We made a visit to Soave in Veneto on a friend’s recommendation to visit the winery of Coffele. Coffele has two cellars, first the mid-nineteenth century Castelcerino vineyard in the Classico zone of Soave, 7 kilometres south of the village of Soave, and considered to be one of the finest in Soave. The other is…
Archives for September 2014
The Italian Lake District: Lago di Garda
We visited the picturesque town of Sirmione, which is located on a peninsula jutting 4 km into the southern part of Lago di Garda and is complete with a lakeside 13th century castle entrance to the old town. The town was called “heaven on earth” by Maria Callas and is famous for its thermal springs. Today there are…
Why do people from 180 countries come to a village in Lombardia on the same day every year?
Every year around the 24th of June, people from 180 countries around the world convene at Solferino, a tiny town of 2,000 inhabitants south of Lake Garda in Lombardia. Solferino is surrounded by farmland and has a beautiful Mantuan square, Piazza Castello (so named because there used to be an 11th century castle here). The…
A sommelier’s guide to how to order wine
Ordering wine at a restaurant can be a daunting task, particularly if there are a lot of choices or the wines are unfamiliar to us. Our lovely sommelier friend, Kimberley Drake, has kindly written a few words of advice for us. A sommelier’s guide to ordering wine at a restaurant: Ordering wine can feel like…
Cellar Visit: La Montina in Franciacorta
Upon arriving at La Montina winery you find the 17th century Villa Baiana in front of you, once home to the estate’s founder, Benedetto Montini. Montini, a noble from Brescia and a descendant of Pope Paul VI, built the estate in 1620. There is a life-sized statue of Pope Paul VI in the cellar…
Cellar Visit: The King of Franciacorta: Ca’ del Bosco
The name Ca’ del Bosco, means “house in the woods”, as the land the winery currently sits on was a small house in a chestnut forest purchased by Annamaria Clementi Zanella in the mid-1960’s as a holiday home. Her son, Maurizio Zanella, turned the small house into one of the most technologically advanced wineries in…