Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part thirteen

Family vineyards and Montepulciano…

After we checked out of Hotel San Luca, we loaded up in Tom’s van and headed to our next destination, a beautiful family run vineyard outside of Cortona called Fabrizio Dionisio. The home is owned by a couple from Rome who work as lawyers. The beautiful young woman who took us on our tour explained that a lot of people in Rome own second homes out in the country– Tuscany, in particular. The estate where the winery is located is called “Il Castagno”, and it was originally purchased by Sergio Dionisio, Fabrizio’s father, in the early 1970s. The wines produced at this lovely winery are mostly reds made with 100% Syrah Cortona DOC grapes. The lone exception is the Rosa del Castagno, which is a rose produced with Syrah grapes. I love Syrahs, so I think this winery produced my favorite of the wines we tried… but to tell you the truth, we had so many wines, that it’s hard to keep them all straight! I should have taken notes.

I got excited during the tour, when our guide mentioned Georgia and Armenia, which are well known for using an ancient method to make wines. Wines made in the Caucasus region are often made with large earthenware vessels called Qveris (or Kvevris). I am a BIG fan of Georgian wines– and only slightly less so of Armenian wines, even though I spent two years living there. I go to Armenia for brandy, and Georgia for really nice red wines with leathery, spicy, bold flavors. Anyway, this winery in Cortona had qveris, which I thought was really interesting. Also noticeable in the winery are pieces of artwork obviously done by children. The artwork was used for the the wine labels! We got to hear the whole story about that, too. Below are some photos from our stop at Fabrizio Dionisio.

Below are some photos from the mansion’s awesome kitchen, which made me so jealous… I miss having a big kitchen, although our current kitchen is a huge improvement over the last one. This was where we tasted the wines.

After our visit to Fabrizio Dionisio, we continued on to the adorable town of Montepulciano. I love wines from Montepulciano, so this was a treat! I definitely would love to visit here again someday and go shopping. Some kind of festival was going on, which slightly complicated matters. Nevertheless, Tom knew where to park, and we had lunch at Il Pozzo, where we tasted more wines!

*Montepulciano is another town with lovely views.*

Finally, after lunch, we made our last stop on the tour, a winery called Talosa. This was located in the town, so we were able to walk there from Il Pozzo. I thought the winery was really interesting, with its “cave like” tasting room. I also remember liking the wines, but I especially like the guide’s Italian accent. She pronounced every English word with an “ah” at the end. It sounded very musical-ah. 😉 After we tasted wines, we visited the cellars. The smart ones also visited the toilets, since that winery was the end of our wine tour.

We immediately made our way back to Florence, where we were all to spend another night in Florence. The other couple stayed at Hotel Firenze Capitale; the lone traveler went to the airport to stay at a hotel there; and Bill and I booked a room at fantastic Hotel David. More on that in part fourteen.

booze tourism, tours

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part twelve

Cute Cortona!

We arrived in beautiful Cortona in the late afternoon on April 30th. I had never been to Cortona before last weekend, but I do have a couple of first cousins once removed (they are sisters) who both graduated from the University of Georgia and attended study abroad sessions in Cortona while they were in college. I remembered seeing their pictures on Facebook and reading how much they liked the town. Now that I’ve seen it for myself, I can understand why they liked it so much. Besides the obvious fun of being a twentysomething college student in Italy, Cortona is legitimately an adorable town, located at the top of a steep mountain. Bill said it reminded him of Ribeauville, France, which is one of our favorite escapes from Germany. Too bad Cortona is so far away from Germany!

Tom, our guide, booked our small group at Hotel San Luca, which is right in the thick of the town. The advantage of this hotel is that some of the rooms offer stunning views from the side of the mountain. Those who don’t have a view from their rooms can go out the front door and see the view from outside the hotel, or they can enjoy the incredible views from the breakfast room. Below are some photos from near the hotel. In the distance, you can see Lake Trasimene, which is very close to Cortona.

If I’m honest, the views are the best part of this particular lodging, although it was fine for just a night. The hotel appeared to be pretty old, and it had very tiny elevators (a theme during our Italy trip) that had what appeared to be ashtrays in them! But, over the top of the ashtrays, there was a “no smoking” sign. When you enter the hotel, you’re on the ground floor, but you take the elevator down to get to the “higher numbered floors”, which are actually under the lobby.

We were in small room that had a tiny shower. I was glad I brought an extra pillow with me, even if it does make me look like Linus. I hate trying to sleep with flat, wimpy pillows. Below are a few photos of the room. I didn’t get any pictures of the bathroom, but it was very tiny and basic. On the other hand, this room wasn’t as small as the one we had in Torrechiara, and we did have a great view! There was also a balcony.

After we checked in at the hotel, we gathered for an aperitif, and discussed whether we wanted to sit inside or outside for dinner. Everyone seemed to want to sit outside, except for me, of course. Remember, I said I don’t do the “group thing” very well. I was legitimately a little bit chilly, though. Bill went and got one of my sweaters for me. We ended up not eating outside anyway. I think I overheard the waiter say that it was too cold outside, but I also noticed that there weren’t any tables set up on the terrace. I think it would be fun to eat outside where we had dinner. The location is right by the main square. However, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t glad we ate indoors, simply because it was a little cool. I guess I’m just a party pooper. Every party needs one, you know. 😉 Below are some photos I took before we reached the restaurant.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Ristorante La Loggetta, where we enjoyed more lovely wines with good food. We had free choice of the menu at Ristorante La Loggetta, so I went with duck with orange sauce and candied apricots. Bill had a steak. After dinner, which included several bottles of local wines, we walked back to the hotel. Bill and I stopped for a gelato break, and got a few nighttime photos from the adorable city, which happens to be where portions of the 2003 film, Under The Tuscan Sun, was filmed. I haven’t seen the movie myself, but Tom said his sister works at the villa in Cortona where scenes were made. It’s a popular wedding and event venue.

