Olio

Friday, 6/24

Today we enjoyed olive oil in many different ways. Starting with lunch in Pienza. We ate at La Buca de Enea a lovely little ristorante owned by husband and wife, Antonio and Gabriella. The meal began with vegetable mista antipasta and bread. We ordered the caprese salad and a dish of flat pasta with mushrooms. All dishes were generously adorned with an ample drizzle of local buttery olive oil. We realized we have not had butter since our arrival in Italy and have not even missed it! We decided to spring for a cappucino and our host suggested the homemade tiramsu, how could we resist? We mentioned that we were staying at Cretaiole and Antonio declared with a smile, "Ah, Isabella!" He quickly returned with dessert wine and grappa, gratis for friends of Isa! A lovely meal. As we needed to get walk off that midday meal, we decided to visit Montepulciano, another hill town. The views were beautiful and we found a music conservatory where we could listen to students practicing violin as we took in the beautiful sights. Then back to Cretaiole for olive oil tasting. Isa educated us about the tricky wording you find on olive oil labeling. Basically you should only buy extra virgin, as that is the only guarantee of quality (cold pressed and first harvest are terms that are redundant on an extra virgin bottle, designed by producers to get you to pay more because it has another fancy term attached to it and they are counting on the fact that their customers are not educated about the process). We learned many good tips on how to buy good oil in the states and what to look for. Then we did a blind tasting of four different oils and filled out tasting score sheets. In the end we compared our results with Carlo's (who is a professional taster for the region). I scored well, but Greg's score was outstanding, so he'll be the one to call when you want to go shopping for oil. Many of the oils were very spicy and some were bitter. We were ready to replace those flavors with some local pizza. So after going for my farewell run of the property, Greg and I went into town for some take out pizza and enjoyed it in our room with the last bit of the white wine we procured at Carlo's farm earlier in the week. One last knock at the door called us to grappa with Luciano. Many of our fellow guests joined the farewell meeting, and we all agreed that we were triste (sad to say goodbye). One more peaceful night sleep listening to the insects and the frogs as we fell asleep before we continue our journey tomorrow. We know we will miss this place, its beauty, its culture, and the friends we have made.