Cantine Aperta

Saturday was the much awaited appointment at Cantine Aperta. This is the event organised in Friuli (capital of White Wines in Italy) where all the vineyards open their cellars. Sunday is a free-for-all with close to a million people on the roads (according to the wine paper I read) hitting the bottles in the various places. So we decided to take the more leisurely and refined option - and go on Saturday - by appointment only.
We started - as all good trips should - with lunch, back at Massimilliano's family's restaurant in Cividale. The feast was as good as it was the last time (back in November) and we are planning the next trip - possibly with our families for the graduation in September!
After lunch we hit the first of the vineyards and after a tour of the facility, sampled the Sauvignon, the powerful Chardonnay (nearly 15% alcohol) and a short glass of red too, before racing to get to the next vineyard before it closed at 6. In the event we arrived at about 610, but they were kind enough to let us try some of the wine anyway.
We went back via Cividale again, for a drink at the wine bar in the square, before driving to a place in the middle of nowhere for a light Friulani supper of Frico and fresh salami!
One of the unexpected impressive things from the day was the spectacular thunderstorm. Out in the middle of the fields, the lightening forked across the sky and the thunder seemed to rumble on for ages. So I stood outside with a glass of wine in hand watching the lightening and feeling the temperature drop sharply. Massi told me that it was good to experience a real storm in Friuli - apparantly even the storms are better near Udine than they are in Trieste!!
Luca also popped in at dinner to say goodbye for the last time before he went to London. He missed Cantine Aperta, and it will be strange not having him around in Florence when we are trying the Chianti that is plentiful nearby.
After dinner, it was back in the cars to Trieste, and a last stroll through beautiful Piazza Unita with the blue lights near to the sea, then down to the molo to sit by the sea one last time before heading to bed.