Well, guess what? We did it.

Who'd thought?

YES! We did it. We FINALLY did it. We………came back to exactly where we started from.

Mystified? Befuddled? Confounded?

Ok, it’s our very strange way of announcing that after six months of living like gypsies, moving from one apartment to another every few weeks with two very handsome but often confused King Charles Spaniels, and basically not having a couch to call our own, we have now moved to OUR NEW HOME! Ta da!

[Pause for applause]

And yes, we returned to where we started from: good ol’, not-letting-us-go Montepulciano! This time we know what we are getting (back) into. In fact a few of our friends (even Luca, our forever suffering electrician) knew we were coming back before we had actually finished the purchase. Apparently, the seller told one person in strictest confidence and well, you know (you’ve seen the stereotypical movies, the Stanley Tucci food programs, Stanley’s blog, Stanley’s wife’s blog) three people then told us.

So, in addition to:

• closing the Villa (Poggio Golo that is) for the season (yay!);

• a (very successful, very bountiful) grape harvest (thank you, God of All Things Grape); and

• an equally successful and bountiful olive harvest (is there a God of olives – a cousin of Bacchus??)

we have also been moving house. You may have noticed a spike in the IKEA and Maison du Monde share prices…

You can call us whatever you want but there is one thing we know….we are never ever EVER dull. (Even if sometimes we wish we were.)

Buon Vento - our new home

To add to the chaos, madness and euphoria all rolled into one, we are also on a one-month no wine, no sugar, no joy cleanse. Our timing couldn’t have been more off…but we feel it is only right to detoxify our bodies and bring them to the best versions of themselves before toxifying them again over Christmas. Fair is fair. And then there is the Christmas Fair!

As we are already in the festive period (read: Diwali was last week), we are looking forward to turning the dial down a bit (the dial has no “off” position ☹️ ), settling into our new home and getting ready for another vintage (our new 2022 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano) to be bottled by the end of this year. If you’re looking for something to make Christmas more interesting, check out our amazing collection of wines.

As it is now the end of our tourist season, the vendemmia (harvest) is done, our grapes are in various stages of becoming wine (yum yum), the olive harvest is done and our olive oil is made (it is so green it makes Niall homesick) we will have time to do the thinking and reflecting thingy. How and where is our little Italian venture going? How does Paari get Niall to help with the outstanding Italian admin that was banished (but never forgotten) over autumn? What is happening with the plans for our new winery (we know you noticed that we put them on the back burner for a bit)? Are we really going to be in Ireland over the Christmas period (it must be that green olive oil)??

For now, we will leave you with this little video of what we have been up to over the last few weeks.

Until next time…

Toodles,

Paari & Niall