FORDword: Borgo Day 3- So Glam!

Our private driver picked us up at the resort and drove us to do a winery tour in Alberobello. The winemaker gave us a private tour of the lovely Albea Winery.

The winery was the oldest in the region and the first to start bottling their wines.

Their wines were amazing! The wine was all very dry given that the winery was at higher elevation (400 meters) and grown in very dry soil. We had noticed the short vines when we drove in and thought that they had been pruned that way. In fact, the vines grow very long roots but very short trees. The word Alberobello literally means short trees.

The Apulian region is covered in olive trees. Many of the trees are centuries old and still produce olives. They are protected by the government from defacement or removal. The winery once thought that since there were so many olive trees that it might be a good idea to make wine barrels from them. The flavor from the wood of the olive tree made the wine taste terrible so the only wine barrel made from olive is the one in this picture.

We finished our tour with some tasting and due to language barriers, a limited chat with one of the original wine makers. While we paid tourist prices for our bottles, the locals came in and filled up their gallon jugs at discount prices from the tap.

After our wine tour our driver took us to see the Trulli. These cool little houses were built by peasants from the rocks they moved trying to farm the area. The buildings use no mortar. Legend says that the rocks were simply stacked so that when the tax collector came by they could quickly tear down the home and avoid taxes. Now these unique homes are a tourist attraction. Some are rented out as places to stay and many are shops.

Not built for even average sized people!

During our afternoon siesta a single long stemmed rose and two beautiful masks were delivered to our room. It was a fun preview of the spectacular night to come.