Old World Winery Discovers New World

My worlds of books and wine converged in a pleasant and unexpected way last October.  A recommended winery in Greve in Chianti turned out to have a historical connection to a book that one of my college professors had used as an example of a strong opener.  This was more than twenty years ago!  The opener, we'll get to shortly.  But first, the wine.     

A quick web search reveals there are more than 45-THOUSAND wineries in Italy.  Since 2017, we've visited just over 110.  Even THAT is a lot of wineries.

So given the bounty of wineries, what makes a winery stand out?  The wine, of course.  The winemaker.  The family.  The origin story.  The cellar.  The labels.  The view.  The vineyard.  The tour.  The wine-food pairing experience.  All true and all things any winery can potentially offer.  But when a winery has a surprising connection to the discovery of your nation and to a book of personal significance, the winery certainly stands out even more.      

Last September I was putting the finishing touches on our trip to Tuscany during my friend Sydney's visit.  I reached out to Sheryl Ness, the author of Love in a Tuscan Kitchen.  I've read Sheryl's book and follow her on Instagram.  She is always quick to respond with advice and recommendations.  From the mundane...what is the difference between all the numbered flours here in Italy?  To the important gastronomical ones...what is a great restaurant in Montepulciano for a birthday dinner.  And, specific to this adventure, what are your favorite wineries in the Chianti region? 

Sheryl responded quickly with three recommendations, her favorite being Castello di Verrazzano.  

View of Castello di Verrazzano

Taking her word for it, I did no additional research.  I found an English-language tour and lunch with wine pairing offered on the day we needed and booked the tour.  I knew nothing about the winery.    

It wasn't until the tour that I learned the castle's most famous former resident is Giovanni Da Verrazzano.  Born in 1485, Verrazzano was an explorer credited as the first European to reach New York Bay in 1524 and to explore the eastern coast of the 'New World.'  The birth of the United States was still more than 250 years away. 

The Verrazzano-Narrows bridge in New York City, designed by O.H. Amman, who also designed the Golden Gate Bridge, honors him.  In 1963, three stones were extracted from the castello's foundation and gifted to New York and three stones from New York are now affixed to the front of the castle in Greve.  I remember our guide pointing out with some clear undertones that the stones sent from New York are smaller than the ones the Italians sent.  As they say here...allora.    

Staff shirts commemorate Verrazzano's historic 1524 journey.

A medium-sized winery - producing 218k bottles annually.

Drying the Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes for their two white wines.

A small piece of New York Bay here in Italy.

 

So, you may ask, where does the book come in?  

When I was working on my undergraduate one of my professors used the opening section of The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge by Gay Talese as an example of a strong opener.  I never forgot the imagery invoked by the descriptive writing.  So a few years later, when I found the book in a bookstore I swooped it up pronto.

Here is the opener:

Chapter 1: The Boomers

"They drive into town in big cars, and live in furnished rooms, and drink whiskey with beer chasers, and chase women they will soon forget.  They linger only a little while, only until they have built the bridge; then they are off again to another town, another bridge, linking everything but their lives.

"They possess none of the foundation of their bridges.  They are part circus, part gypsy -- graceful in the air, restless on the ground; it is as if the wide-open road below lacks for them the clear direction of an eight-inch beam stretching across the sky six hundred feet above the sea.

"When there are no bridges to be build, they will build skyscrapers, or highways, or power dams, or anything that promises a challenge -- and overtime.  They will go anywhere, will drive a thousand miles all day and night to be part of a new building boom.  They find boom towns irresistible.  This is why they are called "the boomers."  

I read that and I'm interested.  

I'm interested in learning more.  

At the time of the bridge's construction, Talese wrote for the New York Times and he followed its construction closely.  I remember the book having a journalistic feel but a very descriptive narrative that brings the reader into the harrowing and sometimes death-inducing process of building an expansion bridge that was the longest in the world at that time and has a center span nearly a mile long.  Talese also introduces the reader to the many people who helped construct this engineering marvel of its day.    

So after our tour and during our lunch, I took in all the Verrazzano pictures and images around the dining room and had a greater appreciation for the shirts the staff wear.

Let the wine tasting lunch begin!

Off to a good start - a farm-to-table experience.  Everything comes from within 30 kilometers.

There during harvest season so we got to enjoy Focaccia with Grapes (Schiacciata con L'uva)

Imagery of the namesake bridge in the dining room.

Giovanni Da Verrazzano watched over our dining experience.

 

Knowing now that there are three foundation stones from the castello incorporated into the entrance to the famous bridge's viaduct, I will definitely go looking for them if I'm ever in New York City again.  And perhaps I'll even pick up a bottle of Verrazzano Chianti and cheers to the adventurous spirit that resides in us all -- giving us the courage to cross oceans to discover unknown worlds or build expansive, gravity-defying bridges that no one imagined possible.  Literally and figuratively.   

Cheers and Keep Reading!