Tonight we were craving another taste of Azienda Giribaldi’s delicious Dolcetto, and we figured a traditional style porcini mushroom gravy with garlic and basil and some reggiano would be perfect on a brisk fall evening over some broiled polenta.
It was as good as it looks.
It’s been cold (as in single digit temps, dipping into the subzero range) and snowy here in The Springs, whereas Doug Sassi and his clients have been enjoying balmy mid to upper 50s in Venice this week. Did we mention we’re jealous?
It was time to feed the kids, and nothing is more likely to please the palate of cranky two and three year olds than daddy’s homemade cherry tomato porcini mushroom garlic laden red wine tomato sauce over some noodles with lots of reggiano cheese. And for the grownups, a taste of the Italian countryside courtesy of our friends over at Sovereignty. We went for one of our very cost effective and reliable favorites, the Rosso Toscana IGT from Fattoria il Palagio. 80% Sangiovese rounded out with some Cab, it really sings (and for around $9) with a savory red sauce. Nothing fancy or complex, just a harmonious red table wine that like most of the wines we favor reminds you of, well…being tableside in Italy. Time to take a look at where our wine hails from:
About halfway on the road between Volterra and Siena and south of Firenze, Fattoria il Palagio is smack in the middle of Tuscan wine country, nestled in the triangle formed by Firenze, Siena, and Livorno. It’s really where you want to be instead of being snowed upon. Another click inward reveals lots of woods, naturally, and rolling farmland. Tuscany’s agrarian roots are readily apparent.
Another click closer shows us the 10,000ft view of a small vineyard near a small town; you can tell already this is a place that has reverence for doing things in a traditional fashion. There’s nary a WalMart or BestBuy to be seen. No parking lots, no strip malls, no Starbucks. Just Tuscany.
Imagine the patience and love it takes to tend to neat rows of grapes trained so tidily for the seven generations Fattoria il Palagio has been in operation.
Time for the street view:
I don’t think it gets any better. Cypress trees, long gravel driveway, clear blue skies…you can smell and feel the warmth of the place. Google’s robot-on-the-car unfortunately didn’t make it any further up the road, but a glance at Fattoria il Palagio’s website makes the place look even more inviting. Huge upside: they offer locally pressed olive oil as well. Definitely adding this place to the list of places to send clients who want an authentic Tuscan wine tasting experience. The view to the right as you head into town from the vineyard is elegant:
More Tuscan goodness as you make your way into the hamlet of Castel San Gimignano:
Time to go *here*…pronto.
Tonight we did some broiled tuna steaks with radicchio and capers in olive oil, and I thought it called for some vino bianco for the sauce. A quick trip to Sovereignty Wines was required, and I noticed they had a special on Seiano Bianco, a dark straw colored IGT offering from a little town called Teverina in the Viterbo area, just south of Orvieto. It’s on a ridiculous sale for a price I won’t even mention, but expect to pay $9 or so on average. 11.5% ABV, and very much the right wine for a dish like this. As you can probably guess, after dinner we were dying to learn more about the village where this came from.
As you can see above, looking up Teverina gets you to the rolling hills east of Lago di Bolsena, a glacial lake carved into the Lazio countryside. Let’s click onward:
Looks pretty agrarian with a decent sized town at the core. You’ll notice it’s right on the edge of what’s considered Lazio and what’s Umbria. Neat.
Lovely. The city center comes into view, as do some rows of local vineyards tucked neatly into the hillsides. Time for a street view:
As you meander down a few clicks from where the offices for Seiano are reported via Google, you arrive at a little bend in the road where the local vino is sourced. Check out those well-trained grapes growing on the sun-drenched Lazio slopes with Umbrian hills in the background. Another town that looks like it’s worth a visit. Checking out the rest of the town, you can’t help but love the narrow decidedly *not* SUV friendly streets:
This place looks pretty livable:
The hills off in the distance from the city center:
To borrow from Tony Bourdain, this place does not suck.
A side benefit–if you were to make it here, you’d be a short jaunt from Orvieto (also known for great white wines, which, if you’re reading this, you probably already know), and not too much further south to go explore the Tivoli Gardens.
