Blog
Every morning, when we open the blinds, our eyes naturally wonder towards the Monte Amiata, made more visible in the winter by its snowy silhouette that contrasts with the blue of the sky.
My wife, Muriel, often tells me that it reminds her of Hokusai’s painting of the Mount Fuji.
December is the first month of winter, but in Maremma it is full of wonders and surprises.
At night, the thermometre can drop below zero, and we sometimes wake up to beautiful white patterns of frost in the fields. But as soon as the first rays of the sun light up the vally, the fog dissipates and the air warms up. The temperature often reaches above 15 degrees, and towards the end of the morning it is more than warm enough to enjoy a coffee at the terrace of one of the Corso Carducci cafés in Grosseto. Even on Christmas day, we are usually able to have lunch outside!
Few people are aware of this, but olive oil makers value the taste of their oil just as much as winemakers value the flavour of their wine. Similarly to wine, olive oil also has its own sommeliers.
We can taste oil the same way we taste wine… every time with renewed interest.
The quality of olive oil depends on a number of different variables. The most central one is, of course, the olives, as each variety produces an oil with a distinct flavour profile. In our olive fields, we cultivate five different varieties of olive trees, which all have the "PGI - Tuscany" certification.
It is then time for the harvest. It is carried out when the green olives start to darken and take on a lovely brownish-purple colour. Olive oils that have been harvested at the right time will be flavourful and have a slight spicy aftertaste, and can have a delicately bitter finish.
This summer, we obtained the "IGP - Tuscany" certification, the protected geographical indication for Tuscany, for all 6 of our olive tree fields.
The inspection focused on the 2744 trees that we cultivate, and it certified that they belonged to typical Tuscan varieties, such as Moraiolo, Leccino, Frantoio, Pentollino and Rosselino.
The certification also looked at the way we prune our olive trees, which had to comply with the traditional olive oil making practices of Tuscany. This specific method gives our olive tree fields the classical postcard-like aspect of Tuscan landscapes.
The August heat wraps around the Tuscan countryside. The machines have gone back to their barn. The tractors have stopped trying to work the ground, hardened by the sun. At dawn, the cool, crisp air is sometimes broken by a farmer stacking dry hay.
Nature is all about calm and rest.
However, in this heavy heat, a little bug is very busy: the olive fruit fly, trying to lay its eggs in the young olives. The fruits, weakened by the larvae, will fall to the ground before they reach maturity.
There are summer nights so warm it makes us forget about the cold and rainy days.
There are summer nights so calm it makes us forget that the year has sometimes been difficult.
There are summer nights so peaceful we would like them to last forever.
700 years ago, on 13th of September 1321, Dante Aleghieri, the main architect of modern standard Italian, died. During the whole year, but particularly this summer, Tuscany will celebrate its emblematic author with a number of exhibitions and conferences.
The Divine Comedy, initiatory story that takes the reader through Hell, Heaven and the Purgatory, was the first book written in standard Italian, or rather in Tuscan. This work, both historical through its description of existing figures, but also moral and philosophical, is all about the quest for salvation. Arguably, the Divine Comedy can be considered as the first novel of our Western civilisation.
With the beginning of spring, it is now common to encounter, trotting along roads and tracks, some baby boars briefly away from their mother.
After a gestation period of about three months, the sow (female boar) gives birth to three to ten babies at the end of the winter. Often, mother boars stay together to protect their offspring, and it is frequent to see flocks of twenty to thirty baby boars. Although it might be tempting to get closer, one should stay at a reasonable distance: the mothers are probably not far and carefully watching over them.
Like most regions, Tuscany is has many proverbs in relation to nature. Usually formulated poetically, they are a testimony to the experience accumulated along the seasons and transmitted generation after generation.
Here is one that olive oil farmers know well, and that rings very true.
"The blossoms of the olive flowers in April are for the barrel, those of May only for tasting, and those of June are for punching" (*)
Living in Maremma, at the Villa Ambretta, allows us to enjoy the beauty of everyday events and things – this blog seeks to share this renewed joy with you.