We arose late and had a small, leisurely breakfast before going for a short walk along the local ridges. Last time we were here there was a mist hanging in the valley creating a beautiful scene but this time it was crystal clear. The mountains filled 180° of the horizon with several snow-capped peaks visible but most of the view was taken up by endless vineyards, hamlets and church towers.
The meal started at one o'clock and finished two and a half hours later. I won't bore you with the menu but the eight courses were excellent and finished with coffee. Unlimited water and wine were available but we tried to limit ourselves on the latter. We chatted to the daughter-in-law of the owner who is of Dutch extraction and was able to converse in English. As last time, she was able to tell us what each dish was but she also imparted much more information including the correct way to pronounce 'Ai Cuivin', which was 'I Choo-in' – nothing like we had been pronouncing it for the last two years!
Before the meal a large group of Italian motorhomers invited us to join them for something to eat but we politely declined knowing how big the meal was going to be. When we returned, I decided to go for a short walk and one of the ladies explained that at this time of year we could go into the vineyards and pick the grapes ourselves. Italian (probably EU) rules restrict the amount of wine that they can produce, so the excess grapes have to be thrown away. Apparently, some people come every year to pick these grapes to make their own wine. I picked a few bunches of white grapes from the vineyard on the opposite side of the road – they needed to be sorted and the bad grapes removed but the remaining grapes are very sweet with a lovely concentrated flavour. Perhaps another year we will time or trip to pick some on our return journey and then make some wine at home.
I left the grapes with Jane and set off again for a walk. I only got as far as the Italian group and was invited for a coffee. Having refused one invitation, it would have been churlish to turn down a second. After having collected Jane, we sat down to coffee and were soon offered some red wine that had been made by one of the group. It really was very good. Two of the ladies in the group spoke excellent English and translated for us whilst we answered many questions about England and ourselves. They jokingly said that they didn't want to visit England because of Swine Flu and so I told them that that was the reason we were in Italy! I eventually got my walk but only after I had promised that we would join them again in the evening.
Many of the group had left during the afternoon but there were still eight people, including the two translators, to greet us. We decided that we should fly the British flag so we took some typical products with us – Old Speckled Hen beer, Stilton cheese and Scottish Oatcake biscuits. The Stilton and biscuits went down very well but I'm not sure that the beer was such a hit. I did explain that it took me a great deal of effort and a large number of pints before I appreciated English beer! Meanwhile we were presented with some more homemade red wine this time made by the husband of our main translator. She explained that he wasn't happy with it as they had to stop the fermentation a little early resulting in a “sweet” wine. It was actually only just off-dry and was very good. They were determined to let this year's vintage ferment out so that got a true dry wine. We were also given a cooked salami (like a coarse paté) and a wonderfully tasty air-dried salami, both made by the same couple from the pig that they and their neighbours fattened. More delicacies followed – a chicken liver risotto and raw porcini mushrooms marinated with lots of parsley and a little garlic. Needless to say, they had collected the mushrooms themselves yesterday. We only had a very small amount of all of these dishes and the wine as we were very full after our enormous meal. If anything, they eat less than we did as they had a meal in the restaurant last night and then had a large meal with the group at lunchtime.
We asked our friends about other 'agroturismo' sites in Italy like Ai Cuivin. Was there a book that listed them? Someone produced a book given free with an Italian magazine in April and insisted that we kept it. They had finished with it this year and the magazine would provide another one next season. It really is excellent, listing other agroturism motorhome sites all over Italy (including Sicily) some of which are restaurants like Ai Cuivin. We will definitely be using it during the rest of the sojourn and probably for many years to come!
Photos: Two views over the vineyards from close to Ai Cuivin – the second photographs shows the snow-capped peaks of the Alps in the background; Two of our Ai Cuivin hosts – note who is doing all of the work!; Our Italian friends together with the owner of Ai Cuivin who has just delivered a bottle of Asti desert wine for us to try.
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