Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Wine and Food of the Giro 2022 Stage 17: Ponte di Legno to Lavarone

Where are we? Riding through Lombardy and Trentino.

Ponte di Legno: The Giro tells me that Ponte di Legno is nested in the mountains that surround the area, which are majestic and extraordinary in every season. Ponte di Legno is known by many people as a winter destination – perhaps because in 1912 the Italian Touring Club defined it as “the first Italian tourist destination for winter sports”. His name is now closely connected to Passo Tonale, that links Lombardia and Trentino: 100 km of slopes in Pontedilegno-Tonale twist and turn from 1.121 mt of Temù to 3.000 mt of Presena glacier and attract many skiers from all over Europe. Parts of Stelvio National Park and Adamello National Park are located here and offer an extremely rich nature in fauna and flora.
The food: Here there are some of the typical dishes and products:
GNOC DE LA CUA (certification of local product): it is the most famous dish in Valle Camonica, which is a type of gnocchi made of wild spinach, eggs, flour and bread soaked in milk. Then, they have to be boiled and seasoned with “sfrisida”, which is mix of sauteed onions, sage and butter and a dressed with a generous quantity of Silter and Case di Viso cheese on top. The tail (“cua”) is given to the dough when it is taken with the spoon to be thrown into the boiling water.
CALSÙ is the name of a special kind of ravioli of Valle Camonica. The filling of these ravioli changes from village to village, in some cases the filling is made only with vegetables, in others with meat and vegetables together. The seasoning is the same for any type of Calsù: sauteed butter and sage.
SILTER is a locally produced cheese which has been awarded a certification that protects its origin since 2015. Silter is a hard fatty cheese made with Alpine Brown cows’ milk. The Consortium for the protection of Silter cheese controls all the produced cheese, piece by piece, made following a strict protocol and then marked with the writing “Silter D.O.P.” and with its symbol, which is the representation of an ancient rock engraving.
CASE DI VISO (certification of local product) It is a cheese produced by alpine pasture cows during summertime. The dairymen use the row milk obtained from the morning milking, exclusively milked from mountain cows pasturing in Case di Viso, close to Ponte di Legno.
Lavarone:  The Giro tells me what immediately strikes about Lavarone and the whole Alpe Cimbra is the landscape, pleasantly anomalous compared to the Trentino Mountain imaginary: large openings and boundless horizons, between expanses of woods, huts immersed in a panorama with Scandinavian features, and the Becco di Filadonna, the mountain emblem of the place, as a constant background. The symbols of Lavarone are: its lake, Blue Flag for years, and the Fortress of the First World War Belvedere/Gschwent, now a museum. And the Drago Vaia, a work of land art of international interest.
The food: The products of Alpe Cimbra are genuine and km 0, results of the traditions and work of the local producers. In the land of the mountain huts and the fresh milk – the white gold of Alpe Cimbra, the meat produced according to ancient dictates, honey and honeydew, vegetables grown according to old traditions, cakes and organic fruits, the secrets of the mountain relive. 
The farmers from Alpe Cimbra transfer their passion for the land and respect for nature to the art of cultivation. Our excellences space among different products: the Vézzena cheese, the speck from 1898, the goat cheese, the strudel, the berries and the and chestnuts of Vigolana, the honey, the leek from Nosellari and also the rainbow eggs! 



The stage: The break this morning is enormous. The riders: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën), David de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Filippo Zana, Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Damien Howson (BikeExchange-Jayco), Simone Ravanelli (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Diego Camargo, Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa), Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ), Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Koen Bouwman, Gijs Leemreize, Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Mauri Vansevenant (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Thymen Arensman (Team DSM), and Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates). Unsurprisingly, that group would fall apart.
This far into the race, the Giro social team was having fun with them.
Also, despite not prefect weather, it was gorgeous. Forty five kilometers to go, 1.17 to the chase, and about 7 minutes to the main peloton.
The lead four were Martin, Gall, van der Poel, and Covi, with Covi dropping as they climbed. Closing in on them were the chase group led by Carthy.
The front group was joined by the chasers, leaving Buitrago,  Carthy, Bouwman, Hirt, Martin, Gall, Leemreize, and van der Poel at the front. Eventually getting a gap, Leemreize and van der Poel.
Behind, abandonment, Yates.
Rather dreamy scenery.
Ending up solo, our pineapple pizza fan.
Way behind, Almeida was looking uncomfortable in the peloton. And then., attacks from the gc group. With Almeida dropped, Landa was making his way onto the podium. That group was down to Porte, Carapaz, Hindley, Landa,and Poels.
Up front. Leemreize caught and passed van der Poel.
Attacking was Landa and we had the trio of Carapaz, Hindley, and Landa again, with Poels making it back to them, at least briefly.
At the front, Buitrago caught and passed Leemreize. Three kilometers to go and he had a 27 second gap. And he would hold on! Wonderful ride from him today.

2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 17
1) Santiago Buitrago (Colombia/Bahrain-Merida) 4:27:41
2) Gijs Leemreize (The Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) +0:35
3) Jan Hirt (Czech Republic/Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) +2:22

2022 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) 73:19:40
2) Jai Hindley (Australia/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:03
3) Mikel Landa (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +1:05
4) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +1:54
5) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana-Qazaqstan) +5:48




The wine:  Gumphof Vernatsch 2020
The winery is nestled in the steep slopes at the entry of the Isarco Valley and its vineyards stretch from an altitude of 350 to 550 metres (1,150-1,800 feet) above sea level. The five hectare (ten acres) are planted with Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, Schiava and Pinot Noir wines. At an age of 28, Markus Prackwieser started a quiet transformation and has produced his own wine since. His wines have been sought after both nationally and internationally, especially his outstanding Praesulis Selection wine range. The name Praesulis derives from the nearby Castle of Presule.

The food:  Apple Strudel We used the recipe on Food52 here. From the link: "You may not think of strudel as a classic Italian dish: The name strudel isn't even Italian, but rather German. This is what makes regional Italian cuisine so interesting. The country's geography –- its borders, its landscape –- factors into the character and traditions of each region.
Apple Strudel -- a dessert of apples, pine nuts, and raisins or currants rolled up in paper-thin pastry -- is the defining dish of Italy's Trentino-Alto Adige region. This autonomous province borders Austria to the north and is squeezed between the Veneto and Lombardy regions to the south. Knowing this -- and that the region was part of Austria until after the first World War -- helps explain why this Austrian favorite is also beloved in Italy. Strudel's history goes back even further, though: It was brought to Austria by the Turks (there's an undeniable similarity between strudel and the more ancient baklava).
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)