Diavolo, all 2,000 meters and above and these make a great hike as well, with wonderful views of Castelluccio and the Piano Grande. Lago di Pilato is below where supposedly Pontius Pilate's body was carried by horses and is home to an endangered crustacean (fresh water shrimp) and above that a nice little heart-shaped snow field.

Heading on down from Vettore on the crest, you see Mt. Sibilla with its awful scar from a giant Zorro.  Behind that is Mt. Priora, another wonderful hike which we started from Rifugio di Fargno last year on another 3 peak day.

Bacco and I atop Mt Torrone

Looking back at Pizzo and Vettore from the pasture below Torrone

A view of Lago di Gerosa and the eastern Marche foothills; it is a bit too hazy to see the Adriatic

Bacco and I had already finished 4 liters of water on this hot Sunday before arriving at a fountain where we found 50 sheep, a lazy shepherd under his umbrella to the left and 3 Abruzzo sheep dogs which tried to menace us a bit, but I played pack leader while Bacco cooled off.

From here it takes another 40 minutes or so to get back to your car for a total of 6 hours and 15 minutes for the 3 of us and just under 15 km or 9 miles.  

It is a big hike, no doubt about it and with almost 5000 feet of altitude gain and loss, not for those who are out of shape.  I liked this approach to Vettore better than the short steep hike from forca di Presta because there were no people, the views are more appealing to me, and you can bag 3 of the tallest Sibillini peaks easily enough in one go.

Enjoy!  

Where have I been?

2 May, 2013
Hi all, I have been busy posting on our new blog which you can find at our website www.pswinery.it
Check out the newest releases from PS Winery and all the info about the B&B as well.  I will still post here from time to time, but for more frequent updates, you can find me on fb as Dwight Stanford from Offida, Le Marche, italy

this year's irises

Church of St. Francis, Ascoli

Piazza del Popolo, ascoli

My first artichokes of the year!

Eremo Colle San Marco, dayhike above Ascoli Piceno

5 Marzo, 2013    Eremo Colle San Marco hike
This is a nice little hike above Ascoli Piceno which one could complete in a couple of hours or spend half a day exploring around the hill and forest where this little hideaway is located.

Here's the explanatory placque at the little church in Piagge where you can start the hike.  Otherwise, drive all the way up to the cemetery and park and walk around said cemetery to the right where you will find the trail leading up to the fork below.

Head left and in just a few minutes you will arrive at the beautiful arched stairway which leads into the little monastery.

This was built 8 hundred years ago, which makes it all the more impressive.  Obviously subsequent works have been done to make the whole thing safer so we can still visit today.

View of the bell tower and the facade which the old Benedictine monks built to close in the grotto.

and another with the imposing cliffs above and below

Alessandra, Bacco and Pippo behind her getting ready to climb the stairway to Eremo Colle San Marco.

The next set of stairs seem to be cut into the rock face as a tunnel of sorts, pictures from below and above.

Maidenhair ferns grow from the grotto and add a bit of hominess to the otherwise spartan hermitage.

Views down to the valley of the Tronto river with Ascoli Piceno, its main city.

An altar

Views of the northern Sibillini mountains.  This is prime real estate!

A nice view of Ascoli Piceno and Mt. Ascensione above

No, the dogs did not desecrate in any way, the grotto.

The final stairway to the grotto where you saw the altar, ferns, etc in the above photos.

One of the few symbols which has not vanished beneath the modern vandals ink.

A view of the calanchi (erosive formations) to the north of Ascoli Piceno.

Some of the monks' works remain on the stone walls, although much faded.

Time to say goodbye to the twin-arched "Tiam" structure.

From Ascoli, head up towards Colle San Marco to the south.  You will pass a nice osteria called C'era una volta and later reach the little town of Piagge.  Just before exiting the town, you will see a little brown sign on your right with a sharp right turn to get up to the little church of San Bartolomeo where you can park and read the sign above in either italian or english before taking the trail to the left of the church up to the cemetery.  You can save a couple of hundred meters climbing if you park instead at the cemetery.  Either way, the trail starts to the right of the enclosed cemetery and not to the left which also has a well marked road but is posted as private property.  The climb is easy and takes 15 minutes or a bit more and is well marked.  

Thoughts about "natural" and biodynamic wines on a snowy winter day

PS Winery: are our wines "natural" or biodynamic? 

With all the hype about natural wines and biodynamic wines, I thought I would write a bit of background about our winery, our beliefs and practices and the nature of the 2 marketing beasts listed above.  

