La Vendemmia
Italy’s grape harvest marks the shift to fall.
Wine is a way of life in Italy. More than an indulgence, it’s a ritual. Small, beautifully uneventful sips with lunch. A few bottles passed around at a communal dinner, punctuating the end of the day. An excuse to gather, unwind, and talk with your hands.
In a way, la vendemmia, “the grape harvest” in Italian, brings that same spirit to the end of a long, bountiful summer. When the evenings cool off, the light softness, and shades of gold start to dapple the landscape. Across wine country, this is when people start heading into vineyards with baskets and shears.
Typically taking place between late summer and early fall depending on the region, grapes, and weather, it’s when families, friends, and neighbors come together to pick ripe grapes from the vines and bring in this year’s harvest.
It’s real work, but it’s also a ritual. Crates fill up. Hands get stained. Everyone pitches in. And when the picking is done, there’s a meal waiting. And yes, lots of wine.
Everybody Eats
The meal at the end of la vendemmia is the heart of it all. And after hours laboring in the vines, sitting down feels pretty good.
Long tables fill up with whatever is good nearby: local cheeses, roasted meats, fresh bread, pasta, and wine from the previous year’s harvest. Nothing particularly fancy. Just an abundance of food, friends, and family to mark the end of one season and the beginning of another.
Traditionally, la vendemmia has been a community affair. Extra hands are useful when there are grapes to pick, which means neighbors show up, friends get recruited, and eventually everyone ends up around the same table.
You might not have a vineyard out back, and that’s okay. (But if you do, congrats on your new vintage.)
The part worth stealing is the meal. Invite some people over. Ask everyone to bring something. Make a big bowl of pasta. Open a bottle of wine. Eat outside while you still can. You don’t need the pretense of a holiday to celebrate a new season, or to be grateful for what you already have.
In honor of the harvest, here are a couple of fall-inspired dishes worth bringing to the table.
Caramelized Leek & Onion Spaghetti
Caramelized leeks and onions, crispy garlic, and a little chili heat tangled up with spaghetti. Cozy, savory, and very good with a glass of red.
Pumpkin & Parmesan Fusilli
Creamy pumpkin, plenty of Parmesan, and Fusilli to catch all that saucy goodness. Basically, fall in a bowl.
Shop Pasta
The True Harvest
Harvest is a natural time to take stock. You spend all year planting, tending, waiting, and hoping. Then eventually you get to see what grew. You don’t have to grow grapes to understand the feeling.
By the time fall rolls around, most of us have done a fair amount of living since January. Some things worked out. Some didn’t. Plans changed. New people showed up. Old friends stuck around. Maybe you got really into making pasta salad. Who knows.
There’s something nice about taking a minute to notice it all. Summer tends to move quickly. Fall gives us an excuse to slow things down a little. Dinner moves inside. Something warm comes out of the oven. People start lingering around the table again.
So consider this your own little vendemmia. Take stock of what the year gave you. Invite some people over. Open something good.
In Defense of House Wine
Speaking of opening something good...
For more on unfussy pours, unassuming establishments, and the pleasure of simply being fed, read our case for house wine and why we think it belongs on more tables.
