Big News! Pathfinder Reroutes to Italy

John Lennon’s words ring true: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” After a year of prepping for life on the Inca Trail, we faced a very hard decision. As you might have heard, the area of Cusco and Machu Picchu in Peru received heavy rains in late January and early February. While neither Machu Picchu nor the Inca Trail itself were affected, the railroad running from Cusco to Machu Picchu was washed out in half a dozen places. This means there is no transport to or from Machu Picchu. The railroad is being repaired, but the tentative April completion date put our April 17-25th tour date in jeopardy. We knew we had to make the call (and quick!), so we went straight to our Pathfinder Brain Trust: Pathfinder Margie Tosch, guest Chef Rodelio Aglibot, and Allan Wright of Zephyr Adventures. Late Wednesday night, we came to a decision.

In keeping with our Firestone Wines spirit of adventure, our Pathfinder and guest Chef will completely change their plans, instead traveling to Italy to undertake a self-guided, eight-day hiking tour of Tuscany, also organized by our partner Zephyr Adventures. That’s right, we said “self-guided,” meaning this journey is about to get interesting, and certainly open to its own series of discoveries. Pathfinder Margie Tosch will be blogging daily about life on the Terra di Siena, while chef Rodelio Aglibot will be preparing delicious Italian meals paired with Firestone wines for the group along the way. Better yet, you can join the crew on this trek! To read up on all the amazing trip details, or to reserve your spot on the trip, head straight to Zephyr Adventures.

Our sincere thanks to Margie and Rodelio for their sense of adventure and readiness to pick up and change routes!

Objects of Desire: White Truffle

The hunt is on. Deep in the hills of the Langhe, within Italy's Piedmont region, the trifulau (truffle hunters) and their hunting dogs scour the damp forest floor and exposed gnarled tree roots for one of the most sought after gastronomical ingredients by chefs the world over: the white truffle. In Alba, Italy, October marks the height of the quest, when both hunters and buyers compete for the highest quality and prices on the market for the freshly discovered white truffle. Size and potency are a result of many variables, including moisture, climate, species and age of tree, soil type and acidity, proximity to tree roots and trunk, even including the subtleties of insect traffic. Right now, the community of Alba is ramping up for its annual International Auction of the Alba White Truffle, where prized white truffles have garnered extremely large payouts. In the meantime, Alba hosts a range of festivities celebrating this mysterious Tuber Magnatum Pico, during the 79th Annual White Truffle Fair of Alba, which typically runs from late September to early November. We hear, the ideal way to experience the white truffle's full flavor and aromatic intensity is to eat it within three days of being dug from the earth. I suppose that means heading to Alba, Italy sometime in the next, oh 10 days, along with thousands of other truffle devotees from around the globe.