How about a little wine with your spiders?

This morning I was in charge of rinsing the bins of Arneis after they had been dumped into the crusher. So I spent a good amount of time watching the grapes go through the crusher - and I could not help but notice the amount of spiders that were in the mix as well. They are almost like whitish-greenish daddy long legs. Anyways, they only show up on the Arneis grapes - I have yet to see one on the red grapes.

So I got to thinking. How many bugs/spiders/insects can you typically find in a bottle of wine? From what I saw, there has to go be a 1:2 ratio of bugs to clusters of grapes. I tried to save a few at first, but they are not very cooperative so I've decided to just let nature take its course. Well not nature, but the process of wine making. They must know what they're doing at this point, right?

NOT SO!

I googled "average amount of bugs in a bottle of wine" thinking SOMEONE had to have done some sort of study on the amount of bugs that are crushed along with the grapes. Close but no cigar my friends. I DID find a blog featuring a woman who had had a not-so-fab experience with a bottle of wine:

"Hi, everyone. I am new to the site. My name is Melissa. My husband and I were drinking a bottle of our favorite Chardonnay from a local winery here in Temecula (I won't name it!) and after pouring myself the last glass I noticed a few minutes later that there was something in the bottom of my glass. I looked in the light and saw that it was some unknown sediment as well as a small worm and a very, very small almost translucent spider! Has anyone heard of such a thing? I was horrified. I've drank a good amount of wine in my life and I've never had this experience before. Is this something that happens from time to time?"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! A WORM AND A SPIDER IN YOUR WINE?

What are the odds of that happening??

I think I'm going to lay off this investigation for the time being.

Italian Roomates!

Roberto!

Alessando!

Con Gin Tonic (the best)

Silly Lizzy

Tourists? Nah...

Funny Italian Things

Fin Food Lube?

No comment :)

The Dog Days

(my pizza containting anything and everything that is salty.

Olives, Anchovies, Ham and Capers.)


While working here at Ceretto, we know that we have one assured day off per week. This day is Sunday, and we have aptly named this day the Day Of Gluttony ( which will be referred to as DOG from here on out). Ill provide you with a list of activities that may occur on our DOG days:

- Eating an entire pizza and a beer for lunch

- Shopping for rabbit fur coats and dresses to wear to upcoming weddings

- Consuming at least two gelatos (requirements: one must be fruit flavored, and one must be creamy/chocolate flavored.)

- Buying strange teas to aid digestion and general health

- People watching

- Visiting expensive stores such as Missoni and pretending that we can afford the gorgeous things we see.

- Wandering down small streets and encountering stores such as "Sex Shop Las Vegas".

(Dont worry - we will never go down that street again!)

The only required activity on the DOG is an appertivo to end our day. Whats so great about the appertivo is they bring out a delicious tray of assorted munchables. There are breadsticks with salami, and olives. Also, there are various slices of baguette with tapanade, cream cheese olives and tomatoes, and sometimes a little bit of the italian version of salsa.

It's AWESOME. Even though we are typically full from our gluttonous lunch and beer, we always find space to eat the delicious bits. I mean, it would be so rude if they presented us with food, and then we did not eat it!

Certo.

So, this past sunday we had our 2nd annual DOG. Although we started off a little late because Allie went on an uncontrollable cleaning binge of the bathroom and kitchen, we still fit in a whole mess of DOG activities.

The best part of the day, however, was when we were making the trek back to our house. We were taking our time to slowly make our way up the dusty driveway, when we saw two creatures head down the hill. It was just about nine o'clock, so it was getting pretty dark at this time.

We both jumped back with fright: assuming that these two creatures were out to get us, and that we had to run for safety. The following dialoge took place between me and Elizabeth.

A: Oh no... here come two dogs!

E: NO! The second one is a BOAR!

A: No liz, they are BOTH dogs!

E: NO allie, I swear to god, the second one is a boar; I mean ,maybe they are on a truffel hunt or something..."

A: Liz, I saw them both, and they are definitely dogs, but I think we should go hide amongst these trees to provide us with some protection, ok?

E: okay....

So we run alongside the road and find some large trees.

A: Okay here, hug this tree and be ABSOLUTELY SILENT, ok?

E: Okay...

Then the unknown animals slinked back up to the driveway.

A: OMG! They are back to get us! Liz HUG THE TREE!

Instead of hugging the tree, Liz jumps into the MIDDLE OF THE DRIVEWAY, directly confronting the unknown beasts. Meanwhile, I have placed my hand directly onto a monstrous thorn, however I'm too freaked out and scared of these beasts that I simply keep my hand on the terrible thorn.

I am busy screaming at liz to get back to the tree, when we see a man strolling down the driveway.

There was no boar.

They were not on a truffel hunt.

The "unknown creatures" were out on a casual evening walk with their owner.

Maialina

Okay. I'm pretty sure that I've got some sign on my back that is noticable to everyone but me, and that sign says "please make me the butt of your jokes".

Marco and Cipri (or Chippers as the Italians call him) are working the harvest at Ceretto. They are 23 and 24 years old respectively, and Chippers has been married for five years! Marco told me that people in Romania marry as early as 15, but he lies a lot so who knows.

Anyways, Marco and Cipri have a lot of fun picking on us, and the reassuring us each time that "EETS A JOOKE". I have no idea how Marco arrived at this conclusion, but yesterday he spent about thirty minutes trying to tell me that I'm like a MOTHER PIG. He started out snorting very loudly and stomping around. This was then followed by him motioning with his hands that he had many nipples on his body.

The thing is, this can be interpreted in many ways, right? They have, from the get-go, been very impressed by the fact that I clear my plate at lunch every day. So there's definitely an element of pig in there. However, Italians typically take offense if you fail to eat everything in front of you. So this means I'm really just sending my compliments to the chef, right?

Another reason he might feel this way is because every day I end up getting about five times dirtier than any other girl here. So what? The huge bin of stems needed to be compressed so I jumped in the bin and pounded them down with my boots. Wear a raincoat while powerspraying the press clean? Not my style. I'd rather get my hands dirty! Besides, then I can just toss all of my clothes after the harvest and buy a whole new wardrobe!

Just kidding, Dad.

Here's Maggie!

More to post later, but I thought I'd share with you this adorable-ist pic ever