Happiness fills me during the local wine competition. – Now you are ready to take your wine out on the market, says sommelier Claudio Sarti while removing the foil coving the bottle – the winner of the best local white wine.
All day, I am a bit anxious before the wine competition I am a apart of. It helps to write about it on my blog and to read all the comments from people wishing me good luck. At the same time, the exptectations are increasing. The question is: Can we really win to years in a row?
The yearly winefestival in our village Acquapendente in Italy gathers wineproducers from the region, as well as, from other places in Italy. The locals may taste new wines, many of them difficult to find in the local stores. The festival offers non-professional winemakers in the area to participate in a blind-test. I am participating with our new white wine and red wine. made last fall.
The competition takes place on Piazza Fonte del Rigombo. White table clothes and glasses on the tables. Four white wines and six red wines are covered with aluminium foil and poured into the glasses for three sommeliers to taste. I have no idea which ones are mine. I am trying to guess based on the color in the glass and I study the facial expressions on the people as they are smelling and tasting, but I must wait. They use their time, the discuss the wines and send one bottle at a time away. At the end, there is only one bottle of each red and white left behind on the table.
Finally, the foil is removed. I see my handwriting on the bottle and meet the eyes of Claudio Sarti as he says me name. I can hardly believe it. We have won the 1st place for the best local white wine.
I am being waived to the front and stutters in Italian a few words about our wine and about who we are, Norwegians making wine in Italy as a hobby. I regret that I didn’t prepare for this. I should have said so many nice words. But I am stunned and speechless.
Our wine is sent around for people to taste.
The wine competition has helped several small wine producers to take their wine out to the market. Now it is your turn, because lasts year you won with your red wine and this year with your white wine, says Sarti.
It is a lot of hard work making wine. Some days I wonder if it is worth it. But now I have new energy and courage. We continue to make wine at our little vineyard in Acquapendente, Italy and we are going to celebrate that we are about to fullfill our dream.
