250 different ingredients and a territory so rich that you have created a dish that requires as many as 120 ingredients. Here is the pearl of Abruzzo
Did you know that there are 250 different dishes in Teramo? It will be easier for you to imagine it if you think that in only one, the Teramo virtues, there are more than 120 ingredients; or that a 130-course meal is served for a wedding dinner. Yet, the province of Teramo is one of the lesser-known areas of Abruzzo, despite being an incredible area where nothing is missing, with products coming from the sea, hills and mountains such as the Gran Sasso or Monte Piselli. To tell us with full eyes of love is Luigi Valori, a special man, producer of a wine that is the maximum expression of his region: Call me when it rains.
Hints of Teramo cuisine
Teramo cuisine has an immense variety of dishes: ranging from fish classics to meat traditions, up to many (lots of!) Vegetables and fresh pastas, especially eggs and strictly handmade. Among these, the symbol par excellence of gastronomy in general, including Abruzzo, is la guitar with pellets to teramana, a pasta prepared with guitar, a special rectangular wooden frame, seasoned with meat balls. A classic from Teramo, however, is the neratese goat, from the municipality of Nereto, which is cooked in a pan for at least four hours, along with tomatoes and peppers. Yet another delight of the province, to try in one of the times of the local cuisine, the Zenobi restaurant, is the fricandò or fregantò, in which the vegetables are "fried" to rub Antonio who did not eat them, hence the name. And then, being in Abruzzo, they are omnipresent in any province skewers, Strictly of sheep. But in the tradition of Teramo, there is a truly unique dish, which is prepared for three days with more than 120 ingredients.
Virtues, more than 120 ingredients
In the countryside, the worst month is May: there are no longer the fruits of winter, there are still no summer ones. Thus, in the past it was customary to clean barns to take whatever was left over and cook for a long time in a large pot: 120 vegetables cooked separately, to which are then added legumes, meats, cheeses and other ingredients depending on availability. This is the origin of the Teramo virtues, which are celebrated every May 1st: "today it seems an interesting dish from a gastronomic point of view, even to celebrate, but in reality for us teramani virtue means black hunger , tells us Luigi Valori. In fact, this preparation of peasant ingenuity should make us reflect on all that we throw away instead of recovering, so on the importance of the issue of waste and the reuse of leftovers. What is certain is that in combination with the virtues we need a wine like Cerasuolo, light, table wine, typical of the Abruzzi peasants and ideal for refreshing the mouth; or a classic local like Montepulciano, king of the tables in Abruzzo. Obviously, better if by Luigi Valori.
Call me when it rains
When the great Gianni Masciarelli tasted Luigi Valori's wines during a tasting, he said: "this is the only wine you can drink". From there they became inseparable friends and his wines became part of Masciarelli Distribuzione, today "Gianni’s Selection". Luigi Valori is first and foremost a real person, one of those who remain attached to the heart, as authentic as his wines. Two degrees, one in Agriculture, the other in Theology and a past from soccer player in Serie A, in Ascoli. It is during the years around playing football that Luigi begins to know and drink quality wines, becoming a passionate drinker. Until, at the end of the Nineties, he decided to abandon his football career and dedicate himself to the production of wines from his land, always alongside his wife: "I love her as the first time I saw her, I would choose her again among a thousand and I would remand her every day". The idea of his label Call me when it rains it is not only beautiful and brilliant, but it has a very specific meaning: "when there is the sun we farmer peasants work, while when it rains you can call us because we don't work in the rain". Five of his wines, soon all organic: above all his Organic DOC Pecorino, a wine of character, tense, energetic; then there is the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, always elegant, both the Organic DOC and the Reserve Vigna Sant’Angelo DOCG Colline Teramane; not least, in its only apparent modesty, is the Cerasuolo d'Albruzzo Organic DOC, while more challenging but soft and welcoming than its other reserve, Inkiostro Merlot IGT Colli Aprutini. "There is so much work, so much effort behind every bottle, that I wouldn't sell even one!"For this reason, we must consider ourselves fortunate: instead, we can taste its wines, along with Teramo cuisine, exploring through all the senses a territory that is still to be discovered.
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