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Italy - Wine Country Getaway
Our Getaway to Italy | Wineries of Umbria - May 2005
What a fabulous time we had in this beautiful country. During
our three-week stay we enjoyed sightseeing, eating many superb
meals, visiting wineries, and learning much about the many fine
Italian wines. For the first two weeks, we lodged in a villa in
Umbria. The last week of our trip was spent in Sorrento, which
is located south of Rome in the Bay of Naples.
Several weeks before the trip,
we visited our local wine shop, K&L
Wines in Redwood City,
California, and talked to the buyer for Italian wines. He was able
to give us plenty of leads on wineries to visit and good restaurants
in both Umbria and Tuscany. With this information, we were able
to schedule appointments at two Umbrian wineries, Sportoletti and
Castello Delle Regine.
In Umbria we stayed in a villa known as Calboccia,
located at the top of an 1800 ft. mountain overlooking the Niconne
Valley. Umbria is less traveled and lesser known for its wine than
its neighbor Tuscany, but nonetheless produces some outstanding
wines. Learning about Italian wine is a bit tricky, but a visit
to a cantina (winery) and taking a tour helps to clear up some
of the mystery of Italian Wines.
If you go into any of the small supermarkets
in Umbria, you can find wines of all types, ranging from 5 liter
wine jugs to some of the finest Barolos, Brunellos, and Chiantis.
We also discovered that you could purchase empty jugs and bring them
to the local cantina and have them filled with their wine from the
barrel. There are also several wine shops called enotecas that you
can find in almost any of the small towns. At an enoteca you can
taste and buy local wines. Within the first few days of our stay,
we realized that winetasting opportunities are everywhere in Italy.
Here is a description of our most enjoyable wine experiences in
Italy
Castello Delle Regine
This is a fantastic
new winery (first vintage 2000) and certain to become one
of Italy’s best-known wineries. The wines are fabulous.
The one white wine produced is the Bianco delle Regine, a
unique blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and
Pinot Grigio. We have not tasted anything in the U.S. that
is similar or as refreshing. Their flagship wine is a Merlot,
made from 100 percent old vine Merlot. The cost is 30 Euros,
and it is a fantastic wine drinkable now or to be cellared
for a few more years. A recent Wine Spectator rated
this wine 92 points. The winery also produces two Sangiovese
wines and a red called Princeps. This wine is a blend of
Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Merlot. We are given
a V.I.P tour that is beyond description. The owner, Livia
Colantanio, gives
us a complete tour of the estate which is followed by an
elaborate tasting of their fine wines and olive oils, and
a gourmet lunch of foods common to Umbria. This was one of
the most memorable winery experiences we have ever had in
our many years of visiting wineries.
Castello
Delle Regine |
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Owner Livia Colantonio
leads our
tour of the Castello Delle Regine estate. The cantina is located at the
southern end of Umbria in the
town of San Liberato-Narni
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La Fattoria I Girasoli di Sant'Andrea
This cantina is just down the
road from our villa, near the town of Niconne. We visit this
cantina often during our stay to purchase their very nice
wines for our dinners back at the villa. The cantina building
is new with a beautiful tasting room and picnic area and
a new winemaker from New Zealand. The winery is owned by
the famous Gritti family who also own the Gritti Palace in
Venice. This
cantina is open during normal Italian business hours and
closed on Sundays. One can taste wines without a fee and
enjoy the surroundings. During the summer months, they have
a weekly English-speaking tour on Monday evenings followed
by a tasting and dinner. The cost is 20 Euros each. The tour
includes a walk through the vineyards and the tasting of
olive oil and four fine wines matched with food. More information
about this event and guided walsk in Tuscany and Umbria can
be found at:Walks
in Tuscany & Umbria.
La Fattoria I Girasoli di Sant'Andrea
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Timothy Knight, winemaker at
I Girasoli, leads a walk
in the vineyards |
Sportoletti Winery
We travel from our
villa to central Umbria to the hillside town of Spello. We
are greeted by Daniela, a charming host who speaks English
and leads us on a tour of the winery. The Sportoletti winery
has been in existence for years but recently opened a new
cantina with state-of-the art winemaking equipment.
Sportoletti produces four wines, two whites and two reds,
and a delicious olive oil. It is quite common for an
Italian winery to produce olive oil in addition to wine.
For our tasting we are served the four wines along with bruschetta
(this version consists of toasted bread, salted, and dipped
in their extra virgin olive oil), a plate of local cheese,
followed by thinly sliced salami. Our favorite wine is the
Assisi Rosso, a wine made of 50% merlot and 50% Sangiovese. It
is a very mellow red wine with complex flavors and a great
finish. At about $15 a bottle in the U.S., we consider this
wine to be a fabulous value. It is a great food wine. The
tour and tasting costs 10 Euros each and is well worth the
price.
Sportoletti Winery
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Daniela explains how the
new balloon crusher gently
squeezes the juices from the grapes
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Orvieto and Orvieto Classico
Orvieto is famous
for its awesome Gothic Cathedral and its many ceramic shops,
and of course, its Orvieto Classico wine. We stroll
this beautiful hillside town beginning in the parking lot
at the entrance to the town. As we work our way up to the
Piazza Duomo and the beautiful cathedral, we find many wine
shops selling Orvieto Classico. Most of these wine shops
offer a three-pack variety of Orvieto Classico for under
12 Euros. We discover that these touristy packs should be
avoided. It is better to taste or try single bottles in the
7 to 12 Euro range. If you go there, be sure to stop at one
of the enotecas and try some good Orvieto Classico. Or, at
the Piazza Duomo, you can order a glass of Orvieto at Cantina
Foresi, Piazza Duomo 2. What fun it is to sip a glass of
this classic Italian wine, relax, and, do some people watching
while enjoying a spectacular view of the Cathedral. Orvieto
Classico is a light wine with an alcohol content of around
12 percent. The wine is very crisp and acidic, making it
a great wine with light foods.
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The Cathedral at the Piazza
Duomo
in Orvieto
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Sorrento
For our final week we drop off our
car and travel by rail and bus to Sorrento. We are not able to
visit any wineries in Sorrento, but there are plenty of Enotecas
in the town where you can taste some of the local wines. Our
favorite enoteca is the Vino In, located at Via S.Cesareo 89. Here,
we discover a delightful white wine called Falanghina. It is deliciously
refreshing and fruity with just enough acid to be enjoyed with
clams, mussels, shrimp and other light foods characteristic of
this region. In the U.S. you can usually find a Falanghina wine
at most fine wine shops for $12 to $15. Falanghina is a nice change
of pace from the California whites.
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