Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Giving Time Its Due


Yes, this is what a winery's aging hall looks like with the door ajar.

Isole e Olena, in Chianti Classico to be precise, and one would think it's an ocean of peace and tranquility. Unfortunately, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to get to this point -- when I first visited them years ago, the first thing I saw was a couple of guys fixing a trailer with an arc-welder in the courtyard: "Clearing rocks beats the hell out of machinery," one said. And then there's vineyard management, harvesting, fermenting, racking...

And selling the wines is just as frantic; Paolo was mobbed at the Chianti Classico Anteprima last week, and will be going to both the US and the far east before heading to Germany this month. He's never still.

Notes from the last time I tasted through Isole e Olena, in 2009
A profile of Paolo, from a bit further back

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