1. We farm organically using only sulfur and copper sprays, the latter with a per acre yearly limit and we are scrupulously honest. We do not irrigate. All weed extirpation is done manually or mechanically.  All work in the vineyard is done manually, leaf removal, topping, green harvest, etc.  The grapes are manually harvested and immediately transported to the winery for destemming and crushing.  We are a new winery with just 3 harvests which is not enough time to have a colonized Saccharomyces which will eventually arrive in our tanks, to initiate fermentation.  Natural yeasts from the vineyard are unable to ferment our grapes to dryness with their high sugar levels, the result of 2 hot, drought years.  We hope to eventually allow the indigenous yeasts to ferment our wines, but my friends at the oldest organic winery in the Marche waited 30 years before they attempted a "natural yeast" fermentation.

2.  All "manipulations in the winery are kept to a bare minimum.  We have, for wine stability purposes, added small amounts of the grapes' natural acid, tartaric, to the fermenting wines the last 2 years because of high pH levels due to the hot growing seasons.  While there are over 40 chemicals allowed as additives to organic wines, you won't find any of those things in our wines with the exception of minimal levels of sulfites (which do not cause wine headaches) with levels far below the maximum allowed.  We also use french oak in aging our wines, but I am not going to apologize for trying to make a serious wine with appropriate barrel aging.  Several of our wines see no oak at all and are designed for pleasurable early drinking, although I suspect with our long maceration times with the reds, they will drink well for many years.

3. We bottle many of our wines by hand and without filtering or fining.  Filtering is used for our early release wines and has been shown in scientific studies not to affect the taste of the wine (expert tasters, blind tasting, same wine tried twice with one example filtered and the other not).  Filtering gives some security against yeast and bacterial contamination in the wines and prevents, for the most part, any unwanted 2nd fermentation in the bottle.  Fining with bentonite has been done with our Pecorino to give protein stability to prevent crystal formation in the bottle which can be misunderstood by wine drinkers.  Whether we will eventually bottle completely without minimal fining is up for debate.  

The Cabs and the Petit Verdot are unfined and unfiltered as are our Syrah and Montpulciano wines from 2010.

4.  Despite alcohol levels which scare some of our restaurant clients, we have not tried to lower these levels by adding water, a lesser, low alcohol wine, or by mechanical means.  The levels you read on the bottle are the result of the growing year and the sugars yielded by the grapes.

5. Farming organically is more costly and more labor intensive, but we have decided to respect the land we own and our neighbor's as well.  If you are going to talk about the spirit of "natural" wines, we certainly ascribe to that spirit.

Why are natural wines natural?  Is it marketing hype, a new way to sell your wine or a true desire to make a wine without intervention.  The fact is, it truly can be just about anything you want it to be, which is the problem.  There is no agreed strict definition of "natural wines".  Biodynamic wines in Europe have the same difficulty.  How many winemakers pick based on the moon phase?  None I have ever met, including a great winemaker in Burgundy who told me he talked to his wild boar about not damaging his plants.  How many put cow manure in a bull's horn, bury it for a year and then throw the "magic material" therein over their vines?  Not many.  How many say they are biodynamic because they respect their soil and try to plant cover crops, maybe use some non chemical methods of fungus and insect control etc.?  Most everyone who claims to be biodynamic fit in this latter category. 

Here is wikipedia's definition of "natural wine": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_wine  and here is the link for biodynamic:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_wine

Knowing how much respect we show for our land, responsible, sustainable farming, and minimal intervention in the winery, we qualify for both the natural and biodynamic monikers.  Are we going to use them?  Probably not. As I tell people honestly, "we farm organically and practice minimal intervention in the winery and when we use anything at all, it is specifically to yield stability of the wine in bottle".  So, indeed we fit the bill for being natural and are as biodynamic as most of those who call themselves so ( we do use barrel aging  by Docg rules, some of our wines MUST spend 2 years in oak).  So, if you see us at organic or "natural" wine fairs, I will be straight with you, having nothing to hide.  I hope you love our wines and when you drink it, I want it to be unspoiled and wonderful, expressing the underlying fruit, hints of the year it was harvested and the care we have put into each of our varieties.  How are you to know which wineries are using these titles for marketing and which are as true as possible to the principles?  Go out and meet the owners and winemakers and with a bit of trust and a bit of skepticism, ask them about those things which are important to you.  We are here to share our wines and our philosophy with all our guests and we have nothing to hide and lots to be proud of.  You can find us in the vineyard!

2012 Musings

31/12/2012
Musings on the last day of 2012.  The year in pictures at PS Winery and Nascondiglio di Bacco.  The year started out promisingly with nice January weather and a normal amount of winter moisture to make up for the drought of 2011.

One of January's first days with a look at the dormant vineyard, the B&B center left and the winery to the right.  The calm before the storm.

Dawn and the typical January fog in the valleys

The first big February snow which isolated me at Nascondiglio di Bacco for a week.  There was one day when the roads were clear enough to get out and shop before the next big snow dump.

