Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Wine and Food of the Giro 2019 Stage 16

Where are we? LOVERE
Located on the splendid western shore of Lake Iseo, since 2003 Lovere has been included in the prestigious club of “The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy” thanks to its considerable well-preserved artistic and cultural heritage. It was once described by the English writer Lady Wortley Montagu as “the most beautifully romantic place I have ever seen in my life”. The small town is rich in history and has a certain fascination that over the years has made it one of the most renowned and highly thought of lake resorts in Lombardy. Lovere’s most popular tourist attractions are the 15th century St. Mary’s Basilica in Valvendra, the Gallery of the Tadini Academy rich in work of arts such as the “Stele Tadini” and the “Religione” by Antonio Canova, the imposing Civic Tower with its interior impressive ascent, the Saints Gerosa and Capitanio’s Sanctuary and the marina, among the largest and most modern port structures on a European lake.

GASTRONOMY: Lovere and its surroundings offer typical products for all tastes: from local cheeses to olive oil produced from sun-kissed local hills, from “casunsei” (Bergamo ravioli served with melted butter and sage) to the excellent lake fish (trout, whitefish, bleak, pike and tench) and polenta, served hot or grilled, but always strictly yellow. Here, polenta has a historical record: a captain of fortune returned from the Americas, Pietro Gajoncelli, was the first man who cultivated corn at the beginning of 17th century. He sowed in his field some grains of corn that multiplied so much that it became a widespread cultivation in the territory, that’s why the people of Lovere, since then, are called “pulentì”. The dessert, prepared with cornflour, is the Cake of Lovere.

 Ponte di Legno is a small jewel set among imposing mountains of great charm in all seasons. The name of the village – located in Lombardy, in the upper Valle Camonica (province of Brescia), on the border with Trentino Alto Adige – recalls Winter to many people, perhaps because it was first mentioned in 1912 by the Italian Touring Club which described it as “The first Italian resort for tourism and Winter sports “. In Summer, Ponte di Legno offers a great deal to road bikers, thanks to the historic exploits of cyclists who have consecrated the names of Passo Gavia and Passo Mortirolo to history. It all started in 1960 with Imerio Massignan who was the protagonist of the first ascent to Passo Gavia, he was the first to ride across the Passo but he lost the stage due to three punctures. This is how the legend of this beloved Passo was born. 

The stage: Stage 16, we've been waiting for you. Even with the change in the route due to avalanche risk, it will still be a massive effort. This is a stage to watch not only because there may be fireworks, but also because it is just really beautiful.



Plus, really, really pretty:




 The early break:



Their gap would not grow, as the peloton was very attentive behind, waiting for attacks from within the gc group.
At the Aprica KOM point, more points for Ciccone and as long as he finishes the race, he is very likely our King of Mountain winner.
Fifty kilometers to go and the gap was still around five minutes.
Motirolo! We've been waiting for you. Very quickly riders dropped from the break.
As the gc men reach the climb, Nibali very close to the front. Hmm. . .
Ahead, attacks within a very small breakaway group. Nothing against them, but a focus on the gc group would be really nice right now tv cameras.
35 kilometers to go and the gap was still over five minutes.
As we have seen again and again, Roglic isolated, while the other gc men have teammates. Looking good at the front of that group: Nibali. Struggling at the back: Yates.
And there went Nibali! He would get a small gap. Joining him: Carthy. They had maybe 15 seconds.
Roglic visibly struggling in the group behind. Ahead Nibali reaches his brother, who will pace him as long as possible.
The next group behind them: Pedrero, Lopez, Landa and Carapaz. Roglic alone behind for a bit but caught by a small group with Yates. That may help him.
Rain. Wet roads and a descent ahead. I'm already nervous.
Together: Nibali, Lopez, Landa, Carthy and Carapaz. With thirty kilometers to go, they had about a minute on Roglic behind.
Cue idiot runners:



At the front Ciccone and Hirt. Ciccone was given a rain jacket that he failed to put on. Instead, he ended up with the traditional newspaper to put down his jersey. 
This descent will be scary.
Eighteen kilometers to go and Hirt and Ciccone still had four minutes. 
The next group we know of behind them was Lopez and Bilbao with 15 or so seconds over the pink jersey group. Somewhere there are riders left from the break, though we had no idea where.




 Six kilometers to go and still three minutes to the group ahead. Unclear what the gap to Roglic behind was. 5.8 kilometers to go and finally a time check: Roglic a minute behind.
Ahead, poor Ciccone's teeth were chattering with the cold. But teeth a chatter, he would hold on and take the stage as we eagerly awaited the gaps from the gc group.   A good day for Nibali. 
The wine: Foradori I.G.T Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti "Sgarzon"

From Eric Asimov in the New York Times:
That we still have teroldego to enjoy at all is due to the labors of a few dedicated growers and winemakers, especially Elisabetta Foradori herself. She was barely more than a teenager in 1985 when she took over her family’s estate. Her father had died young, and the wine culture of the prime teroldego zone, Campo Rotaliano, a wide plain in Trentino, had become largely industrial. The dominant clone of teroldego in the area, as Ms. Foradori tells it, had been selected to emphasize quantity over quality, resulting in anemic, uninteresting wines.
She took on the job of studying the history of the grape. Over the last 25 years she has worked relentlessly to restore its genetic diversity so that the wines would be deeper, purer and more complex.
“A whole variety had to be rebuilt, viticultural practices had to be brought back to quality levels, the soil had to be enriched with life, the plants brought to an equilibrium,” she recounted in an e-mail. “I myself have changed with the variety, and I find myself to be a different person, watching and listening to the land and to nature in a different way.”


The Food:  Sausage Lake
From a local website, I chose this recipe mainly because I liked the name. 

INGREDIENTS
• 12 small sausages
• 1 shallot
• 1 glass of dry white wine
• some sage and parsley leaves
• 500 gr corn meal
In a pot, bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil with a tablespoon of coarse salt. Slowly pour in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile prick the sausages with the tips of a fork and fry in a nonstick pan until they have lost some of their fat; place them on a plate and remove the fat from the pan. Pour a little oil in the same container, add the chopped shallot and the sage leaves, and season with salt and pepper, adding a tablespoon of water if necessary. Bring the sausages together, pour the white wine over them, raise the heat and cook until a reduced sauce is formed. Serve the sausages with the steaming polenta, drizzle the sauce from the sausages and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Photo and text by:
Comunità Montana dei Laghi Bergamaschi
www.cmlaghi.bg.it
From "Strada Verde dei Monti e dei Laghi Bergamaschi - Dalla Terra al Palato - From the Earth to the Taste"
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