Olio di Vino

Little hill town

The closest town to us, out here in the woods, is a little medieval village called Ficulle. It’s a charming, well kept little hill town with a tight knit community of hard working people. Known for its potters over the centuries, Ficulle still produces a very distinct style of pottery that is recognizable by its spattering of colour in its glaze.

Olio di Vino

At the end of every harvest, in late November, the town comes together to host its annual festival called Olio di Vino, celebrating the incredible olive oil and exceptional wine that is produced in the rolling hills surrounding the town. Olio di Vino is a weekend long affair consisting of a Friday night dinner party followed by a Saturday wine and food tasting.

Friday night

On the Friday night we headed out at around 8:00, with the owners of the house we are sitting, to partake in the dinner celebration. Like most Italian sagre the whole village is put to work either cooking, running food or taking orders. Queuing up, we placed our order for the entire meal with a couple manning a small desk with pen and paper. We ordered a nice bottle of a local white wine along with two bowls of handmade tagliatelle, one with wild boar ragu and one with a rich porcini sauce, and a slice of chestnut cake for dessert that came accompanied by a small glass of Vin Santo.

Different spaces were converted into dining rooms for the event. We chose a tiny and very old church that had the pews removed and replaced by tables and chairs. With no heat, most ate with their jackets on. It was an intimate affair, sharing tables with other dinners, all enjoying excellent food in a unique atmosphere. Before the dinner was delivered to us, a girl, around twelve years old, put a plate of freshly toasted crostini in front of us, accompanied by a bottle of local olive oil, the perfect and simplest appetizer.

Landmark year

It should be noted that this was a landmark year for olive production in much of Italy and not in a good way. In fact, the olive harvest this year was the worst in decades and many did not harvest any olives at all. The ones who did were accused, at the worst of producing a lethal and dangerous olive oil that could poison you and may have killed a child in the next village over; and at best an olive oil that was good enough to oil the hinges on the barn door. Relying heavily on olive oil production, this was no laughing matter for the townsfolk and discussions of why and what caused this devastating year consumed the locals in conversation, debate and argument. The reason we heard most often was that due to an overly humid season, the olives had developed a deadly mold or fungus that had caused them to drop their fruit and not produce any viable olives to press. Olive oil here is only made with the best olives, picked from the tree, not with any fallen or subpar fruit. A very strict process is followed that results in some of the best olive oil made anywhere in the world. It’s also interesting to note that olive oil is one of the very few food products obtained by mechanical methods alone and not by cooking or the introduction of chemicals or fermentation making it just that much more precious.

Back at the dinner table where we were celebrating what turned out to be an awful year for olive oil, we immediately wondered what olive oil we were being served and if the bottle placed before us contained this years crude. Analyzing the label we saw that in fact they had to use last years oil which was so good we made sure we acquired a bottle before we left for the night.

Saturday

The next day we were ready for more food and great wine. Parking just outside of town, we walked to another table where we bought our tickets. There were six dishes and six wine pairings that could be sampled but this time we would walk throughout the town visiting a different station for each dish.

Tables were set up along the main road for people to sit and eat and then make their way to the next station in order to get the next pairing. Some of the stations were set up in old caves, one in an unused butcher shop and all were run by the local town folk and the wine producer who was showcasing his/her wine.

Each dish was paired nicely with its wine and in most cases there was a choice of a couple of wines from each producer. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon eating, drinking and visiting with different people. The food was all delicious and tasted as homemade as could be, probably cooked in the kitchen of the local Ficulleans.

To our rescue

Arriving at the second to last station we were disappointed to hear that they had run out of food and the final station too, was sold out. It appeared as though we had been too leisurely in our afternoon and that had cost us our last two courses but in true Italian style one of the organizing women ran to our rescue. Seating us at a table, she quickly disappeared with a promise to return with a substitute for our missed courses. Within minutes she reappeared with two large plates of antipasto including prosciutto, salami, crostini and pecorino cheese. With a gracious smile she apologized to us and hoped that the antipasto would suffice, it definitely did.

Grazie

With the sun slowly setting and the cool shadows falling on our table we stood up to make the walk back to the car but not without stopping a couple more times to say Grazie to the folks who had provided us with a wonderful day.
Our time in Umbria was off to a good start and our weekend felt as though we had just been to dinner with the whole village, welcoming, gracious and thankful. The celebration of the year’s harvest, despite being the worst (for olive oil) in recent history was a great success and we could not imagine how the celebration could be on one of their best years.