Wine cats
After the winery dogs, now the wine cats, in other words 4 legged friends become a necessary presence in boutique wineries
Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Wine cat
There is a legend about cats in the Vinsanto lofts in the Chianti region. Nobody has ever seen them but everyone talks about these felines that used to spend their whole life in the dark lofts protecting the small vinsanto barrels from the mice. In truth is does rather seem a tale because the places most loved by these hungry mice were the cellars and most of all the places where cold cuts, cheeses and nuts were stored. But for centuries cats have been welcomed in country homes and in cellars where excellent wines are made thanks to the passion of the producers who live there. These wineries are called “boutiques” small establishments where the owner has his home, surrounded by the vineyards, kept like gardens.
It is not surprising that the Drinks Business portal dedicates a long article to “wine cats”. The 7 that have been chosen are “common cats” like the ones we all have at home. One of them seems a copy of Nerone the black, greatly loved cat at Fattoria del Colle.
Wine cat
This article started off a quick research on the web regarding “Wine cats” . You will not believe it but there is a twin web site to “Wine dogs” with the same authors, Susan Elliott and Craig McGill. They create the book with cats from wineries from all over the world with 100 photographs. There is a Facebook page dedicated to Wine Cats too, created in 2012, which states <<Wine Cats is the definitive guide to cats living and working in the vineyard, winery and tasting rooms of wineries around the globe.>>. Those who love cats and meet some during their wines travels can send a contribution which will most certainly be appreciated.
In Italy the most famous wine cat is in a comedy written in 1996 by Nando Vitali and set in Pratolino in Tuscany and remembered for this phrase <<Mettere il gatto in cantina è un espediente assai saggio, ma se invece del topo ti mangia il formaggio, questa è la trappola per rimediar…>> To put a cat in the cellar is a very wise thing, but if it eats the cheese instead of the mice, much better to use this trap ……….