Our summer holiday in Italy

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RonnieRoots
Fonseca 1980
Posts: 1981
Joined: 08:28 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: Middle Earth

Our summer holiday in Italy

Post by RonnieRoots »

This has nothing to do with Port, but I typed this out for the WS forum, and thought it might be interesting to post it here too.

LadyR and I spent some four weeks travelling around (parts of) Italy this summer. We covered the Dolomites, Venice, Le Marche, Umbria, Tuscany, Cinque Terra, Piedmont and the Alps. We were mainly there to relax, enjoy the beautiful landscapes and to do some hiking and cycling, but in a country like Italy it's impossible not to indulge in the pleasures of good wine and food. We had some very pleasurable experiences that I thought I'd share here.

Le Marche
We stayed in a beautiful regional park between Ancona and Sirolo. The area was very scenic with a steep, rocky coast line and slopy hillsides more inland. North of Ancona and south of Numana, the area was very touristy, due to the flat beaches. We liked this part far better. The only tourists were Italians, and they were mainly there for the enormous array of good seafood restaurants that were situated on the beaches. We had an exceptional dinner and lunch in two different restaurants, and we had the feeling that almost all restaurants in the area had the same high standard. The wine lists were good (with a wide choice of whites), but the choice of wines by the glass was limited. We very positively surprised by a Sauvignon Blanc from the region, made by Tenute Rio Maggio. We visited the winery later, and found them particularly good in the white wines. Their Sauv. Blanc Colle Monteverde is a very serious, as is their Chardonnay Colle Monteverde. Both are modern wines, with good concentration and lively freshness. And very affordable as well. In Numana we found a good wine shop, with almost only wines from Le Marche, and there were a lot. I forgot the name of the shop, but it was the only big wine shop in town, with an entrance through the local supermarket.

Umbria / Tuscany
Our base here was the Trasimeno lake. We did lots of cycling in the area and came across many beautiful old towns and villages in the hills surrounding the lake. One of these was Panicale, where we found a very nice wine bar and (on the other side of the main square) a fine restaurant, called Lillotatini. Both had the same owners. We had a great dinner in the restaurant (with fantastic ravioli filled with quail's egg) and enjoyed a bottle of La Poderina 1999.
The town of Castiglione del Lago was particularly good for cured meats. There were several good shops with a wide selection of salamis and hams. Yum!
From the lake, we also made visits to Montepulciano and Montalcino. In the small town Montefollonico we visited the winery of Vittorio Innocenti by recommendation of an Italian collegue of LadyR who grew up next to Innocenti's vineyards. The wines of Innocenti were very enjoyable, the Chianti and Rosso di Montepulciano were lovely, fruity (and very affordable) wines and the Vino Nobile Riserva 2001 was serious and well capable of mid-term ageing.

From a campground more near to Siena, we made another visit to Montalcino. We noticed there were many (mainly Americans) with the WS special in their hands. We tried to find the issue, but it was sold out everywhere. I think we hopped in and out of almost every wine store in town, but without knowing it had a recommendation in WS, we chose Enoteca Osticcio for a drink after we had already bought some wine here. They have an awesome selection of wines. The wine bar is also very nice, with a great view over the valley. From the three wines that we tasted there, the 1998 Coldisole was the most impressive. We also liked the tasting in La Fortezza, especially because of the large number of open bottles. In Siena we liked Palazzo Piccolomini best as a wine shop. Good selection and decent prices. Unfortunately, our dining experience in Siena was less than stellar.

Piedmont
We stayed near Barolo, in Vergne, which was a good base for exploring the area. We liked the Enotecas Regionale in La Morra, Barolo and Barbaresco. We had a very nice dinner in Monforte, in the restaurant that belonged to the Gagliassi winery. The 1999 Barolo of this house was decent, and the food was very good. In Alba we had a good lunch in a wine bar / restaurant (of which I forgot the name) situated in the main street with a terrace that covered most of the street. Good food and an extensive selection of wines offered by the glass. A grocery shop nearby, Oggibene had a stellar selection of wines hidden in their cellar. And the prices here were very good (Sperss 2001 for 100 euros!). There were a couple of other good wine shops in the city as well.

We visited the winery of Sottimano near Neive and tasted their 2004 Barbarescos. We absolutely loved the wines. According to Andrea Sottimano 2004 is the best vintage in a long time, and the wines were beautifully structured, each with a unique character.

We had a great time, and will certainly return to Italy for another visit! :)
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