Saturday, May 19, 2018

Wine and Food of the Giro 2018: Stage 14: San Vito al Tagliamento to Monte Zoncolan


Where are we?
San Vito al Tagliamento: The regional tourist site tells me that it is: A charming and elegant medieval town with a richly frescoed castle , San Vito al Tagliamento still preserves the medieval moat and the three access towers.
Worthy of note are the beautiful buildings of elegant architecture and religious monuments including the Duomo, a real art gallery for the richness of paintings and frescoes, the Church of Santa Maria dei Battuti, a jewel of the Friulian Renaissance that inside splendid frescoes by Pomponio Amalteo , and the Chiesa dell'Annunciata with a cycle of frescoes from the second half of the fourteenth century.
Finally, do not miss the delightful little Italian theater "Giangiacomo Arrigoni" , which is influenced by the eighteenth century Venetian influence.

 Giro regional specialties: Zuf (pumpkin soup), Pitina sausage with cornmeal stock, polenta dumplings with cheese, Musèt e brovada (cotechino with sour turnips), pork chops with Savoy cabbage.

Monte Zoncolan: is a mountain in the Carnic Alps. We've seen it before in the Giro. You can read a lot more at Inrng. It may also be time to take a second look at Will's Mountain Preview.



The stage: While the world watches the royal wedding, the riders are facing a day of climbing and more climbing. Be sure to check out the links above for a lot more info about the climb because it is a showstopper.






Sky sure is visible on the front of the peloton. Protecting Froome on wettish roads or is there a plan for the day? Or maybe they really just wanted to reach the feed zone first?
Might as we read the paper while waiting:


 
Fifty five kilometers to go and the gap was 6:17.
Sam Bennett with a wheelie on the way up.


 
Chaves looking to be in trouble again. He was off the front of the pink jersey early today. Forty kilometers to go and the gap to the break was under four minutes. 


Thirty kilometers and the gap was 3:15. Spare a thought for the grupetto behind. Note to race organizers, someday please, a grupetto cam. Twenty kilometers to go and the gap was around one minute. Still lots of very difficult climbing to come. 



 Word, by the way, that they are expecting 100,000 people on top of the mountain today. Here they go.



 The last rider from the break, Conti. Behind him, Anton had attacked from the group, trying to relive his glory days.  Behind, the main group was rapidly shrinking. One of the many questions of the day: could Yates but in some additional time on Dumoulin? Dumoulin apparently had a cheat sheet with showed exactly how much power he should be putting out during each kilometer of the stage. Ten or so riders only left in that group, as they were halfway up the mountain. Yates was looking very strong. Off the back, Aru with company.
Froome attack! Behind him Lopez, Yates and Pozzovivo. Not far back from them, Dumoulin and Pinot, grinding along.
Three kilometers to go and there went Yates, chasing Froome, and putting more time between himself and Dumoulin. Two kilometers to go and Froome had about 12 seconds over Yates, with the others spread out behind. One kilometer, eight seconds and Yates looked to be closing rapidly. But Froome would hold on. What a day for him. All in all though, a good day for Dumoulin, who kept close enough.



The wine:  Ronchi de Cialla Ribolla Gialla 2011
Really, I was kind of curious how this would be after hanging out in my home for longer than I had meant it to.
From the producer:  Roncs, in the dialect of Friuli, means vinery cultivated hills. Cialla is a small valley facing from North-East to South-West, surrounded by woods with chestnut, oak and wild cherry trees, in the d.o.c. (controlled wine) Colli Orientali del Friuli area, and it is officially recognised – with a Ministerial Decree dated 30.10.95 – as cru CIALLA only for the cultivation of native vines from Friuli (white wines: Verduzzo, Picolit and Ribolla Gialla; red wines: Refosco dal Peduncolo rosso and Schioppettino) and the production of vintage wines.
Cialla has remained intact because it is a bit distant from other settlements, as it was in ancient times when it was called #ela. #ela, in the Slavic language that was spoken there, which means “Riviera”; it was given this name because it had such an exclusive and good micro-climate that even now olives grow there. The step terraces, carved out of the hills, perfectly located in terms of the directions they face for wine cultivation, go back to the times of the Patriarchate of Aquileia and the Republic of Venice, and according to deeply rooted local folklore, they were developed by Turkish prisoners.
To confirm that Cialla wines were already appreciated back then there are documents dating back to 1496 that state that the Honourable Cathedral Chapter used to purchase some of this wine every year. In 1970 a family run agricultural company was founded here – which was the passion of Paolo and Dina Rapuzzi and now continues with their sons Pierpaolo and Ivan – aiming to valorise ancient vineries of Friuli origin in accordance with a philosophy aimed at a selected production of extremely high quality wines.


 Food: With some fine help from Google Translate, a recipe for
Musèt e brovada
Which Academia Barilla tells me translates to: Muset, a sausage made from pork shin, snout and skin, pairs well with the sweet-sour taste of horseradish or brovada, a pickled turnip dish, similar to sauerkraut. 

• 1 kg of brovade
• 2 musèt or cotechini
• 50 g of lard
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 white onion
• salt
• pepper

Reduce the lard to a very well beaten, put it in a pan and flavor the onion cut into very thin slices and the crushed garlic clove. After a few minutes, remove the garlic, add the brovadas, the bay leaf, salt and pepper, cook for about 40 minutes or more.
In another saucepan boil the cotechini pierced with a needle for about 1 hour, then drain them and add them to the brovadas, leave to flavor for a few minutes, withdraw and serve.
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