It was with great anticipation that I took my first Italian wine vacation. After 20 years of loving wine, it was finally time to experience all the Old World had to offer. Of all the places that we could visit in Italy, our first choice was to focus on Umbria and Tuscany.
Traveling all over North America and Mexico for most of my professional career, the need to plan this trip seemed quite illogical. Get a hotel, get a car and go was all you ever needed. This trip was, however, going to be a bit different at first…and then, thank goodness, my years of traveling and dealing with “changes” paid off. Obviously we had plans, but they exploded in every way possible upon our arrival.
When Plans Go Awry
We had booked into an RCI resort for the two weeks we were going to be in Italy. It was to be “base camp” as we meandered through the countryside daily. The resort was an Agriturismo and for those of you not familiar, these places typically serve breakfast and a lovely family style five course dinner at night…VERY LATE at night compared to our dining habits. Don’t plan to eat before 8:00PM anywhere….it just won’t happen! Needing to get to plenty of driving locations, we quickly realized that many of these facilities are rural and, in my opinion, don’t necessarily provide the best of base camps for day trips.
It appears that to boost tourism, the Italian government encouraged (or allowed) small farms, villas, etc. to convert their rooms to this type of B&B and D (dinner) a few years ago. Surely, some of these would be great places to stay if you are not as adventurous as our group and as determined to have every dining experience that Umbria and Tuscany can provide. Our experience at the Agriturismo lasted for three long nights. You see, we had no idea that there is NO HEAT allowed anywhere in Italy until November 1. If you travel there in the beautiful month of October, take lots of clothes! No heat, no water for one full day, no hot water the next day…the ladies in our group shouted MUTINY! and our “detours” began.
Luckily, yours truly talks to everyone…everywhere. On our first day touring, I met a fun loving young couple on the sandy beach of Bolsena, a lovely medieval town on Lake Bolsena. Surprisingly, they had told us of a fabulous hotel, La Badia, that was previously a thousand year old monastery and had given us their emails for any help we needed. When things went south at the resort, we immediately abandoned the RCI property and raced to our new “ancient” digs. This magical little place looked over lush green olive groves and gazed up to the city of Orvieto. Each room was steeped in history and had been lovingly preserved for the enjoyment of the guests. We had now made basecamp so we could recuperate, acclimate and eventually move on to Magliano in Toscana.
The Magic of Uncharted Italy
Travel stories of Italy almost always seem to revolve around the larger cities. Milan, Venice, Rome, and Florence are touted by those returning with tons of photos of museums, cathedrals and fountains. I had seen so many images of these places that seeing what others had “missed” was all that would satisfy my curiosity. Our group was now destined to see unplanned locales, meet interesting and entertaining locals and experience what no tour will ever get to….unknown detours through living history.
More than a few new sayings came to mind during our trip. The one that says it best is “The detour is better than the tour”! The dining schedule in Italy diverted us into uncharted territory more than anything else. When businesses are closed in the afternoons, eating is about all you can do. An unexpected closure of a rental car location caused us to drive from Fabro to an ancient city of Ficulle and subsequently to a tiny restaurant. Once inside, we had a delicious local lunch and were asked by one of the patrons there, “How in the hell did you find this place?” The patron was Ludovica Giuriati, a travel consultant, and after a lovely discussion on Ficulle and Umbria, she arranged for our group to have a tour and enjoy dinner at Tenuta Vitalonga hosted by Francesco Maravalle the next evening. No more fabulous food and wine pairing did we find in all Umbria.
I am sure that there will be those that would disagree on a basecamp location to tour Umbria and Tuscany, but for me it will now and forever be Orvieto. We made day trips to Perugia, Assissi, Bagnoregio, Bolsena, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Viterbo, Bagnaia, Bomarzo, Pitigliano, Manciano, Magliano in Tuscano, Orbetello and several other small ancient towns where everyone was incredibly warm and friendly (albeit not very good at English or directions). The evenings in each of these towns became magical tours back in time and taste. Wild boar, rabbit, lamb, truffles, cheeses, olives and some of the most incredible balsamic vinegar I have ever tasted. I think my next trip will be to chase down the best balsamic!
For those who wish to try two lovely Tuscan wineries, I highly suggest Poggio Antico in Montalcino and Poliziano in Montepulciano. In both locations, our tour and tasting guides were absolutely knowledgeable in every phase of their production and distribution. If you brew or do any fermentation yourself, you know that a very large percentage of the flavor of the beverage comes from the yeast used. I am always curious, especially in areas that produce geographic specific wines, whether or not they ferment with the natural yeast found on the fruit. I have taken many tours where the guides do not know the process well enough, but not here. The tour guides knew exactly what, when, how and why they would use their own yeast (or not). In the case where a major rain would immediately precede harvest and wash off much of the naturally occurring yeast, they would augment with their own strains, but otherwise they naturally fermented. To my taste, this truly defines the winery, vintage and the locale.
Probably the biggest shock in wine touring in Italy is that many of the wineries are open only by appointment and serve food during your visit. Typically this would not be a problem, but navigating the roads in Italy can be. The second saying to come from this trip was, “Don’t ask an Italian for directions”! I am pretty sure that the Roman Empire fell when the army left Rome in search of its first conquest. With the battle won, the army got lost following their own road signs…thereby ending the Roman Empire killing everything in sight while trying to find their way back to Rome. Should you navigate the back roads correctly and make it to one of your desired wineries at the appointed hour, you may not make it to the next unless you know exactly where it is and how long it takes to get there. HINT ONE: GPS does not work in parts of Umbria and Tuscany. It is so spotty that the device even warns you! HINT TWO: a sign with an arrow on it pointed to the left means GO STRAIGHT…what is that about???? HINT THREE: when you come to a roundabout (and they are everywhere), just drive around and around until you are absolutely sure which arrow you need to follow!
More Stones to Turn…One Day
As we neared the end of our trip, we packed up and headed to La Fattoria di Magliano in Toscano. We were determined to experience and taste each region of Umbria and Tuscany. If this is “Under the Tuscan Sun”, take me there any time. Prepared for us upon our arrival was an outdoor tasting overlooking the vineyards and the ancient city of Magliano in Toscana. Although this is an Agriturismo, they did not serve dinner the evening we were there. Instead, we were directed 5 minutes into town to yet one more fabulous meal. We made sure to pair our meal with another Morellino de Scansano like the one we enjoyed that afternoon.
Our Italian wine vacation was one to remember. Arrivederci, Orvieto! – Jan Ennis
This is Jan Ennis’ second post for Grape Experiences. His first was an entertaining account of his trip to Walla Walla, Washington where food and wine were the reason for being…
Jan is a transplanted Virginian living in the Seattle area. I went to college with Jan and, in retrospect, he was the only one I knew NOT drinking cheap beer, wine and vodka. This savvy guy had good taste even then and apparently it has been elevated to quite the art. Growing up in the South, Jan learned to appreciate cooking without recipes. Now, he enjoys fusing Old South and Pan Pacific into his own style of cuisine, but only for friends and family. After his first trip to Walla Walla, he truly fell in love with exploring wine and wine country. Jan collaborates with his friend Rod Shedd from Vermont in his Vine to Wine Concierge Service and both have traveled to wine regions in Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, Baja Mexico, Woodinville, WA, Walla Walla and the Eastern Counties of Quebec where wine and cider fuse together for a great tour. I hope you enjoy Jan’s entertaining article about his latest “grape experience” in Italy.
