The objective of this project was to collect samples of soil at various vineyards in the Marche within an hour drive of Coldigioco and then evaluate and compare their geological and chemical characteristics. We only tested soil at vineyards producing verdicchio, the local white wine specialty. The key term for the project was terroir, which describes all of the environmental characteristics that are unique to each grape and region where a certain wine can legally be produced. Terroir describes incline, temperature, rainfall, insolation (exposure to sun), soil, and really anything else that creates the ideal environment for each grape. At the end of the scientific part of the project we had a tasting of all of the wines from the vineyards whose soil we sampled.
This is the processing floor of the vineyard where we got the wine we drank throughout the program. The red and green concrete tanks hold crushed grapes that are fermenting and the silver tanks hold finished wine. We just brought our jugs to the spigot and filled them up for one euro (about $1.40) per liter.
Bryn checking out the roses that are planted at the end of every row of vines. When the farmer notices bugs attacking the roses they know they need to take measures to protect the vines.
Travis enjoying the verdicchio grapes.
Most vineyards have a primary grape grown for the marketable wines and then many other varieties like this crazy one. These were actually quite sweet and tasty while the verdicchio grapes are pretty tart when fresh picked.
Alex and Jeff turning the auger to collect soil samples. This is the method we used at each of the seven vineyards we visited.
Colin enjoying a bunch.
Looking down a hillside toward Castelplanio from below Cupramontana. This is the city where the nearest train was to Coldigioco. Vineyards are almost always planted on slopes because the grapes need good drainage to produce the highest quality. Larger vineyards in the few flat areas of Italy like the Po Valley really only produce the cheapest and worst wine you can buy in Italy.
The Monacesca vineyard was where Alex and I took our sample and it turned out to be the best wine we tried in my opinion. Such a gorgeous view.
A new litter of kittens at the Monacesca winery all looked the same and were incredibly cute, but they didn't want to play.
The last vineyard we went to had these enormous storage tanks in their facility. It was obviously a bigger production vineyard than any of the others we visited.
In the tasting at the end of the project we got to sample and discuss each of the wines from vineyards we visited. Yum!
One of our art projects this week was to read both the geologic story of how a place was formed and the myth that the local people tell to explain a place's existence, and then try to synthesize the two in a drawing. I chose to draw Pele as a the volcano beneath Hawaii.
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