Petersontravels

We drove 20 minutes from Trieste to Parovel winery, which is nearly on the border with Slovenia.  We first walked around the vineyard and sampled the grapes on the vine, as they were not quite ready to harvest yet (any day now).  Chris is about to ask if they have any Chardonnay (they didn’t).

We then went into the cellar, which was suprisingly small.  They aren’t making a lot of wine here.

They have what looks like parts of a Terminator at the entrance to the cellar to keep out the unwanted humans.  Didn’t work!

We were then treated to an olive oil tasting from oil grown and crushed at their facility.  Sorry, but I’m not an olive oil geek (unlike Tony, who about filled a suitcase with the stuff).  While they had different flavor profiles, I think the bread quality is far more important than the oil.  That’s just me, and this is my blog, so I can pretty much express myself how I want (Facebook can’t ban me here…bite me FB!).  More of that expression coming up (feel free to comment and call me a misguided idiot, it won’t be the first time).  BTW, look at Michelle and Aditi concentrating on that pour!

They then started opening their wines.  Here is where the wine trip, for me, took a little detour from the prior five days.  They opened four wines….two whites and two reds.  The first was a 2016 Malvasia.

Sorry, but I didn’t like it.  Even worse, I didn’t like any of the wines they opened.  Trust me, they were nice people, I wanted to like their wine, but it just wasn’t good.  We had a plethora of excellent wines on this trip, and these just didn’t come close to me.

I stopped taking photos of the bottles because I tend to take photos of wines I like and use that as a reminder should I decide to buy some.  I love Peter and Nina, and would do another trip with them in a heartbeat, but for me (and Kim), this one was off the mark.  Enough about Parovel.

The bus ride back to the hotel was better, because I opened a Vermentino that Peter gave me, and it was the wine of the day (to that point).

We had an hour of rest at the hotel before we departed for our final winery (and dinner) of the trip, Hisa Stekar, located in nearby Kojsko, Slovenia.  After an adventurous bus ride, where the driver took some bad advice from an obviously inebriated Solvenian, and a quick 5 minute walk downhill, we made it to the winery.  The below is a collage of the setting and the food for dinner, courtesy of Tony, the Olive Oil King.

The food was excellent, and the wines were better!  Now this is a great Malvasia!  Maybe it was the Slovenian spelling?

I’m not partial to Cab Franc, but this was pretty damn good!

This was my wine of the day!  Wow, what an excellent Tokai!  I’ve had a couple of Tokai’s before, and I thought I just hated the varietal.  This was awesome!  I will be buying some!  For some reason they are not allowed to put Tokai on the label.  Kim noticed they simply spelled Tokai backwards (in Slovenian).  Yure, the winemaker, let us know that was his son Filip’s handprint on the label (you can barely see it in this photo).

The red wine was also very good!  I don’t recall the varietals.  I think it was Cab Franc and Merlot?

A better shot of the hand on the label.

Here is Yure’s wife Tamara, along with Chris Stotka’s girlfriend, T(amara).

Yure had a friend, Kenzo, in from Naples for harvest, and he gave us a little concert.  I tried to fix him up with Michele, but he spoke almost no English (with the exception of “you are beautiful”…the first thing Italian men learn in English).

One last group shot!  Excellent evening!  The bus driver didn’t even get lost on the way back.

The next morning we were off to Venice airport to drop off the group.  Fortunately, Tinto Travels arranged for the bus to take us to Verona so we didn’t have to hassle with taking the train.  Thanks guys!  Looking forward to seeing the group again some day.  If anybody is thinking about doing this trip, think no more…just sign up already!  You won’t be sorry.

Next up, Verona.

 

 

The party bus took an hour long drive from our hotel in Slovenia to the city of Trieste, Italy, along the Adriatic Sea.  I had no idea how much wine could be consumed in an hour on a bus!

There we went on a walking tour with our guide Danica.  Of course, everybody had to stop in at illy for a bathroom break first.

Trieste is known as the City of Coffee since several major coffee companies are based here, including illy.

There is a canal, Canale Grande, that runs into the center of the city for three blocks (used to be 4 until somebody needed some park space).  The canal was built in the 1750’s to enable sailing ships to enter the city and unload their cargo, so this became the commerical center for Trieste.  The buildings that line the canal were once warehouses and businesses associated with the maritime trade.

Now it’s a shopping district filled with restaurants and high end Italian crap (if I see one more Gucci or Versace store I’m going to go postal!).  Look at this Major Douche!!!  Who would be caught dead wearing that outfit, particularly that really lame Gilligan’s Island hat in orange?  Well ok Skipper!  Grrrr.

There was a Canoe Polo competition going on.  Crazy stuff these Italians are into!  Thankfully they weren’t wearing Versace outfits!

This bridge over the canal was named after the poet James Joyce.

I had no idea who James Joyce was.  Thanks Wikipedia!  Joyce was an Irish author, poet, and teacher.  He lived in Trieste for a period of time, so they are staking their claim to his fame.

The beautiful boulevards remind me of Lisbon, without the tile work on the walls…and the unique cobblestone streets….ok, maybe not so much like Lisbon afterall.  Maybe it was just the vibe, or the fact that Peter, and Nina were with us?

Umberto Saba apparently hasn’t been cancelled as of yet.  Again, I must consult Wikipedia, because I’m not quite the worldly man I think I am.

Umberto was an Italian poet and novelist, who was born in Trieste.

The building below is the most ornate building in Trieste.  Stotka doesn’t care…he’s staring at a wine store down the street.  “I wonder if they have any Chardonnay?”

They discovered this Roman Theater under some houses that were built right over the ruins.  The theater dates to the 1st or 2nd century AD, and could house up to 3500 spectators.  The neighborhood where the theater was located was named Rena Vecia, which translates to Old Arena in Italian.  Even Indiana Jones could have solved this one without burning a Nazi’s hand!

It wasn’t until 1938 that the locals invoked Occam’s Razor, and the buildings over the ruins were demolished and the theater was uncovered.

I saw this odd painting which I believe is supposed to be container ships heading to different ports from Trieste.  As the former Chief Wharfinger for the Port of Oakland, I can assure you there is no port in San Francisco any longer, and there hasn’t been one since the 1970’s.  It’s all tourist crap now.  Change the sign to Oakland please!

This is a narrow street in the former Jewish Ghetto area of Trieste.  Beautiful spot.

This building is called Borsa Vecchia, which used to house the local stock market from 1805 to 1844.  It is now the home of the Chamber of Commerce.  I wonder if the inside is anywhere near as nice as the outside?

This statue of Neptune is across the plaza from the stock market, staring up at the facade.  I have no idea what the pinkish-purple kissing dogs are about, some local art thing, but I found them offputting versus the historic nature of the city.

This sign was quite interesting.  I thought it was about Covid and tourism, but according to our guide, there was a time period after WWII when the US and the UK controlled this small section of Italy.  This was called the Free Territory of Trieste.  It was established in 1947, and the purpose was to cool down territorial tensions between Italy and Yugoslavia.  The Free Territory was disolved in 1954.  The sign has been put up by a political faction in Trieste that wants to bring the Free Territory back.  The things I didn’t know about US history in Europe astound me!

On the way back to the bus we ran across a group of protesters who are really peeved about the Green Pass in effect in Italy!  It actually seemed more like a family outting than a protest to be honest.  Lot’s of kids blowing whistles and hitting tamborines.  You know….hippies!  Sorry, the video I took doesn’t do it justice.  Picture Berkeley in the 1960’s with upper middle class parents and their coddled children.

Coming up next, Parovel winery and Hisa Stekar winery (This post got too long, I had to break stuff down!).