EDITED TO ADD: Looks like the wine makers run a small overnight accommodation that looks very, VERY inviting. If you want to go, Sassi Italy Tours can get you there. Let us know.
While Doug is off in Italy running tours, we’re home working and having a relaxing family night. While we don’t have the luxury of being in Italy tonight, here’s a fun alternative that just might be the next best thing.
It’s Friday, and thus we are enjoying a late dinner and a bottle of Giribaldi’s Dolcetto d’Alba (Crottino, 2012…an *excellent* buy at $10 at my local fine wine purveyor), which just tastes like…Italy! Tannic, little of the frivolous fruitiness sometimes ascribed to Dolcetto, and perfect with food. On the back of the bottle, I note that it is produced and bottled in Rodello, Italy, a sleepy little village in Piemonte. Using Google, you can actually go see exactly where your grapes are grown. It is a way fun to brainstorm for places to go exploring in Italy AND feel connected to the artisanal nature of wine making in the foothills of the Alps. Looking up Azienda Giribaldi, Rodello, Italia, Google takes me here:
Green hills, curvy hillside roads, and terra cotta roofs, what’s not to like? Needless to say we’re intrigued, and it’s time to click the zoom in button:
Even better. Rows of grapes and plots of farmland can now be made out from what feels like a 20,000ft view. I feel the aura of the place already. Lovely.
Another click or two and our virtual tour of Rodello clearly shows the individual houses near the farm plots and rows and rows in the vineyard. Yes. Time to click for the street view:
And there it is–not overly dramatic, just an understated structure but with vaguely Palladian symmetry about it that certainly looks inviting. That’s where our wine comes from! A small vintner on a hillside in Piemonte labors to produce something in the crowded marketplace that is our wine, and thanks to the distributor’s efforts and the sharp eye and palate of our friends across the street at Sovereignty Wines here in Colorado Springs, we’re able to enjoy it. It’s neat when you think about it for even a moment. Let’s explore further:
And we see minimalist sign inviting us into explore Azienda Giribaldi. Most of the places that are “must see” for first or second Italy visitors are within walking distance of train stations. I’m sensing that a visit to Piemonte to visit local grape-growers is as good a reason as any to rent a car! You can see the shadow of Google’s robot-on-the-car in the lower left. Moving deeper into the vineyard:
Well…that’s certainly not ugly. That’s where my Barbaresco, my Dolcetto, my Gavi are coming from? Yes, let’s go visit, and soon. (Composes email to the Giribaldi folks about a visit this spring–who’s in?).
Spring 2015: who wants to visit Alba and taste the best wines in the world? Taking applications to go on an adventure here.
The king of wine regions, with apologies to you Francophiles. Simply put, nothing beats nebbiolo!
A quick roundup of the highlights via Elaine of CarpeTravel fame that’s definitely worth a read. Come see it with us!
As the sun sets on a lovely Saturday afternoon in fall, it makes me wish I was on Burano this afternoon enjoying a plate of Trattoria Da Romano’s timeless, unequaled, and definitive seafood risotto.
It’s a dish made with love, served with precision, and eaten with gusto. Try as I might, I can’t quite replicate it in my home kitchen–you need that Venetian fish broth! Will have it again soon, but you can define life in terms of days spent in Venice, and days not spent in Venice.
Pair it with a brolettino (a fabulous Lugana).
Always regrettable to leave Venice, but one must remember you’re only feeling that wistful sadness because you’ve had the good fortune to enjoy the wonderment that is La Serenissima. It’s been great to have Leah from Leah Travels experience Venice with us, and we’re looking forward to what she writes about her time there with us and our good friends at the Hotel Giorgione. She got a chance to see Venice off the beaten path, to taste cicchetti at side street winebars, to eat the best seafood meals on the planet at restaurants most tourists miss and most big-bus tour operations haven’t even heard of, and see the REAL Venice as it should be experienced–a time capsule of a bygone era that you can see, touch, taste, and indulge in with your whole being.
We hope to see her again soon, and hope to share the magic with you.
