{"id":2008,"date":"2021-12-29T17:42:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2008"},"modified":"2021-12-29T17:42:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T17:42:54","slug":"drinking-with-the-locals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2008","title":{"rendered":"Drinking with the Locals"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the basic tenets we follow at Power Tasting<\/em> is that we go to taste wine, not drink it and certainly not drink it to excess.\u00a0 In our travels, we have met some people in tasting rooms who have failed to follow that rule and they were the worse for it.\u00a0 But if you pace yourself, have breakfast<\/a> and a hearty lunch<\/a>, you may from time to time allow yourself what the French call an aperitif<\/em> and the Italians an apertivo<\/em>. (In the United States, we just call it a drink after work.)<\/p>\n

One of the pleasures of an aperitif in Wine Country is that if you choose the right place to have one, you get to share the space and the experience with the people of the area.\u00a0 You can just go to the first bar you come across. \u00a0If it has a bright neon sign in the window advertising Budweiser, you probably won\u2019t be sipping a delicate Chardonnay.\u00a0 But you very well might get a pint of one of the brews made in the area and that can be a pleasure too.\u00a0 And you might be drinking next to the fellows who till the vineyards and pick the grapes that you\u2019ve been trying that day.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t recognize the names of the ales on draft, ask the person next to you at the bar.\u00a0 The worst that can happen is he\u2019ll ignore you; the best is that you get to meet someone who\u2019s in the know.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Willi\u2019s in Healdsburg, a great place to meet local folks. Photo courtesy of USA Restaurants.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many times we\u2019ve taken a glass of wine before dinner at a restaurant other than the one we plan to dine in.\u00a0 It\u2019s a way to get to see more gathering spots and in some cases to familiarize yourself with the ambience of a restaurant before trying it for a meal.\u00a0 You may be seated next to other tourists or you may get to meet the people who make the local wines.\u00a0 If the latter, keep a polite eye on what they\u2019re drinking.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably not their own because they are surrounded by it all day.\u00a0 You can learn a lot from what the knowledgeable people of the area are having.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Strolling around the Piazza del Campo in Sienna.<\/em><\/p>\n

The best way, by far, to enjoy an aperitif is to take it at a caf\u00e9 in France or on a piazza in Italy.\u00a0 We remember with much warmth sitting under the plane trees in front of the Bar Central in a tiny village surrounded by vines, while the piped music played French (and Quebecois) songs while the businesspeople and shopkeepers stopped by for a pastis<\/em> or a glass of whatever was just growing a mile away.<\/p>\n

Or watching the sun decline over the rooftops and steeples surrounding the big piazza that\u2019s in every Italian town.\u00a0 Half the town would take a glass with us, in order to watch the other half of the population indulge in what they call the passeggiata<\/em>.\u00a0 That\u2019s just a walk around the square but it\u2019s so much more.\u00a0 It\u2019s a chance to see the locals enjoying who\u2019s out and about and to be seen being out and about.<\/p>\n

Ah, yes, it must be 5 o\u2019clock somewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the basic tenets we follow at Power Tasting is that we go to taste wine, not drink it and certainly not drink it to excess.\u00a0 In our travels, we have met some people in tasting rooms who have failed to follow that rule and they were the worse for it.\u00a0 But if you … Continue reading Drinking with the Locals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}