Mae Abroad

Today we went wine tasting, but this part of the day deserves it's own post because it was so awesome.  My friend Brett (the one who came to the BBQ on Friday) just moved into a new place in Bacoli and invited Laura and I over for food and drinks with his new found neighbors Patrick and Christina along with his landlord Fabio and family. It took awhile to find his house since Google Maps was no match for the random Italian roads.  Once we arrived, we were both in awe.  Brett opened his 10 foot iron gate (remotely, of course) and let us in.  The first thing I said to Laura was, "Look at all the parking he has!"  It was a good 40 square feet of driveway...unheard of in Italy!  We got out of the car and walked along the concrete pathway to his patio.  His landlord Fabio and his family had cooked us pizza and antipasto (appetizers), along with wine Fabio had made himself.  Brett took us on a tour of his house, which was absolutely amazing.  Jet bathtub, huge kitchen, the wo

Today we went wine tasting with Aldo today in Avellino! The tour started at base and headed up the mountains towards Avellino. They made a stop at a rest area for café! My favorite!  It didn't take too long to get up to the winery. The name was Colli Di Castelfranci. Castlefranci is a small village in the heart of Irpinia which is in the Province of Avellino. This logo on the wall their son created. He seemed pretty young and was the one who has started to take over production of the place. Grandpa and dad still lived there and worked but the son did most of it.  The winery is very organic and they try to use all natural everything when they can. They even reuse willow tree branches and things like that for ways to hold up the vines or to tie things together instead of using plastic or metal objects. Aldo is holding some dried branches that when you soak in water they become soft enough to tie into a knot. Inside is where they store the wine in huge