A Visit To An Italian Winery

Wine featured prominently in our visit. Alain used his connections to arrange a visit to one of the area's oldest wineries, Orsolani, founded in 1894. We met the winemaker/owner and his parents, and wwe learned about the winery's production, including the fact that the winery has served both Pope John Paul II and President George Bush--a pretty funny thing to hang your hat on considering that Bush is famous for not drinking. We sampled the vintages, most of which we would never have encountered in the states. We actually learned a fair amount, and we were humbled at the end of our visit when the winemakers presented us with a rare and expensive book highlighting the history of all the wineries of Italy. What we enjoyed most, I think, had to be the Italian version of the history of winemaking in the world. It goes something like this: "The French claim to have invented lots of things about wine. Nothing the French invented wasn't previously invented by the Italians, or if it was, Italians perfected the art of it long and taught the French how to do it right." The most grievous error of the French, it seems, is that they claim to have invented the methode champenois, method for making champagne, which, according to the Italian version of the world, was well known to the Romans. While I have no idea what is true or not true, it continues a theme we hear throughout Europe. That thing at which the French are best is self-promotion. At its heart, French culture is culture purloined from the rest of Europe.