Reflections on My 40 Years in Umbria

From ancient times, in the Mediterranean countries, olives and its sublime oil, have been of central importance. Long before the more modern scientific discoveries touted the healthful properties of pure olive oil, it was treasured.

Olives were hand picked...and still are! Olives were pressed the same day they were picked...and still are. Every last, fallen olive was picked up off the ground (without nets) ...and still is (with nets)! The olives were cold pressed between huge granite slabs (pulled by oxen)...and still are (by mechanical means). The olive picking was the last agricultural harvest of the season...and still is. And the new olive oil was the center of multiple local celebrations...and still is.

Over half of the local pickers still opt for being paid in olive oil - an incredible testimony to the worth and quality of this genuine product!

Tonight, in our winery at Genius Loci, we will host a dinner, "la benfinita" for all the pickers, hearth roasting meats and generously dousing crusty bread with the new olive oil - a tradition which is sacredly observed each year on the last day of the harvest. Our very own Sagrantino D.O.C.G. from 2005 will be served, a wine made in the winery of the Inn from the very grapes that these same pickers harvested four years ago. ...Reassuring continuity and tradition!