The month of September signals a singular celebration in Italy- La Vendemmia. It's a once a year ritual of picking ripened fruit that will later, with time and patience, become the family's table wine. The ceremony begins with harvesting in the field, and continues with a celebration at a long table. Community. Conversation. Conviviality.
That is the spirit we are carrying into September. Meals gathered around the table as the season starts to shift, the cooler evening air a welcome change.
Bella Cucina believes in beauty and the simple luxuries in life, and September offers both by the basketful. For the month, we have gathered Objects of Affection for both the pantry and the table.
L A V E N D E M M I A
Celebrating the
_______
THE HARVEST PANTRY
The season, put up in jars.
The vendemmia pantry is the harvest you can keep: bottles and jars that carry the season into the months ahead.
Lambrusco Red Wine Vinegar: made from the same organically grown, estate-grown grapes as the sparkling Italian red. Rich and tangy, slightly sweet, with notes of dark berries and aged oak: la vendemmia, bottled. For dressings, marinades, and everything off the grill.
Taste of Tuscany Extra Virgin Olive Oil: made in Italy exclusively for Bella Cucina by the Corsini family. In Tuscany the olive harvest follows the grapes; this is the bottle that tastes like it.
Alex Marshall Dinnerware: hand-cast ceramic dinnerware from Alex Marshall Studios in California, plates, bowls, and serving pieces in quiet white stoneware, made the slow way for more than twenty-five years. The harvest fills the jars; this is the table that holds them.
Shop the La Vendemmia Collection →
FOR THE GATHERING
Bring something to the table.
September's answer to "what can I bring?": gifts that feed the whole table.
La Vendemmia Market Basket: the harvest, ready to carry: Flamingo Estate's Noir Fig balsamic vinegar, Taste of Tuscany extra virgin olive oil, our Lambrusco red wine vinegar, and a Sappho Fig candle to burn while dinner cooks, gathered in the keepsake Signature Farmer's Market Basket. Bring it to the host of the season's first dinner, or keep it and cook your way back to the table.
Shop September's seasonal basket →
SEPTEMBER AT THE STORE X STUDIO
LA VENDEMMIA: A SEPTEMBER RITUAL
One table, once a week.
Pick one evening a week and call everyone back: family, neighbors, the friends summer scattered. Cook something from the harvest pantry (a pot of passata over cordelle, a fall pesto folded into a gratin) and set the table like it matters: the water poured, the bread broken, the phones in another room. In the vineyards, the rule of the vendemmia is simple: everyone who helps bring in the harvest sits down to the meal. September asks only that you sit down.
Then come visit us. The harvest table is set.
Buon appetito!
x Team Bella
Find Bella Cucina Store X Studio at 288 Buckhead Avenue, Buckhead Village, Atlanta. Open Monday to Sunday. Come as you are.
Stay a while.....
→ Explore this month's La Vendemmia Objects of Affection Collection
→ Read Alisa's latest Sunday Slowdown on Substack
→ Listen to our La Vendemmia Playlist