This looks like a great NG for information on wine. The wife and I really like bold strong heavy wines such as Cab-Savs, Merlots, and recently we are trying Bordeaux (although the prices are ridiculous). Also we are looking for wines that will age well, and develop some interesting Characteristics.
We like Sangiovese too, particularly one from Argentina called Norton (which is owned by the Swarovski Family in Austria), that is a bold Sangiovese at least we think so.
What recommendations do you have for wines from Italy? From what I have read in my Wine Encyclopedia, Italy a very complicated wine region. In October we will travel through, Piedmont, Vienna, Tuscany, and finally end up in Rome over a one week period or so. We are just wondering how best to spend the time, as we are more interested in the wine than anything else. Any comments from anyone who has been there a few times would be greatly appreciated. We are going to wing it and try to stay at B&Bs etc. along the way. We have rented a car too.
Italy is a big enough country that, in my view, it's very misleading to think of it a single region. Wines from different parts of Italy can be very different from each other.
Vienna? Did you mean Venice?
There are people here who I believe live in Italy. My wife and I have visited there about fifteen times, and will be there again, just in in Rome this time, this October-November. Do you have specific questions?
Yes, I meant Venice (my mistake!), Vienna is definitely a long way away from there.
I am looking for affordable B&Bs and opinions as to the best places to spend time in the Tuscany wine region specifically. Also, if there are any interesting / good wineries on the way from Venice to Tuscany, that would be great too.
regards, Derek
Ken Blake wrote:
of it a single region. Wines from different parts of Italy can be very different from each other.
there about fifteen times, and will be there again, just in in Rome this time, this October-November. Do you have specific questions?
Sorry, I've never stayed in B&Bs, so don't have any recommendations for you. And as much as I love wine, when travelling in Italy, we don't usually visit wineries (probably because we seldom rent a car).
Someone else here can probably give you winery recommendations. For B&Bs, you might want to ask in the newsgroup rec.travel.europe.
It's a minor detail, but Vienna is really *not* so far away, hence the need for the clarification. You'll find that Venice is far closer to Vienna than it is to Naples, for instance. As someone who once inadvertently hiked into Italy from Austria, I am quite sensitized to that fact... ;-)
I like a wide variety of Italian reds, Some that come to mind from Tuscany are Chiantis and Vino Nobiles. I also like the Piemontese wine--Barolos and Barbarescos, although many of them have become very pricy. Barberas are also good and much less expensive.
I find that good Italian whites are harder to find, but they are generally much better than they used to be. One producer who name comes to mind (because I'm having a bottle with dinner tonight) is Tiefenbrunner, from the Alto Adige. Both his Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are good.
All of the above is, of course, a tiny sample. More detail would take too long, and I would invariable forget to include some of my favorites.
Why do I like the Italian wines I do? The same reason I like the wines from other part sof the world I do. They taste good. It's easy to find and read descriptions of wines; I don't want to deny the value of such descriptions, but why anybody likes anything ultimately comes down to his own personal taste.
As you travel around Italy, you will find an enormous number of different bottles available to you. Especially if you go to modest restaurants in small towns, you may find wines that you'll see nowhere else. Taking with you a list of what wines *I* prefer, or anyone else prefers, is not likely to be helpful to you, unless the wines recommended are big deal, expensive wines, and you go to big deal expensive restaurants where they are likely to be found. Otherwise you probably won't find most of them.
And even if you could find specific wines that were recommended to you, there's no guarantee that because someone else likes a wine, you will too. We all have different tastes.
If I were in your shoes, rather than looking for specific recommendations, you should be spending some time between now and when you go tasting as many Italian wines as possible, not with an eye toward making a list of each specific wine you like or don't like, but rather with the intent of finding out which *types* of wine you prefer. For example, you may like Chianti, but not Barolo. You may like wines made from Chardonnay better than those from Pinot Grigio. You may like Piemontese wines better than those from the Veneto. And so on.
I think finding out what grapes, what regions, maybe even what producers, *you* like is far more useful than anyone else's specific recommendations.
In my young wine drinking career, I have found great love in Barolos. If I were going to Piedmont, I'd drink as many varieties of Barolo as I could. I'd also go to Cannubi and pay homage.
If you are going from Piedmont to Venice to Tuscany to Rome in one week, you will have very little time to smell the roses.
There are very few hotels in Venice where you can park a car, and you cannot use it, once you are there.
I have never done the vineyard thing north of Venice.
If you are flying in/out of Milan, Tre Scalini is a B&B sort of place in Gattinara, and not to far from Alba.
The Amarone guys do not do much of the visit bit.
In Tuscany, you can call the Chamber of Commerce or whatever it is called, in Radda in Chianti. They have the List of B&B's. I doubt you can visit many more than 2-3 vineyards a day there. A lot of winerys do the visit bit. Some charge a nominal amount for the tasting. Tthere is a great bar on the east side of town that will pour about 10 or 20 different wines by the glass. Must have a car to get to vineyards.
Montalcino. Stayed at Residence Montalcino. A bit pricey for a B&B, but well worth it. Few Winerys do the visit bit(Banfi does). However, at least 3 of the bars and the Fort pour wine Brunello and Rosa by the glass. Must have a car to tour the area.
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