The Chronicles of Rome: The Voyage of the ISU Student: Trip to the Vineyard

   This past Friday, my Wine and Culture class went to a Vineyard not far out of Rome to see for ourselves what the wine-making process was like. A few people were unable to make it, so since my dad and Maureen were in town visiting (!) they were able to come with!
   We started with an hour drive to right outside of Rome. On the way out, we passed by orange and lemon trees full of fruit! We arrived and met our tour guide, who only spoke to us in Italian, and seemed to think we understood his every word! Our teacher is fluent in Italian (though she is originally from California), so she was the translator. Throughout the tour, we saw the different aspects of wine-making. We saw vines being pruned for the coming season, the machine that crushes and de-stems the grapes, steel barrels for aging wine, wood (mostly oak) barrels for aging, the bottling machine, where full bottles are stored before they are sold (which turned out to be in an old Roman aqueduct), as well as have a wine tasting of their best wines. The best part of the tour was seeing the huge 5 foot tall wooden barrels that the wine was being aged in, as well as the aroma that you could breath in and smell so many delicious flavors from!
   After the tour, we had the opportunity to taste some of their more popular wines, 2 whites and 1 red. We also got to taste cheese, salami, and crackers to go with the wine. There was a mix-up with what we had originally planned on, so they let us try another different wine, which ended up being the same as one that we had tasted but it had been aged 3 years longer. The one that was aged longer ended up not appealing to most of us as much as the younger wine, but it was interesting to see what time did to the same type of wine. My dad ended up buying a few bottles of wine to give to me and my roommates as well as for us to have throughout his stay here in Rome, which were/are delicious, and that were really reasonably priced because we bought it right from there, not through a store.
   The region that Rome is in is the Lazio region of Italy (the regions are political, but they are now the regions that wine and vineyards are grouped by). Usually, wine coming from this region is not well recommended. Because the Lazio region includes Rome, it produces more wine in bulk rather than more high-quality wines because of the type of market that is in Rome. Just some background information!
   Overall a really cool little excursion for class, as well as a fun and laid-back wine and snack tasting with friends!