Travel

Simple pleasures
August 2005, «Vkus» №41 November 2005

My husband, me and our three-year-old son have recently started a new life.

We moved to Italy. Is it a good place to live? The answer is positively yes. Despite the fact that we brought only 2 suitcases with us and have been waiting for our shipment of 48 boxes from Moscow for a month already. Even this frustrating circumstance cannot spoil the pleasure of new life. When you wake up in a house with a charming name Villino Olesia and see stunningly beautiful lake Como, problems seem to diminish in size.

The town to the north of Milan where we live is also called Como. In summer it is full of tourists who come for their piece of holiday happiness — to wander narrow streets of the old town, to take a boat to a medieval village, to climb on the funicular to the top of the mountain with panoramic view, to lazily lunch in a small trattoria.

We will live here for a few years, and I am not in a hurry to open local secrets at once. Of course, I am most interested in wine, as well as in gastronomy. Wine here, like in any other corner of Italy, is a natural part of life. It is one of a myriad colourful glass bits which build up to happiness in Italian way.

Now I should make a confession. The first wine drank in Italy wasn’t Italian. When packing suitcases in Moscow I suspected that first days of the new life will be too busy to search for local enotecas, so I took a few bottles with me.

We came to Como on a hot July afternoon. Our wonderful, but bare house demanded endless trips to furniture and general stores (as a rule, houses for rent come unfurnished in Italy — we were very lucky to get a fully equipped kitchen at least). Yet the first night was a night of celebration. We dined on the balcony, drank a sparkling rose, watched green mountains and the blue lake and enjoyed life. The wine wasn’t a champagne. It was made by classic methods in an unknown village in the south-western France. Why didn’t I choose a champagne? Because a bottle of a fine wine would become the centre of attention. Impressions from champagne would turn emotions from the new place into something secondary. This was not what we wanted.

This was not the first time that the sparkling rose helped us out. Last year we had it in France. We stopped in a small village near Bergerac, sitting outdoors, enjoying a warm spring day in March, eating aromatic strawberries and experiencing similar happy mood. To be part of pleasure was all that was required of the wine. And it did it superbly. A lovely play of bubbles, nice freshness, teasing strawberry flavours were soft touches to the whole picture of enjoyment.

Italians also like to colour their life with the play of bubbles. One Sunday we went to the resort town of Bellagio. Apart from picturesque landscapes, cobbled streets and curious shops, Bellagio is the place where two arms of Como lake join. Eleven o’clock in the morning. The locals are sitting in small bars far from touristy cafes on the embankments. They start the day unhurriedly with a glass of sparkling prosecco.

This light fruity wine from north-western Italy is a favourite Italian aperitif. It is appropriate for all occasions as it brings the atmosphere of a holiday. We also want our Sunday morning to be special and order prosecco. It is served with a plate of potato chips. Theoretically incompatible things — a fizzy wine and chips — seem to be a normal match. Prosecco doesn’t claim to be a serious drink (its lively bubbles are the result of a short secondary fermentation in tanks). This is a carefree, refreshing aperitif. As such, it can go with any unpretentious snack.

By the way, prosecco is the base for a seductive — for the weaker half of mankind — Bellini cocktail. An original drink from sparkling wine and juice and pulp of white peaches was born in romantic Venice. Although true version of the cocktail exists only on the city of gondolas and only in summer (you don’t get fresh peaches in winter), the rest of Italians can buy readymade Bellini in any supermarket. It is sold in champagne bottles and even has a reference regarding calories , that being another hint who should drink Bellini. (57 kcal per 100 g, if you are interested.) This pleasure — with juicy flavours of sweet peaches, fresh citrussy note and tiny bubbles — costs about 4 euros. No need to say that I was seduced in the first week of the arrival already.

Back to Bellagio, after a glass of prosecco and the next portion of sightseeing we stopped for lunch in St. Jacomo trattoria with ’traditional regional cuisine’. Tables were put on a small open terrace the bordered a narrow street and its hundreds of steps going down the hill. Looks like Italians have a good tradition of family gathering for Sunday lunches. The latter consist of a few changes of dishes and equal amount of carafes with wine. I like this ritual but for now we limited ourselves to tagliatelle with porcini and a couple of glasses of house red.

A ’house’ wine is not simply white or red. The choice is made of Chardonnay, Gavi di Gavi an Muller-Thurgau for whites and Pino Nero, Bardolino Superiore, Nebbiolo and Chianti Classico for reds. "Домашнее" — это не просто белое или красное. На выбор предлагают шардоне, гави ди Гави и мюллер-тургау (из белых) и пино неро, бардолино супериоре, неббиоло и кьянти классико (из красных). We ordered Bardolino, it is produced in the region next to Lombardy. In some books they say that Bardolino is rather like dark rose, both in colour and taste. Ours was a true red. Its generous ripe and dried fruit and soft tannins made if not ideal, but a decent pairing with pasta.

In some twenty minutes all tables were taken. For a couple in love who decided to wait, the waiter brought a couple of cushions. He dropped them on the street steps and opened a bottle of chilled rose from Alto Adige. Oh, it was romantic. Soon there was another couple on the steps drinking their wine.

As for enotecas, I finally found them. One is the middle of bustling old town in Como and even has a wine bar. The place is family run. The stock is mainly Italian with a few top names. A modest shelf is given to France, a separate cupboard has grappa. Local regional wines in bins are meant for tourists.

Today I came for something red and light. I am taken to the shelf with Piedmontese Dolcetto. The choice is given to the bottle with a fitting name, Madonna de Como. Dolcetto wines are often compared to French Gamay. They have lots of fruit, little tannin and should be served slightly chilled. Exactly what you need in warm weather. Madonna de Como Dolcetto d’Alba 2004 can compete with a good Beaujolais Cru. It gives intense aromas of mulberries, blackberries and ripe cherries and fresh taste.

That night we have dinner outside. We are eating grilled sausages and yet again enjoy wine, food and the nature. Perhaps, I should start getting used to it. Perhaps, not. Sometimes simple pleasures come across as the best gifts of life.