Life can be oddly circular. Even for those of us mildly
irritated by the overuse of such adages as “what comes around goes around” and “well,
life is just a circle”, from time to time it works like that.
Not trying to seek a completion of a six-week sojourn in
Europe, sorry, Gruelling Business Travel, that has taken me from Khaketi in
Eastern Georgia to Lairg in the Scottish Highlands, and from Stanley Gibbons
stamp auction house in London’s Strand to the Pyrenees and finally to the hills
of northern Tuscany and the final departure point of Bologna.And it is of Bologna and Tbilisi that I speak.
The purpose of my trip to Georgia was to join the Second
Qvevri Symposium, a fascinating week of education liberally illustrated with an
extraordinary supply of these marvellous “natural wines”, made entirely in the
Old Fashioned Way.
Stomped grapes, fermentation in an earthenware pot (an Amphora
or Qvevri) and finally settlement in another of these pots; it is a technique
that is over 10,000 years old and the wine produced thus is marvellous and most
eminently drinkable. Unfortunately all too little ever reaches North America,
although there are a couple of importers and restaurants that do carry these
wines.
The food of Georgia (as you can imagine, we did not only
drink), was exceptional; fresh, flavourful and a daily treat. The trip was an
insight, a vital lesson and an awe-inspiring insight to the possibilities for
food, culture and wine exploration of this mostly unknown corner of the world.
Which leads me to Bologna.Everybody goes to Florence, and I am sure that it is very pleasant indeed, and is stuffed full of astonishment. It is, however, also stuffed full of tourist in July, and not wanting to line up behind hundreds of yards of earnest folks clutching Let’s Go Europe, I decided to head to Bologna instead.
For years I have heard and believed that Bologna has very
much to offer. It is close to Florence, and if one wants the “medieval Italian
city experience”, there is little to differentiate the two. Sure Florence has
the brand-name sights, and is a little bigger, but Bologna is truly gorgeous
and has no queues.
Stunning towers, piazzas, medieval lanes and delightful architecture;
museums and galleries, and even for those with a more contemporary bent, the
Ferrari factory.
And food; Bologna is a food lovers delight, and for reasons
that had something to do with Trip Advisor, and a lot to do with serendipity
(there are a lot of restaurants listed in TA), I dined at the unprepossessing Trattoria di via Serra last night.
Frankly, you would not be walking past by chance, and if you
were, you would probably not give it a second glance; however, once through the
unsightly door, one is transported into a home. The owners, Flavio Benassi and Tomasso Maio offer a truly superb and simple
product.
They learned to cook in the mountain villages between
Bologna and Modeno where, Flavio said “You can’t fool people about your pasta”;
so from these beginnings to opening their restaurant in Bologna a year ago that
have concentrated in preparing simple, local and organic food.
And it is quite simply delicious. From their cheese and ham
or local mushrooms on home-style bread antipasti through the most exquisite
pasta one can imagine to their secondi of rabbit or other local delicacies, one
could taste the care. Tomasso, the chef, prepares wonderfully and is perfectly
complemented by Flavio’s terrific personality, so vital for a successful front-of-house.
And the wine; interestingly, they offer only red and white
on the menu, although there are other bottles available upon demand.
The house wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and the white
Pignoletto are both produced by the Vigneto San Vito, and are completely fresh
and natural; and, I have to say, utterly delicious.
I sat, complete after far too much food, contemplating on
the concept of “natural wines” and why such an ancient concept seemed so new and
fresh. Perhaps it is because we live in a world so dominated by brands that we
have lost sight of where the ideas came from in the first place.
However, fortunately for us, vintners in Georgia and Italy,
among other places, are beginning to catch on to the fact that there is a
market who is keen to embrace the fresh and clean ideas of wines made without
resort to chemicals.
