Wine & Food of the Giro 2017 Stage 6: Back to the Mainland

Reggio Calabria – Terme Luigiane, 207 km

Where are we?  Back to the mainland.
Reggio Calabria, the town of the Fata Morgana, has a very modern appearance, with an ordered city layout, buildings of limited height and wide straight streets laid out on a grid. All this is due to the reconstruction after the disastrous earthquake that raised the town to the ground in 1908. It is famous for its seafront promenade called “Italo Falcomatà”, in summer full of beach clubs and bars. Running parallel to the promenade, to the north, runs the elegant Corso Garibaldi, with early 20th century art nouveau buildings, a pedestrian area with big stores, famous brand boutiques and squares with monuments, in particular the elegantly beautiful Piazza Italia, a true agora.
From the Giro site: FOOD Pork “frittole”, ficatu alla riggitana (liver with onion and fries, deglazed with vinegar).
WINE IGT Arghillà, Palizzi and Pellaro (red), Scilla (white); DOC Bivongi (white and red), Greco di Bianco (white).

TERME LUIGIANE Acquappesa is one of the most characteristic villages of the Riviera dei Cedri, very much a tourist resort, with its beaches and natural caves. The conformation of the land, made up of sea, hills, peaks and torrents, creates breathtaking views for walkers, painters and sport lovers. Known as the town of “the hundred fountains” and famous for its special stone hairpin bends that lead up from the old town to Intavolata and Marina. One of the symbols of Acquappesa is the Rock of the Regina, one of the four “places of interest” of the Riviera dei Cedri.

FOOD Maccaruni di ziti, pasta with prickly pears, Foglie, patane e pipi (a kind of ratatouille), anchovy timbale, crushed olives wild fennel; turdilli and crucette (Christmas sweets) and cannelieri (Easter sweets).

WINE Pollino (red, rosé and cherry-red), Gaglioppo and Greco Nero.

The stage:  The break of the day:

⚡️ Break / Fuga
🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴 Andreetta, Dillier, Postlberger, Pedersen, Stuyven
🚵 GPM Barrittieri
🏁 178 km
⏱ 7'30"#Giro100 pic.twitter.com/iGB68bOcrX

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 11, 2017

Along they went. Thirty five kilometers to go and the gap was still over four minutes. Ten kilometers along, it was under four. Would the break stay away? The peloton seemed to have come alive behind. Twenty kilometers and it was under three minutes.And it would be close. But at the end of the day, Dillier, from the break:

Che fuga! Che vittoria! Bravo Silvan! #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/fwJapKJa1z

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 11, 2017

Stage:

1	Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team	4:58:01
2	Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
3	Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe	0:00:12
4	Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF	0:00:26
5	Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac	0:00:39
6	Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
7	Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
8	Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
9	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky

GC:

1	Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors	28:20:47
2	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky	0:00:06
3	Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott	0:00:10
4	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
5	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
6	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
7	Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
8	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
9	Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
10	Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team

 

Wine: Casa Comerci Calabria Bianco 'Rèfulu  from Biondivino.

From the importer: This family estate is located in the tip of the toe of Calabria in Italy’s deep south. Domenico Silipo and his sons carry on the work of Rosina Comerci, matriarch of the family in the first half of the 1900s.  The family works exclusively with the native Calabrian varieties Magliocco Canino and Greco Bianco, which they farm organically on their 15 hectares (with another dozen hectares devoted to olive trees).Francesco De Franco from A’ Vita, Calabria’s most important natural wine producer, is an active part of the project. All wines ferment with indigenous yeasts, and all fermentation and aging is in stainless steel. Total annual production is 45,000 bottles.

Tasting notes: Another unusual grape, Greco Bianco. Tropical and easy drinking. 

Food: Tutto Calabria crushed hot chili peppers
A little about Calbrian peppers from Specialtyproduce.com: Calabrian chile peppers are round, with a bulbous shape, approximately the size of a large cherry. They mature to a bright, glossy red and have a short, squat stem.  They are considered a medium spicy chile pepper, ranging from 25,000 to 40,000 Scoville units.
The small pepper is often referred to as the Hot Calabrian chile pepper, small red cherry, and “Devil’s Kiss,” or as the pepper is known in Italy: Peperone Piccante Calabrese, which translates to ‘spicy pepper of Calabria’.