Hazelnuts, Wine and the Flu

Tomorrow we are leaving for a farm closer to Turin. Leaving is always a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, it is always exciting to see some place new. On the other, the farm we are leaving is quite lovely and will be missed. But that's the nature of the experience we signed up for. Anyhoo, I have a few more pictures for you. Might as well post them while I know the internet connection is good.

Our host has a rogue pumpkin vine growing up a tree! A cursory glance makes it look like the tree is producing strange fruit.

Here is a shot of Josh collecting hazelnuts. It's a pretty easy task. You just shuffle around in the leaves until you find a good looking nut or five. They tend to cluster in little divots in the ground.

But you can't pick up every nut! If the shell is still attached to the leafy bits, then it's guaranteed to be empty.

At the end of the day, we lay out the nuts on some burlap bags to dry out. They generally sit out for at least 24 hours before being packed away.

This morning we took a field trip over to Mombercelli, which is 3km away. It is a tiny village about the size of an intersection. We spent 10 minutes wandering around the place while our host mailed some stuff at the post office. Then we visited the cantine, which is Italian for a wine cellar or grape cooperative. This place buys the grapes of local growers and turns them into wine. They have free wine tastings for whoever wants to show up.
We sampled four wines and a port, all made from the Barbera grape. I have unfortunately come down with the flu and really couldn't taste a difference between them. The only one that stood out was the most expensive, which had been aged for four years, one of which was in an oak cask. I definitely could taste the oak. Most expensive is also a relative phrase. I believe the bottle sold for 12 euros, while the rest were around 5 or 6 euros. They also had a number of table wines for sale, which could all be purchased for under 2 euros a liter. If only good wine was this cheap in the US!

As for the flu, I am feeling better. I'm on day three of sickness so far and have experienced every symptom on the books except nausea and diarrhea. Thank heavens for the small miracles, I suppose.