The Cabernet Franc grapevines with the Frantoio olive trees in the distance under their blanket.

Petit Verdot with a pile of snow on top.

Bacco making his own trail after the second big snow.

You can find this photo on radioParadise.com as well

Marche tasting group to make the blend for Confusion, our bordeaux blend and current top wine. 36% Merlot, 27% Cab. Sauvignon, 18% Cab. Franc and 18% Petit Verdot.

Return of spring and the fruit trees are blooming.

April 7, the buds are bursting and the vines' year of labor begins

We had multiple double rainbows (I know, they are all double) in April; this one ends in the vineyard, but the gold came later in the Pecorino wine.

May saw our first setback; above good growth in the Pecorino and below a flash freeze wiped out about 40% of the Pecorino buds which lowered our eventually yield commensurately.

Each bud has 2 backups, but they rarely yield fruit.

Our first concert of the season at PS Winery with Ed and Jon playing for 30+ people on a beautiful summer night.

Bottling 5 wines in one day: our 2011 Pecorino and 2010 barrel aged Pecorino, 2010 Merlot and Confusion and 2011 Thalia

View from the pool which was quite popular this year as we had 2 periods of very hot weather with no rain; one between mid June and the last weekend of July and then another until early September.  The vines suffered through the first drought and the torrential rains which arrived in late July saved the year, but caused extensive erosion in the Pecorino vineyard.  The second drought and the heat of August led to a harvest of both the Pecorino and Merlot 3 weeks earlier than usual.  Despite that, the alcohol levels were still quite high in those 2 varieties.

A group tasting with friends from the Veneto on our patio.

The bottling earlier provided this boxed set.  Our 3 single variety wines: Cab. Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc were bottled and labeled by hand, unfiltered.

Late summer view of the vineyard and Nascondiglio di Bacco

KC goes up against Abruzzo in a BBQ contest.  We held our own!

Bacco in the plateau of Castelluccio in full bloom

Our friends the Cooks bought the first boxed set of each varietal wine and the blend Confusion. Thanks again!

Pecorino grapes just before picking.  See how sparse they are after the heat of 2012.

Canning the quince jam and jelly

Hand bottling of the Syrah and Montepulciano wines which had spent 2 years in new french oak barrels of 220 and 500 liters.  These two wines are really stellar!

Merlot grapes before picking

Cabernet Sauvignon coming in to the de-stemmer.  After the Merlot and Pecorino harvests we got some much needed rain and were able to harvest the rest of the varieties at normal times and the ripeness was perfect for all but the Montepulciano which had to be picked a week early after the arrival of some gray bortrytis and 4 days of forecasted rain forced a slightly early harvest.

Picking the Petit Verdot

Locking in the color of the Syrah wine with an open pump-over

Grand tasting with music of all the mono variety bordeaux vines and Confusion with friends.

Another Irish concert with Jon and Ed and 2 female singers from the Emerald Isle.  50+ people!

Fall arriving in the Marche

Time for some hikes with Bacco in the Sibillini mountains; above Mt. Vettore and Cima del Lago

My hiking companion with views toward Umbria

Changing colors in the vineyard whose work is done.

Our wines presented with excellent cured meats from Umbria at Vinosofia, Spello, Umbria; thanks Brenda!

As the seasons change and winter returns, the fog rolls back in.

Our first snow covering the artichoke plants in the foreground.  After the harvests, we got ample moisture to refill our clay soil "reservoir".  I am hoping seriously that 2013 is a bit more normal, like 2010 with rainfall at appropriate intervals during the growing season and lower temperatures.

Colors are changing in the vineyard as Autumn continues.

A view of the first snow as it appeared in the Sibillini mountains with Mt. Vettore the most prominent on the left.

The beautiful calanchi (erosive features) of Le Marche from the top and tip of Mt. Ascensione

Mt. Vettore blanketed in white

Last dawn of the year 12/31/2012 with the waning moon in the west.

Looking east at the year's last sunrise

A view to the south through the windows of the winery's tasting room showing the reflection of sunrise, the last day of an incredibly difficult year for grape growing.  We had lots of satisfaction from the wines of the past years and think we have something really special here.  Hopefully 2013 will see our wines arriving in the states and other european markets, some critical notice and a good growing season.  Next up for us are the transfer of the 2012 wines into specially made french tonneau of 350 liters with a slow toasting technique and bottling of our first Offida Rosso, the 2010 with 75% Montepulciano and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Thanks to all for your support this year and I hope 2013 is successful for you and as a society we all help start a paradigm shift back to courtesy, kindness,  good manners and happiness.  (Sounds like my New Years' resolutions)