We’re offering a great package deal for our Introduction to Italy with Doug Sassi–fun for the experienced traveler who wants to get an artist and art historian’s inputs on “must-see” Italy, and an immersive trip of a lifetime for the first time Italy traveler. For the artistic community, we can include our Drawing From the Masters option–with professional drawing instruction from Raphael Sassi–for a nominal surchage (inquire with group size and dates).
Pricing for this will be based on a departure from PHL, please inquire about departures from other airports as you require.
Arrive in Rome via an overnight flight we’ll book for you. Spend three days and nights in a boutique hotel near the Pantheon, with Doug Sassi’s art and art history expertise guiding you through all of Rome’s captivating attractions, including:
Day trip to Siena after checking out in the morning and hopping a train from Rome for an excursion to this lovely Tuscan gem where you’ll see it’s famous Piazza del Campo and Duomo, and have a lovely lunch. After more taking in of Siena’s cultural gems, a train to check in at your hotel in Florence (a centrally located boutique hotel just steps from the Brunelleschi’s Duomo), and then walk off dinner and grappa with an evening walking tour to take the monuments of the Renaissance with Doug Sassi. Sleep well, as the next three days will be filled with Doug’s encyclopedic knowledge of the Fiorentine masters’ works. With Doug, you’ll have an unforgettable viewing of the following and unlimited access to his lifetime of knowledge about The Cradle of the Renaissance:
After the fourth night in Florence, you’ll check out for a lovely train ride through the Emiglia Romagna and Veneto country sides to La Serenissima–you’ll arrive in the afternoon in Venice in time for a late lunch of cicchetti at our favorite cicchetti bar near Santi Apostoli and check in at our “home in Venice“. After a quick siesta you’ll take an evening walking tour with Doug along Strada Nuova and then on to a lovely meal (dinner in Venice rarely starts before 730 or 8pm) at a local family run trattoria, and then take in the view from the Rialto at night. You’ll spend three nights in Venice and enjoy Doug’s famous walking tour (when in Italy, his *Italian* friends ask him where to go and what to do in Venice), to include things most tourists and tour groups miss off-the-beaten-path:
And much, much more. Three nights in Venice with Sassi Italy Tours will prove an unforgettable experience that, on day four, you’ll be sad to see come to an end. But you’ll be back! This we are quite sure of.
This package includes:
All you have to do is show up at the airport for departure and we handle the rest! This package is $4300 per person for departures from December 2014 through February 2015, and $4600 per person for departures in March and April of 2015. Availability is limited (max group size is 6, 8 people for family groups) and airfares are, as always, subject to change which may impact pricing in the future.
I’ve done some price shopping against the big name tour groups that cram you 50 people at a time onto a bus and give you an impersonal experience, and they’re no cheaper. This is a chance to have your own private Italy expert for ten days and nights in an enchanted country! Don’t miss it.
When we hear from people went to a particular region and didn’t like the food, we also invariably heard from someone who didn’t partake of the recipes the region in question is known for. Just like you don’t go to Texas for the sushi or Seattle for the southern BBQ, don’t go to Venice looking for an exquisite pizza experience.
Some of the most remarkable flavor experiences you’ll ever have are found in the Veneto. Travel with us, and we’ll direct you to locally owned family run osterie and cicchetterie that will be guaranteed to impress!
If you can’t be in Venice everyday (and unfortunately who can who isn’t lucky enough to be a Venetian) it doesn’t mean you have to go without a taste of the Veneto. Hardly! Those lucky enough to have wandered in Venice have probably seen locals sipping at wine glasses with a curiously citrusy colored fizzy beverage and wondered what it is; for those who haven’t tried one, well…you simply must! The Aperol spritz or Venetian spritz is just fantastic as you cook your pasta or relax in the shade.
Aperol is a light bitter aperitif; mix in a one to two or three ratio with dry prosecco and garnish with an orange or clementine slice and add a splash of club soda. Ridiculously delicious way to send out summer and enjoy a small taste of Venetian goodness without the plane or train ride.
Sassi Italy Tours 