For this week’s installment of Wednesday Wines, I will be taking all of my fellow wine-lovers to mainland Italy on a guided tour of Calabria’s fruitful vine lands and their interesting winery products.

Calabria, which forms the toe of the Italian boot-shaped peninsula, is a predominately mountainous region with marked variations in climate between the sunny coastal hills along the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas, and the chilly heights of the Sila, Pollino and Aspromonte massifs.

In ancient times, Calabria (and much of its neighboring areas) was referred to as Oenotria – “the land of wine.” The vino produced in Calabria at the time not only had a remarkable importance in the area’s economy, but it was also already renowned for its superb quality. The historic distinctive qualities of Calabrian wine were its vigor, strength, and its intense aroma, capable—it is said—of being able to resuscitate the dead. It’s not surprising that the area was studded with temples erected in honor of the god Bacchus, the Roman name for Dionysus – the god of wine!

Calabrian wines pair beautifully with the local cuisine, a balance between meat-based dishes (pork, lamb, goat), vegetables (especially eggplant), and fish. In contrast to most other Italian regions, Calabrians have traditionally placed an emphasis on the preservation of their food, in part because of the climate and potential crop failures. The result is the tradition of packing vegetables and meats in olive oil, making sausages (Soppressata and ’Nduja, to mention a few), and—along the coast—curing fish, especially swordfish, sardines and baccalà (cod). All these delicious local foods greatly benefit from Calabria’s local vintages. Lets explore them.

Legend has it that in the early Olympics, the Calabrian athletes would toast with Cirò, Calabria’s most renowned wine, and offer it to the Gods to celebrate their victory.

Notable Calabrian wines include Melissa that comes in white and red varieties and the Greco di Bianco, an amber-colored sweet dessert wine produced around the town of Bianco. Donnici, Pollino, Lamezia, Savuto and Bivongi shine as other regional favorites, but Calabria’s best-known wine is Cirò, which grows in low hills along the Ionian coast, between the ancient Greek cities of Sybaris and Kroton – modern-day Sibari and Crotone. Cirò is the major DOC produced in Calabria both for quantity and quality. The classic Cirò is red, which in the reserve version has the capacity to age beyond a decade in certain vintages. Spicy, dried fruit characteristics are evident in the bouquet that follows through the finish. There is also a Cirò rosato (rosé) and a bianco made from Greco grapes that can both show impressive youthful freshness.

Legend has it that in the early Olympics, the Calabrian athletes would toast with Cirò and offer it to the Gods to celebrate their victory. In observance of that ancient tradition, all the athletes who participated in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City were offered Cirò wine with their meals during the period of the competition.

Next week we will be exploring the wines of Basilicata, also known as the Lucania. This is an often unjustly neglected region of parched hills and desolate mountains that can be very cold for a southern Italian region. But the cool upland climate has its advantages for viticulture, evident in wines that can show enviable aromas and flavors.

Salute!

Would you like to discover the untouched wonders of Calabria and even find your relatives still living in Italy as well? Contact us today and find out how italyMONDO! can help you research your Italian (and Calabrese!) family tree and create a vacation of a lifetime with a custom Heritage Tour or Excursion for you and your family!

Photo Courtesy of “pynomoscato” at Flickr

For this week’s Saturday Spotlight, we’re heading all the way down the boot and into Italy’s “toe” to shine the spotlight on a fellow admirer of Calabria’s charms. The italyMONDO! Blog has introduced us to an entire world of Italian blogs as well as the enthusiastic and passionate writers behind them. It has been a wonderful experience to meet so many people—both online and in person—who share our deep passion for Italy and Italian culture, and as a result it has been equally rewarding to be able to introduce you to our new friends through this new weekly column. Stop by again next Saturday as we shine the Spotlight on yet another fellow Italophile!

Way down south in Calabria you might not expect to meet a Texan, but that is just one of the delightful surprises of Cherrye Moore, a freelance writer who lives in Catanzaro. Also called the “City of the Two Seas” for its location between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Seas, Catanzaro is the capital of the region of Calabria and the province of the same name. Cherrye write about her bella vita in bella Calabria at her aptly named blog, My Bella Vita.

With her charming Texan accent and sweet nature, Cherrye is the picture perfect example of southern (Italian!) hospitality. In fact, she and her husband keep busy managing the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast, which they opened together in 2007. Surrounded by a citrus garden (by the way, a cedro is a type of citrus fruit that looks like giant lemon!), the four-bedroom bed and breakfast is located right in the heart of Catanzaro. Cherrye loves how the bed and breakfast offers the chance to meet new people and to introduce them to the treasures of Catanzaro and Calabria.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home. While My Bella Vita began as a personal journal online about learning to live in Calabria, through it Cherrye also began to meet other expats living in southern Italy who became fast friends. Blogging was an introduction to a community of people sharing similar experiences across Italy, and writing about life in bella Calabria has introduced Cherrye to many people who share her interest in exploring the region.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home.

Recently re-launched with an attractive new design, My Bella Vita is where Cherrye shares her passion for writing, a job path she has really enjoyed developing here in Italy. Over the years, My Bella Vita has evolved from a personal journal to a multi-featured blog focused on sharing travel tips, tidbits of Italian life in Calabria, recipes, and fun stories about her daily life running the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast.

Cherrye is quick to add that the friends she has made and the meetings with fellow expats were priceless in helping her as she adjusted to her new life in Calabria, and that adjusting to life in southern Italy has had both its challenging and charming moments, Cherrye now cherishes the fact that Catanzaro isn’t touristy or crowded. She relishes the “authentic Italian experience,” as she describes it, that she’s been able to experience in Calabria. There is something captivating in the fresh Calabrian air, and Cherrye says that she “loves where she lives and wouldn’t trade it for anything!” I look forward to meeting Cherrye on my next trip through Calabria, but until then I’ll continue to enjoy following My Bella Vita and reading stories of Cherrye’s life in southern Italy.