Analog Wines For the Digital Age

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Visit to Macea by Erik Kelley of Cheese Store of Beverly Hills - Part 1

So, I set my buddy Erik Kelley of the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills up with a visit to Az. Ag. Macea during his vacation in Italy/family reunion. Macea is in the Colline Lucchese (the hills of Lucca)where they produce wine and olive oil from a little agriturismo run by brothers Antonio and his Cipriano Barsanti. They are really into biodynamic winemaking and taking care of the earth and native yeast fermentation, in essence, what is now being called "natural winemaking". They are cool cats and incredibly sweet. Below are some photos from Erik's afternoon with his family and Antonio Barsanti tasting wine and eating cheese and home cured prosciutto.

He loved it. make special note of the stick Antonio uses to punch down the cap on the fermenting wine and the blankets used to cover the open topped fermenters. Oh yeah, and did I tell you that Antonio is a classically trained flutist? Check out his hands. And don't miss the old basket press they use to press the wine from the skins after fermentation. High tech, maybe not, but it gets the job done.


The agriturismo with 2 apartments for rent by the day or week.


The Campo Catturesi hillside getting afternoon sun.

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