Ricci Reserve's Feline Wine

Grandpa Ricci has been growing this garden forever.

It has been located in many different spots around his North Providence backyard, the garden now resides on a dirt patch where the old above-ground pool used to be. It is now a lovely circular garden that has been manicured & tended to so lovingly. What you should know about Grandpa Ricci is that some people like to describe this gentlemen as being a bit particular and he loves cats, a lot. This first quality has helped produce an excellent viniculturist, not to mention his green thumb and of course the beautiful Rhode Island summer weather.

I believe that when "Ricci Reserve" started Grandpa Ricci was ordering his grapes from an

outside source maybe even from Connecticut (no way!), he has since started using his own grapes.

This summer I have had the pleasure of drinking his 2007 rosé; a crisp, high in alcohol, sweet wine, reminiscent of a humid summer night with a note of fresh cut grass and a spicy marinara at the end. And it might remind me of 1965 if I was born.

I designed this wine label for RR's 2001 Rosé. It's pretty 2001 of me.

Here's an unusal recipe that originated in Naples, Italy.

Concord Grape Pie

6 c ripe concord grapes, washed
3/4 c raw turbinado sugar
1 T tapioca
pastry for a 9-inch pie

butter

Directions:

Pop off the skins of the grapes by pinching them at the end opposite the stem; set skins aside. Put the grape pulp into a heavy pan, bring it to a boil, cook for 6 minutes. Then strain grape pulp through a sieve to remove grape seeds. Pour the hot pulp over the skins and let the mixture sit for 5 hours. Add the sugar and tapioca, then pour the mixture into the pie crust and dot with butter.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and cook 20 minutes more until the crust is browned and the juice begins to bubble up.

(Tapioca is a flavorless, colorless, odorless starch extracted from the root of some sort of plant)