Sardinian Cherchi parchment crackers we import. The restaurateurs had been on holiday there and were so impressed they had loaded up their car with them to bring back a supply! We know the feeling… It was also raining as we headed into Umbria, to visit Giuliano and Elisa and the team at Giuliano Tartufi, supplier of our Italian truffles. This man is a live-wire and truffles are his life. His team start very early, so most mornings he cooks them all breakfast. He has a mate who makes great dough and has a pizza oven in his staff kitchen from which he was dispensing multiple pizzas, shaving generous amounts of truffles over them in our honour. What a way to start the day! Another few hours on the road led us down to the south of France, where we were re-united Helen, Thomas and friends for Easter, during which we enjoyed a day being generously squired around the estate of Chateau Léoube, makers of superb Rosé. Luckily we’d thought to pack some of the Valrhona gull’s eggs for our ‘children’ who seemed to expect that we would, though they are now both fully adult. Certainly there was not an Easter egg in sight locally – just fabulous bread, cheese and vegetables.
pangs, Tony, the chef, offered botifarra, morcilla, pan con tomate, jamon and cake for breakfast in one spot. This was followed by tortilla, fish and dessert for lunch in another venue. No lack of beautiful locations – or ingredients. Then we headed to Tarragona and El Vendrell to catch up with Albert Roca, maker of the stunning Forvm vinegars and Avgvstvs wine. Although 20 or so years on, the production of vinegar has overtaken that of the wines, they are making some very interesting wines, some tiny production, single organic varieties made in clay covered egg-shaped vats. The vinegar and the rooms of barrels remain aging as happily as ever, and an order for Sabato was there wrapped and ready to ship to us. The various rows of grapes are still named after Roman emperors and they have added a very stylish tasting room. This is open to the public should you ever venture there. Amusingly, one enjoyable husband/wife owned restaurant, Degvsta, we dined at was using the
Jacqui, Phil, and Eduard Pons
Another long drive to Lleida and then to the Pons Estate and into the extremely pleasant company of Eduard Pons in Albagés, Catalonia. The estate has developed beautifully and bounteously since our last visit a few years ago and is now five rolling hills and valleys of olives and grapes, complete with a magnificent winery. Very much in keeping with the quality of their wines and olive oils. Not wanting us to have a moment to suffer any hunger 24
Albert Roca, Esther (co-owner Degvsta) & Phil
Giuliano Martinelli and Laica took a distinct shine to Phil, deciding that winning his attention was much more important than the task at hand. It was a very amusing morning – and we did find quite a few little nuggets that we savoured at dinner. It was also not the time of year for nougat or panettone production, but it had been many years since we had visited the Flamigni hub of production and they have very smart new premises so we headed to Forlì to catch up.
Truffle hunting was next on the agenda – though at that time of the year they are only small. We pulled some gumboots on, let the extremely keen dogs loose and headed into the little nearby forest with Giuliano verbally coaxing the dogs to find some of the black gold. Each dog had its own thoughts on this and there seemed to be varying levels of enthusiasm and talent. One little dog darted around keenly turning up many little prizes, putting another rival very out of sorts, whilst a third
The ‘Family’ of Flamigni 25