Another storm.
Well, that's perfect if you ask me. Nobody can complain about the lack of rain anymore. I think I never had one summer and not hear a babuska complaining about the lack of it. Now it will be a first.
On top of it, it gets to be cooler. And I like that. Sweating like a dog under the tongue is not my thing. I like a little bit of cold, it makes scents feel amplified, somewhat heavier than during a blazing, hot day. Lately, though, it's a little bit strange, I'll have to admit. While the North of the continent is dying under high temperatures, we seem to get a pretty rainy and cool summer. In the last 4-5 weeks, I don't think we've seen more than 2 days without rain. Each and every one of my friends is complaining. I'm the only weirdo enjoying this.
So as to get the cherry on top of my cake, mid-day brutal storms get a 5-star rating from me, photographically speaking. While tired to look for that "perfect light" during the sunrises or/and sunsets, I think that a bit of that special light can be shone through the clouds when they are full of rain. And black.
I live right where the hills under the Carpathians start. And it's one of the best (if not THE BEST) areas for wineries in the country. Romania is pretty wild when it comes to production and preparation of all sorts of wines. I don't like to brag but we have here some "grape juice collection" that can wrestle with some of the finest wines in classical Europe. Some of them, some strains I mean, even date back hundreds of years and can only be made here, due to the special exposure of the hill towards the Sun. You know the drill. In the end, the soil and that exposure are what makes wines unique. Only after, the hand of the skilled man comes into play.
A diamond in the rough
I was watching a very nice movie some time ago - "Sideways" it is called - about a wine trip, through the American wineries. I was not into wines - not into alcohol anyway - but lately, I started to get the interest of the culture behind the wine, wine making and wine tasting. Don't really know why maybe it's my age and the fact that a lot of things get me bored... fast... This area of expertise is so vast that could keep me entertained for some time. Living in an area with great wines should come in handy.
All this area was almost deserted a few years back. Still is in a very big amount. While the history of these wineries dates back centuries, the communists invested a lot into production and research. Though not a lot of developments were done back before 1989, they kept a very strict and high level of control over these wineries, laboratories and centres of production. Almost everything was going to export, bringing hard cash into the country, while the population was having almost nothing out of it. The fact is that nobody ever lacked wine around these parts.
All the villagers around are growing their own and producing their own too. You get a lot of "production wine" if you are looking into tasting "things made by my neighbour". Damn, even my grandparents were doing it until a few years ago. I know for sure that I'll not be skipping the grape juice this year, that's for sure. Not as long as many of my neighbours still produce some litres of it from the backyard. And though it gets my stomach to speak, I always like to drink one or two glasses, each autumn... for me (and I guess most of the Romanians) it still sparks that memory activated by taste, since I was a kid and I was drinking this juice a few days after the crushing of the grapes, in the backyard of my house.
After 1990, getting a few hectares of still existing vineyards in this area could be achieved for mere amounts. Many families were selling their vineyards from the hills for petty money, for amounts that now would not make a beggar turn its head.
It still is relatively cheap to buy land in the area. That is because there would be a lot of investments in utilities after the purchase; some areas are lacking gas or running water.
But we are talking about an area that could potentially stretch for at least 40 kilometres (if not more), this hill going all the way almost to the next city, Buzău, going to Moldova. The potential is huge but only partially is developed and invested in wine production and research.
Fortunately for me, that developed side is closer to my city and yesterday I couldn't miss the opportunity to roam the streets a little while avoiding the incoming storm. I even took off with my drone with the gimbal protector on being in such a hurry sometimes because the rain was just about to start.
- Now I know what those storm chasers feel -
I took the time to roam these hills between two small settlements: Urlați and Ceptura, taking pictures along the way.
Never done this before though it's so close to home.
A very beautiful area that is settled right under these hills which welcomes something like 3 or 4 big companies that are producing here. Some of them even started investing in this kind of tourism and places like "Conacul Domniței Ralu", "Conacul Urlățeanu" and "Rotenberg Vineyard" started to appear all around. But there is still a lot of space and a lot of places left to rot that could produce services in wine tourism. Biking around is a splendour, trust me - I've done it a couple of times.
That rural Romania feeling
You'll not get that anywhere else, I guarantee you. Maybe Bulgaria but the people aren't that nice I've heard. But Romania is both "on the grid" and also "close to the dirt" - or "off the grid". This closeness between the two extremes I think it's very hard to find somewhere else. I love that about my country and the area I'm presenting today, fast because the subject is way too vast for one article only, is no less of an example.
I guess there's a reason why some important names decided to spend their fortunes investing in these hills. You'll be surprised (because I was as well) by those names - nevertheless, I'll tell you about it in the future - I'm considering to do a small series while visiting the special places around these hills.
Here you can have broadband and 4G internet access while living through some vineyards in your small cottage, close enough to be in the Capital of the country in about an hour but remote enough to be able to balance yourself with peace, tranquillity and gifts from nature. The land is more than fertile - it's waiting for the human care and he'll do the rest. The working hand is becoming a problem though...as in all of Romania. Everybody's leaving. Few are returning.
The Sun rises and sets on the same trajectory that it was 200 years ago so the grapes will ripe.
The ones that didn't leave this beautiful land, are here and working hard. The vineyards are their heritage, their life. Now that they get to be free and produce what they want, they choose their strain and go on to feel the business. Under their feet, under their hands and on their tongues when they take the first sip of the wine the years has brought.
But you can still feel the smell of freshly cut grass in the morning and that of the yellowed hay at the end of the day. The birds are singing in joy, herds of sheep roam the top of the hills and small streets, alley-like, are snaking their way around the mellow inclinations. Here and there, houses...people living almost like preppers. Not far from civilisation but away from it anyway.
Good for them.
In a very sterile attempt to increase this area's popularity when it comes to tourism, the authorities created something that is called "The wine road". I like the name. It gives authenticity and it creates the opportunity to prove that. The fact that this region is on the same latitude with Bordeaux, France may be only a coincidence but the Roman tales and the medieval relics still in the area can project the development of wine tourism aggressively at one point in time.
The fact that is drawing me closer and closer as time goes by over my shoulders is making me "borrow" that name and use it for the future mini-series I'll try to come up with in the future.
There's a lot of wine to be tasted.
Posted also on my blog www.ddma.ro, a place on the world wide web where I'm trying to promote Steemit, my writings and my country. In that order. I post through the @steempress-io plugin and I make my life easier (writing and formatting in Wordpress is much easier than on steemit.com or busy.org)