Ferenc Máté's Blog, page 2

Tuscan Treat in June

June's warmth coupled with brief, pouring rain produce one famous Tuscan treat: mushrooms.

Tall, pale parasol-looking things called pupoli—so good rolled in flower and fried in oil - appear. Then of course porcini, great anyway you want it: grilled whole or chopped fine for sugo.

Last—and perhaps best—is Candace’s favorite: chanterelles. At dawn, she ventures out into the still-wet woods, and comes back flushed, her basket full of strangely shaped orange things that soon fill the house with t...

Colors of a Tuscan Spring

With the lush spring rains, nature in the Tuscan hills puts on her festive best.
The almond trees bloom first, then the ditches and roadsides burst thick with wild flowers.


Blinding green meadows of wheat, fields of rapeseed as yellow as buttercups.

In late afternoon, poppies with the sun behind them glow like flames. On warm days the air is thick and sweet; a deep breath of it is food for the soul.



Recent photos which appear on this blog are from Ferenc Máté's upcoming work of photography,...

Spring in Bloom

We discovered an old stone cistern hidden behind the house. Cut into the hillside, it was covered by a dome of brambles that took two of us three long days to clear. Spring-fed and the size of a backyard pool, it had been built to gather water for pigs and cows and to irrigate the big orto—vegetable garden—beside the courtyard.

I had always admired Japanese gardens: their serenity, simplicity but especially their ponds, and thought our carrots, spuds and tomatoes wouldn't mind being watered f...

On Sunday Afternoon

I set out on my favorite kind of trip this morning: a broad loop through the countryside on the back roads of Tuscany. It was to be a 40-mile journey—all open country—through two tiny villages, from the first hills beyond the Albegna River’s delta up to where it springs from the mountainside. After the village of Marsiliana, I turned off the narrow road onto a single lane that wasn't even on the map. I couldn't resist. The hand painted sign read Colle di Lupo. Hill of the Wolf.

Banks...

Grilled prawns

On Tuesday and Friday mornings a family of fisherman come to our town from the coast. They set up a stand in a former cellar under Piazza Padella and we line up to buy freshly caught dentice, spigola and delicate calamari, mussels from Sardegna and vongole from Orbetello.


The best are the prawns, that we skewer, douse with fresh olive oil, chopped parsley and garlic, then roast over the coals of our kitchen fire. 


Heaven.  If life has a meaning, the taste of those prawns paired with...

Wide Open Spaces

I have never seen a wide open space
as welcoming and reassuring as the heart of Tuscany. You can see the centuries of love that went into working this land: Respect for the gentle knolls, for a lone tree here, dense woods there, or a ditch that winds among them in the shadows. All that care makes you feel at home.It is a place of great solitude but never loneliness; its beauty simply fills your soul.

I have never seen a wide open spaceas welcoming and reass...

I have never seen a wide open spaceas welcoming and reassuring as the heart of Tuscany. You can see the centuries of love that went into working this land: Respect for the gentle knolls, for a lone tree here, dense woods there, or a ditch that winds among them in the shadows. All that care makes you feel at home.It is a place of great solitude but never loneliness; its beauty simply fills your soul.

Tuscan Landscapes

Springtime. The air is fresh, clear and warm. The clouds sail on the breeze and paint the land with fleeting shadows. Few things make me feel as exuberantly alive as putting down the top of our old sports car and heading out on the winding, silent, wildflower-lined backroads through the hills of Tuscany. The roads are empty. You can stop, sit on a pasture’s edge, and with some bread, cheese and a bottle of rich red wine, gaze at the wavy fields, the tiny cops of woods, rows of olives and, her...

Merlot Award

Máté 2010 Merlot: the Best in Italy!

Our Máté 2010 Mantus won top honours as the number one Merlot in the Merlot d'Italia/Mondo Merlot 2012 competition



It's one thing to love your own wine, quite another to have it win expert acclaim. Most of you know our Brunello (scoring 95 pts) and our beloved Syrah that grows on 2,000-year-old, south-facing terraces, but now our Merlot—named "Mantus" after an Etruscan God of Wine—has won 1st prize at Italy's 10th Annual "Mondo Merlot" Awards.
We had a...

Tasting Room Radio Interview

Check out a great interview with Candace about our wines for Tasting Room Radio:

To listen, visit:
 http://www.tastingroomradio.com/index.php/trr/tasting-room-bc/483-tasting-room-radio-march-30th