Monday 10th September 2018

Red Wine Grapes in Ischia

Ok so who likes wine? Well for those that do, this is a pretty good time of the year to visit Ischia. The island was known in Roman times as Enaria which roughly translates as "Land of Wine". From that you can deduce that viniculture has been an integral part of life here for around 2,000 years and these guys really know how to make great wine. Away from the beaches in the quieter, mountain areas of Serrara Fontana and Barano, there are a multitude of vineyards ranging from established names such as Casa d'Ambra, Cenatiempo and Pietratorcia all the way down to small producers who have a number of vines in their gardens for example. I'm broaching the subject of wine today for a couple of reasons, the first is that there's a great wine event about to take place called Andar per Cantine which starts on Saturday 15th September. This is a lovely event in which you get to hike around the island's vineyards in small groups, sampling the wines, learning more about how it's produced and of course making lots of new friends along the way. There are different routes to take each day, encompassing the aforementioned areas of Serrara Fontana and Barano as well as the village of Panza from where the event is organised. The event lasts 8 days and is an absolute must for anyone interested in wine, be that the production or merely the consumption of it! The other reason I'm talking about wine right now is because the annual grape harvest known as the "vendemmia" is about to start. There's no set date for this, it all depends on how the growing cycle has gone throughout the year but within a week or so you'll start to see lots of little farm vehicles carrying big vats of grapes on the small mountain roads around Mount Epomeo. For a more in-depth look at Ischia's history of wine please see our Wines of Ischia article. Aside from the wine there's still a whole lot more going on around the island, not least of which the continued summer season which extends into the middle of October. We're still getting lots of requests for boat tours and boat rentals with the temperatures still very nice, particularly during the mornings and afternoons but it's still warm enough at night to go out without any extra layers. Temperatures over the next week for example are expected to range between 23° Celsius in the evenings and 30°C in the afternoons (between 73° and 86° Fahrenheit). We should also see plenty of sunshine with just a few cloudy spells. There is just one more event I should mention as well, La Festa di Santa Maria al Monte takes place on Wednesday 12th September and this is a day when lots of families will be out with the family having a picnic up on the mountain slopes. Ok so as you can see there's quite a lot going on at the moment so I'll let you all just go and enjoy it all! I'll be back with another update soon. Ciao :-)