Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Wine & Food of the Giro 2015 Stage 5: Pecorino Toscano & Sesti Monteleccio


Where are we:Stage 5: La Spezia - Abetone 152 KM - Medium mountain

 Goodbye to Liguria, as we had to Abetone and the Province of Pistoia in  Tuscany,about 80 kilometres northwest of Florence. Abetone is one of the most frequented ski destinations in central Italy. The name means “big fir," from a huge tree that once stood in the village until it was cut down in the mid-18th century.
The ski runs extend for over 50 km and across four majestic valleys. They also have a Blueberry festival in the summer. Cycling fans may remember that Ivan Basso is a blueberry farmer, though not in this area. 

Stage:  Our break of of the day features Axel Domont, Serghei Ţvetcov, Silvan Dillier, Sylvain Chavanel, and Jan Polanc. Chava! Hope for my fantasy team. 
 

 
With fifty kilometers ridden, their gap was over eight minutes. That gap would continue to grow. With sixty six kilometers left, it was at almost eleven minutes.
A bit of a misadventure for Ţvetcov brings a tiny bit of excitement or at least amusement as he rides a bit off course. He made it back to the break, but needed some duct tape for his shoe.
 
Forty kilometers to go and they still had ten minutes. Thirty kilometers and it was still over nine minutes. Behind, a bike change for Contador as they near the final climb. Mechanical or did he have something planned? Seventeen kilometers to go and the gap was around seven minutes. Ahead, the main climb of the day.  Twelve kilometers to go, the gap had dropped to just under five minutes and they had started to attack each other up front. With ten kilometers to go, Polanc was ahead solo. 
 

Alas, Chava. Behind, repeated attacks by Pirazzi. 


 Behind, Clarke was dropped and would lose the pink jersey. More attacks, this time by Contador with Aru, Landa, and Porte. The gc boys had decided to play after all. Back and forth they went, taking turns attacking each other. The big losers? Any of the other potential gc candidates. 


 Ahead, Polanc would hold on for the stage win. Great ride for him. Second place for Chavanel. Behind a fierce sprint from Contador, Aru, and Porte for the remaining bonus seconds.

Stage: Jan Polanc
 

GC: Alberto Contador
Wine: Sesti Toscana IGT “Monteleccio
from Dig $25

From Kermit Lynch, the importer: Although he always enjoyed visiting vineyards and attending tastings, Giuseppe Maria “Giugi” Sesti did not initially choose a career in wine. Instead, his Venetian upbringing inspired him to study music, art, and astronomy, the last of which became his profession. He met his future wife in North Wales while writing his first book on this topic, and in 1975 Giugi and Sarah moved their family to Tuscany, where they bought the abandoned ruins of the hamlet and castle of Argiano, slowly clearing the land and restoring the buildings to create the breathtaking estate we see there today. Giugi was now a father of four, vice-director of a local Baroque opera festival, and actively writing books on astronomy, but he miraculously found spare time to visit local wineries and help his neighbors in the vineyards and cellar. His passion for wine grew along with his experience, and in 1991 he planted his own vineyards on the slopes around the castle. The children helped pick and stomp grapes from the earliest age, and though they, too, pursued international studies in various fields, they always managed to come home for the harvest. In 1999 the couple’s only daughter, Elisa, joined the estate full time, and today she is an active partner in all aspects of the vineyard management and winemaking.

 While helping out at neighboring estates Giugi observed that simplicity and careful attention were the most important factors in producing great wines, while chemical intervention skewed their delicate balance; so he determined to make entirely natural wines right from the start. He even took a pioneering extra step by applying his prodigious knowledge of the moon’s influence on living things to his vineyard management and winemaking. Today the family continues this thoroughly eco-friendly philosophy (although no official certification currently meets their personal standards), and Elisa’s primary concern is the materia prima, or raw material, that goes into the wine. 

Sesti's Monteleccio is 100% Sangiovese made from the property's youngest vines (15-years). Aged for one-year in large casks, Monteleccio is fresh and delicious, offering aromas of cherry, herbs, and a touch of orchard dust.

 http://www.sestiwine.com/

I say: Tuscany! Time for a red, paired with steak on night one. Cherry, violets, and herbs with enough acid to keep it lively. 
Food: Pecorino Toscano is a firm-textured sheep’s milk cheese produced in Tuscany. Since 1996 it has enjoyed protected designation of origin (PDO) status. 

 Academia Barilla has a short history of the cheese here. Among other things, they say that "Sheep have been raised in Tuscany since the time of the Etruscans. The Romans are responsible for maintaining the tradition and also began to make cheese using the sheep’s milk.
The first to mention of “cacao,” or sheep’s milk cheese, is attributed to Plinio the Elder who wrote that it was made in the area of Lunigiana, the territory surrounding the ancient city of Luni located at the mouth of the Magra river. Tuscan pecorino is also mentioned by the most important authors of the 1400s who referred to it as cacio marzolino.

I ate mine with some fava beans harvested from our backyard garden.
between September and June when the is grass best for grazing. It can be eaten 'fresh' when it is relatively soft and creamy or it can be aged in a variety of ways until it is quite firm but crumbly, nutty and sharp in flavour. Mature Pecorino, aged for at least 18 months, is often grated over a robust pasta sauce rather than the well known and more delicate Parmesan. - See more at: http://www.walkaboutflorence.com/articles/tuscan-food-cheese#sthash.X5oKwwNL.dpuf
between September and June when the is grass best for grazing. It can be eaten 'fresh' when it is relatively soft and creamy or it can be aged in a variety of ways until it is quite firm but crumbly, nutty and sharp in flavour. Mature Pecorino, aged for at least 18 months, is often grated over a robust pasta sauce rather than the well known and more delicate Parmesan. - See more at: http://www.walkaboutflorence.com/articles/tuscan-food-cheese#sthash.X5oKwwNL.dpuf
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