MENFI WINE TASTING
This Sunday we attended a special celebration of the wine and food of the Menfi area. Menfi is very close to us via back roads, which we are forced to take when we go west because the bridge on the highway is still out. We also know Fabio who has a bar there (La Tavernetta.it, with a lively Homer Simpson cartoon over the door) as well as a pretty darn good computer store. Fabio is a true Renaissance man. Anyway, Menfi was one of the 1968 earthquake damaged towns that we take guests to see, and it is unique for the fact that there are still people living in the temporary barracks that were thrown up then. It also has a very satisfying Saturday morning market. So we have been there often and we have drunk many a good wine made from the grapes in the area.
But we decided to taste more! Steve went over Sat afternoon to see what was up and told me I was gonna like it, that it was the festival we had been waiting for. So we went back the next night, and I did like it. There was plenty to see and taste and a festive and interesting atmosphere all the way around.
Now since things never start until we are normally in bed, first we had to take a nap and then drive over in the warm twilight, arriving about 8:30 PM. Young kids and families with babies were arriving and continued to arrive till after 11:30, when we were leaving. The kids might have all napped till after 6 then had a little family time before an early cena (dinner) at 8 or so. So that made them good-to-go for the rest of the evening. What a difference in customs!
We started off looking at the work on the old/new chiesa madre. What a lot of work they have done on it! It a combination of an older structure embodied in a new one, and as such, is similar to the feel of the famous cathedral/Greek temple in Siracusa, only on a smaller scale. It is larger than the restoration of the earthquake-ruined churches in Santa Margherita di Belice. They have saved some of the lovely old paintings and statues. I did not get too many satisfactory pictures because of the strange lighting in such a big space.
Then on outside to the spectacolo in the square. The Sicilian dancers were just lining up as we got there. I got some of the dance on film, but it was tough as shorter people insisted on walking in front of the camera. There was a girl with a big voice singing plaintive Sicilian ballads after the lively dancing, which also featured a jug thrower, a guy who stood on the side lines and threw a clay jug up on the air all the way through the dancing. We got tired of watching and decided not to wait for the singing and the rest, but to do some tasting in the booths ringing the stage area. The onion sauce that we bought three jars of was spectacular too!
On to visit Fabio at his bar, plus his girlfriend, his brother, and his clean locked bathroom. Then we stopped into the small cortile, the courtyard squares that are part of the buildings built after the earthquake. They are surrounded by four or five apartment buildings so as many as 10 or more families can share them for hanging out laundry, growing pots of basil and tomatoes, or other outdoor activities. In each was set up tents of the various wine growers in the area. For the price of a ticket, you take your wine glass to the tent of the kind of wine you want to try and they will half fill it for you. (We had bought the kit-the wine glass in a handy dandy shoulder slung pouch, plus 2 tickets, when we first got there). Our best find was a kind of Courtyard Cabaret, where for the price of one ticket, you could sit and listen to jazz musicians and taste any wine you wanted. I think this picture shows the cabaret set up well.
There was another component of this festa that we did not participate in at all. That was the film part of the festival, and a sexy picture of Marilyn Monroe and a reel of film were superimposed on all the advertising. We kind of knew there were film showings but every time we came near one of the venues, there was a long line, and you know about Sicilian line behavior! So we decided not to frustrate ourselves, and to return next year with a plan for what films we wanted to see. There was plenty to do and see without sitting in a warm room to see an odd film or documentary, which we could view anytime in the comfort of our home.
As we were leaving, we met the nice young Carabinieri from Menfi who has helped us with our Permiso di Sogiorno so many times at the Questuras office in Sciacca. He was with his wife and little girl, and he speaks hesitant English and has a brother who is a tour guide, mainly of Americans. We feel that we owe him for all of his help, and we were happy to give him a left over ticket for tasting and to clue him in on the cabaret courtyard.
But we decided to taste more! Steve went over Sat afternoon to see what was up and told me I was gonna like it, that it was the festival we had been waiting for. So we went back the next night, and I did like it. There was plenty to see and taste and a festive and interesting atmosphere all the way around.
Now since things never start until we are normally in bed, first we had to take a nap and then drive over in the warm twilight, arriving about 8:30 PM. Young kids and families with babies were arriving and continued to arrive till after 11:30, when we were leaving. The kids might have all napped till after 6 then had a little family time before an early cena (dinner) at 8 or so. So that made them good-to-go for the rest of the evening. What a difference in customs!
We started off looking at the work on the old/new chiesa madre. What a lot of work they have done on it! It a combination of an older structure embodied in a new one, and as such, is similar to the feel of the famous cathedral/Greek temple in Siracusa, only on a smaller scale. It is larger than the restoration of the earthquake-ruined churches in Santa Margherita di Belice. They have saved some of the lovely old paintings and statues. I did not get too many satisfactory pictures because of the strange lighting in such a big space.
Then on outside to the spectacolo in the square. The Sicilian dancers were just lining up as we got there. I got some of the dance on film, but it was tough as shorter people insisted on walking in front of the camera. There was a girl with a big voice singing plaintive Sicilian ballads after the lively dancing, which also featured a jug thrower, a guy who stood on the side lines and threw a clay jug up on the air all the way through the dancing. We got tired of watching and decided not to wait for the singing and the rest, but to do some tasting in the booths ringing the stage area. The onion sauce that we bought three jars of was spectacular too!
On to visit Fabio at his bar, plus his girlfriend, his brother, and his clean locked bathroom. Then we stopped into the small cortile, the courtyard squares that are part of the buildings built after the earthquake. They are surrounded by four or five apartment buildings so as many as 10 or more families can share them for hanging out laundry, growing pots of basil and tomatoes, or other outdoor activities. In each was set up tents of the various wine growers in the area. For the price of a ticket, you take your wine glass to the tent of the kind of wine you want to try and they will half fill it for you. (We had bought the kit-the wine glass in a handy dandy shoulder slung pouch, plus 2 tickets, when we first got there). Our best find was a kind of Courtyard Cabaret, where for the price of one ticket, you could sit and listen to jazz musicians and taste any wine you wanted. I think this picture shows the cabaret set up well.
There was another component of this festa that we did not participate in at all. That was the film part of the festival, and a sexy picture of Marilyn Monroe and a reel of film were superimposed on all the advertising. We kind of knew there were film showings but every time we came near one of the venues, there was a long line, and you know about Sicilian line behavior! So we decided not to frustrate ourselves, and to return next year with a plan for what films we wanted to see. There was plenty to do and see without sitting in a warm room to see an odd film or documentary, which we could view anytime in the comfort of our home.
As we were leaving, we met the nice young Carabinieri from Menfi who has helped us with our Permiso di Sogiorno so many times at the Questuras office in Sciacca. He was with his wife and little girl, and he speaks hesitant English and has a brother who is a tour guide, mainly of Americans. We feel that we owe him for all of his help, and we were happy to give him a left over ticket for tasting and to clue him in on the cabaret courtyard.
posted by Sicilian Mama at 12:38 PM
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