Ah Biancazita!

Today I extended my personal acquaintance with some spicy, saucy characters named Biancazita, Pepella, Biancolella and Tintore. They sound like a vaudeville act or dancers in a burlesque house.

These are in fact grape varieties from the Amalfi coast, specifically from the azienda Reale Andrea in the little town of Tramonti 5 km from the coast above Maiori. Above being the key word; we're almost 500 metres above sea level here, and the strong afternoon sea breeze keeps the vines cool and chases mold and mildew away.

By the way, Tramonti is where Mario Cuomo's forebears came from. The name of the town can mean either"sunsets" or, as I think more likely in this case, "between the hills" (tra-i-monti). The town straggles its way by twisty roads up from the valley floor onto both of the 700 metre hillsides.

I'm currently at the Osteria Reale, the roomy, sunny agriturismo above Luigi Reale"s restaurant, where some big shots, led by the Berlusconi-baiting journalist Marco Vaglia (I hope I spelled his name right), descended on this madly picturesque place to eat abundantly and well. Luigi served his own wines; the restaurant is well-known and consumes much of his production.

I got a number of photos of the vineyards and stunning, green countryside. Full report on the wines along with pix when I get back to NYC.

Yes, another Irishly gloomy, miserable, depressed day in Paradise...

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Comments

[terence]

Btw. Mario Cuomo has the sort of face that shows up in a lot of Byzantine mosaics. This is relevant because the architecture and cuisine of the area definitely recalls Greece.

I'm just sayin.

[David J]

So are you bringing home any samples of the vaudeville act??
I'm a sucker for rare grapes--LOL!
...I may barely make it to NYC by 4th of July, at this pace...