I would have loved to have spent another night in Cortona, simply because I would have enjoyed exploring the town more and going shopping. The main drag has so many beautiful little shops with tons of art, housewares, clothing, and the like. But, now that we’ve been there to see it, maybe Bill and I can visit on our own at some point. We’ll see.

Sunday morning, we rose to some clouds in the sky, which offered a different view of Cortona and its surroundings. We had a simple breakfast in the breakfast room. It included typical Italian pastries, breads, cold cuts, eggs, sausages, juices, and coffee. I had to take more pictures from the huge windows in the room. Then I took more from the cliffside. A small flea market was going on, offering a brief chance to pick up souvenirs. Sadly, I gave Bill all my euros!

This is the gate to the villa where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed.

Stay tuned for part thirteen.

tours

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part eleven

Continuing on to Cortona and wineries…

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, we checked out of Hotel Firenze Capitale, and met outside the hotel to load up for our night in Cortona. Before we would arrive in Cortona, we would be touring two beautiful wineries and tasting some very nice wines. Tom’s van is large enough to transport eight people. I believe he told us that another couple was supposed to come with us, but they canceled. I’m actually glad they canceled, since the number of people in the van was just about optimal. Bill and I sat in the middle row; the other couple was in the back row; and the solo traveler was in the front seat.

We didn’t know how big the van would be, so Bill and I decided to pack a small overnight bag for our night in Cortona, and for our Sunday night stay at Hotel David, in Florence. We were going to take the other bags to our car in the parking garage, but Tom told us he had plenty of room. He wasn’t joking. Once we were all loaded up, we headed out of Florence, with Tom pointing out some sights on the outskirts we might not have seen during our visit.

The first winery, located outside of Greve, was called Montecalvi. Jackie, the woman who showed us around, is the daughter of the winery’s original owner. Jackie owned the winery for some years after her father died, but she later sold the winery to an Australian businessman, who asked her to stay on and run the winery in his absence. I really enjoyed meeting Jackie. She is a very engaging speaker. But what really made visiting Montecalvi special was meeting Jackie’s adorable cocker spaniel, Millie. Millie is very friendly and is obviously well loved. More than once during our tour, she jumped on her hind legs and put her paws on Jackie, just begging to be picked up and held like a baby. It was just darling!

We enjoyed tasting three beautiful Chianti Classico red wines made at Montecalvi Winery, as Jackie explained how it was all made and the history of her father’s vision. We also learned a bit about Italian laws regarding wine productions. We tasted a vermentino followed by the three reds, one of which was a rare wine made from grapes from a single vineyard dating from 1932.

After the tasting, we had the opportunity to order wine, which Bill did while I hung out with Millie. Below are some photos from our tour of Montecalvi.

After some time at Montecalvi Winery, we moved on to our next Chianti Classico destination, Villa Le Corti, owned by the Corsini family. We had lunch at this winery after Tom took us for a tour through the vineyards, cellars, and grounds. I appreciated learning more about organic farming, as well as the different wines made at this winery, which is also a wedding and event venue. It was interesting to to compare the two wineries. Montecalvi is a lot smaller. Below are photos from this part of the tour.

Tom frequently includes wines from Villa Le Corti in his monthly wine boxes. I have always liked them, and it was great to see them at their source.

*These were very old bottles of wine that were found.*

Our next stop, after a brief stop to pick up some wines, was the lovely town of Cortona. More on that in the next post. Below are a few photos from the villa where Tom made his pickup.

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The Italy part of our trip is about at its end…

I have been super busy this week on our vacation. It always amazes me how vacations tend to wear me out! It’s like I need a vacation from my vacation, which is what the next two days in Liechtenstein are going to be about.

Because we drove to Italy, thinking we were going to load up on groceries (which we will probably do at a truck stop), it takes longer to get back to Germany. That’s why we’re stopping in Liechtenstein. But I don’t like to do overnights when I travel, unless it’s a place I’ve already been. We did an overnight on the way down to Italy in Andermatt, but that didn’t give us much time to see the area. We have been to Liechtenstein before– back in 2009 when we actually got trapped in Italy! But our visit in 2009 only lasted a few hours. This time, we hope to see a little bit more than we did last time. Since the country is so tiny, that shouldn’t be too hard. Or, at any rate, I look forward to relaxing and decompressing a bit.

Italy’s mask mandate for most venues officially ended on May 1. Many people still wear the masks, but they are not legally required anymore, except in hospitals, nursing homes, theaters and performance venues, and on public transport. I’m not sure what the rules are in Liechtenstein, but given that it’s basically Switzerland, my guess is that it’s wide open.

This really has been an amazing trip, and I have mostly very positive things to report when I get to writing my blog series. We saw some truly beautiful wineries, met a couple of friendly dogs, ate a lot of good food, and drank lots of outstanding wines. I also enjoyed meeting the other people on our tour, as well as Tom DeVries, who organized the trip and inspired us to come down in the first place. Tom owns Sommeliers Choices, and he curates boxes of beautiful Italian wines, which he ships all over the world. I was impressed by the obvious friendships and business connections he had with the people running the restaurants and wineries we visited. A couple of the wineries we stopped at were truly special, family-owned places with lots of history.

I took so many photos of the stunning scenery. It’s going to be a challenge to pick which photos to share.

Here are a few pictures from the past few days… Stay tuned for the whole story to be posted, very soon.

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: Tuscany

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part thirteen

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part twelve

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part eleven

The Italy part of our trip is about at its end…