It's 11:00 a.m. but I am already a little hot and tired, eating lunch.
Still, it feels wonderful sitting in the shade under a 150 year old
olive tree twisted sinuously behind me, with a nice glass of home-made
rakija in one hand, a sandwich of cheese and salami in the other, and a
cooling breeze blowing from the North. I am high on a hill, back
winding rock roads, with an expansive view of the Adriatic and the
mainland beyond.
We are back at Sutivan again, near Milna - Ivo, Spiro, and Spiro's wife,
Golga - this time picking the white grapes for white wine and rakija.
Of the 800 grape vines, the majority are white grapes and I can feel
it. (Funny, I think, how much grape picking and tile laying have in
common. A truth I can feel in my hands, and back and knees.) This is
the real thing villa rustica, small rock shack on agricultural land,
check out the photos for a view of the water collection system and you
will see what I mean (although you can't see the dead lizard next to the
water-in sieve.) The land is owned by a Polish woman who purchased it
as an investment and who did not understand that the grapes, figs, and
olives needed to be worked for them to survive fruitfully. So we are
working them to our benefit.
We get 14 bags of white grapes off the land. Maybe 300 liters of wine.
These buggers are heavy - I'd guess about 60 poundds or so - and remind
me of bucking hay bales, except the sweet, sticky juice is everywhere.
We also get a couple of baskets of figs and some grapes for eating.
Back at Spiro's, we mash the grapes, but discover to our distress that
he will have to add sugar to get them to a level for proper
fermentation. (See photo of Spiro and Golga peering anxiously at meter
reading.) This is a big no-no, as everyone speaks disparagingly of
those chemists adding sugar and water to stretch their wine. Still,
what must be, must be and we shrug philosophically.
Once again, we finish the day with a big feast of . . . meat. Some
onions, some wine, and meat. That's all it seems to take over here for
a good time.
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