Deep in the Ariola

Three amazing things happened today:

1 - we had an incredible winery tour and another stellar lunch
2 - we had an awesome cooking class in the home of a nice Italian lady who spoke no English
3 - we slept until 10:40

#3 threw the whole day for a loop, but obviously it worked out pretty nicely. And while there was an initial round of guilt for having wasted a couple extra hours of vacation time sleeping, we reminded ourselves that THIS WAS VACATION.

Our initial plan had been to drive to Bologna to attend Gelato University, where we'd learn how to make (guess what) gelato. But the extra hours of sleep didn't give us enough time to get there and back for our 3 pm cooking class so we interneted around until we found an alternative.

That alternative was a visit to Ariola Vini. Laugh it up. Our guide's name was Marco and he showed us through the cellar where they keep the bottles for daily turning during the fermentation process. But of course, that's not where they actually make the wine anymore because everything is done by goddam machines in a goddam factory. From there he showed us his fermentation tanks, a process that most people say was invented by a French dude, but in Italy they say it was created by an Italian who didn't patent it, and the French dude stole it. Further proof that the French are assholes (or that the Italians are stupid and will believe anything). The final stop was the bottling line, which was super impressive, and again, I don't understand how it's possible to create machines that do such specific jobs as putting the cap on sparkling wine, or removing the condensation from bottles, etc.

We then headed into their restaurant for lunch, which was (SURPRISE) a tasting of hams and cheeses, alongside a tasting of three of the wines from the property. Liza and I have decided that we aren't a huge fan of the lambrusco red sparking wine, but that the white sparkling wine is on point. I think that might be because, you know, it's almost champagne, but maybe there's some other reason I totally don't even know about. (sidebar - we also learned the difference between spumante and frizzante. I will wow you with this information on my return). In addition to the red and white sparkling, we had a wine that is made from grapes that are harvested late, which was sort of like a lighter port, followed by an apertif made from wild berries from the area. Liza loved it and asked about buying, and they told us it was not available for sale, no ma'am, can't buy it, it's illegal because they are not authorized to sell. And then Marco slipped a bottle into our box of wine, along with two other mini bottles as "gifts."

We went straight from Ariola (laugh it up) to our cooking class with Luisa, a friend of a friend of Amalda's, our food tour guide. Liza and I searched high and low for cooking classes, and couldn't find one that was less than 150e each. Luisa's price was right, she showed us how to cook what we told her we wanted to learn, and there was just something crazy cool about being in some random Italian lady's kitchen making pasta. Her stepson Fabio (laugh it up) loitered around for the first bit to help with the translation, but Liza's was so good, he convinced Luisa to let him leave to drive back to Rome (sidebar: by the end of our class, Luisa, who was so freaking impressed I worked for Natty G, was insisting he'd take us to dinner in Rome. We'll see). Together we made the torta frita bread and tortelli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, with a butter and parmesan sauce. It was not only so yummy, it was so damn easy. The hardest part is that it takes so much energy (Liza dislocated her shoulder) and time to get your pasta rolled out thin enough. But put Vanderpump Rules on in front of me, and I'll roll that pasta till the end of time.

Having eaten our pasta at 6 pm, neither of us was terribly hungry for dinner (a decision i'm currently regretting) so instead we found a wine bar nearby to have some drinks. At Tabarro, where we'd been drinking the previous two nights, most wine was 7e (if not more). Here, we asked the nice owner for her recommendation, and she recommended (OF COURSE) the most expensive wine on their list. Which cost 2.5e. We were super content until we saw a plate of ham go by and realized we really had to have that too, so you know what WE DID. When in Parma, ham it up, you know!? Night ended with a nightcap at the pub. No free french fries this time though. Jerks.