A Vineyard in Tuscany: Shooting for the Moon
Finding your dream house with a vineyard in Tuscany is like searching the woods for porcini mushrooms: a labor of love. Such feats require patience, discernment, resolve, and an indestructible sense of humor.\ The Mátés’ future home and wine estate lies amid breathtaking scenery in a community brimming with warmth. In Italy’s most prestigious wine zone, Montalcino, they restore a thirteenth-century friary nestled on two hills within sixty acres of forest, olives, and potential vineyards. Here...
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In this intimate and uproarious story, two daring New Yorkers convert an ancient, abandoned farm into a world-renowned winery. Publishers Weekly Hungarian-Canadian author and sailor Máté (The Hills of Tuscany) recounts in wry, candid detail how he rebuilt a Tuscan ruin into a world-class winery. Living in Tuscany with his artist wife and son while savoring the landscape, food and pleasant neighbors wasn't enough for Máté, who admits he thrives on adversity. He wanted his own castle and finagles the purchase of a 13th-century friary in Montalcino, with a proper forno(oven), a forest crammed with porcini and 60 acres of land-15 of which he fashions over three hard years of work into a vineyard sprouting robust harvests of Sangiovese, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and Syrah grapes. His diary of sorts regales the reader on the process of restoring the ancient ruin, called La Colombaio: first by detailing how an Etruscan house was constructed, then by observing how the various workmen were hired (and what they ate for lunch). While hacking in the forest, he finds the remains of a 3,000-year-old city, inviting the interest of archeologists. Máté breaks from the construction and excavation for treks through the Dolomites before returning to prepare for the toilsome but ultimately satisfying vendemmia(harvest). (Oct.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
\ From Barnes & NobleFerence Máté's 1998 travel memoir The Hills of Tuscany excited the passions of thousands of would-be expatriate readers who longed for old-world simplicity. In A Vineyard in Tuscany, he offers a personal memoir of how he made that dream come true, recounting how he restored a rural medieval friary and transformed it into a successful winery. As in his previous book, the Hungarian-born author spices his narrative with atmospheric asides that convey the rich culture of this blessedly "primitive" region.\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyHungarian-Canadian author and sailor Máté (The Hills of Tuscany) recounts in wry, candid detail how he rebuilt a Tuscan ruin into a world-class winery. Living in Tuscany with his artist wife and son while savoring the landscape, food and pleasant neighbors wasn't enough for Máté, who admits he thrives on adversity. He wanted his own castle and finagles the purchase of a 13th-century friary in Montalcino, with a proper forno(oven), a forest crammed with porcini and 60 acres of land-15 of which he fashions over three hard years of work into a vineyard sprouting robust harvests of Sangiovese, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and Syrah grapes. His diary of sorts regales the reader on the process of restoring the ancient ruin, called La Colombaio: first by detailing how an Etruscan house was constructed, then by observing how the various workmen were hired (and what they ate for lunch). While hacking in the forest, he finds the remains of a 3,000-year-old city, inviting the interest of archeologists. Máté breaks from the construction and excavation for treks through the Dolomites before returning to prepare for the toilsome but ultimately satisfying vendemmia(harvest). (Oct.)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsFrom Italian aficionado Mate (Ghost Sea, 2006, etc.), a sun-drenched memoir about the author's obsessive quest to own a winery. The Hungarian-born, Canadian-raised Mate and his family-Candace, his artist-wife, and their young son-were happily ensconced in La Marinaia, a quaint house in the Montepulciano region of Italy, when Mate confessed his plan to try his hand at making wine. First, he needed a vineyard. After comical encounters with Italian landowners and an uncharacteristically efficient realtor, Mate settled on 15 enchanted acres in the Montalcino region, with a crumbling castlelike house, tangled vines, ancient ruins and fertile soil. Prone to winsome refrains, Mate's prose works only in that it resembles an entertaining newspaper column. He was living the dream, the perfect-but attainable-life, and he's relating it for the benefit of the armchair traveler, the wistful wine lover and the ambitious handyman. The best passages focus on the painstaking restoration of the crumbling house (the land had once housed a friary) and the crew of Italian stonemasons and suppliers who worked with him. Readers interested in a succinct lesson on Italian-building techniques-a subject which, in Mate's hands, is oddly infectious-will be especially drawn to those details, and the lessons in viticulture are also interesting. His wife, who possesses a better "nose" than her husband, completed the ambitious, two-year sommelier course in preparation for their first batch of wine. Their son, nicknamed "Buster," also pops up from time to time to provide comic relief. Rich with details of Tuscan life-the flora (wild roses, rosemary, wild porcini mushrooms), the food (a few delectable recipes and a guide toMate estate wines) and the people-this is a light read with a fairy-tale ending. A formulaic but romantic tale for readers who dream about a charming Under the Tuscan Sun lifestyle.\ \
