Our final day in Italy dawned as sunny and warm as all the others. A final breakfast at the hotel, we cleared our rooms and put our bags into store, and boarded a small coach which took us round the corner (not quite literally) to the beautiful Palladian Villa Angarano. Giovanna Bianchi Michiel, greeted us…(Read More)

After a free morning in Bassano, much appreciated after our long day on Friday, our coach took us to the town of Breganze, to Col Dovigo, a family winery making wines under this little known DOC. Valentina explained that her great grandmother Caterina moved to the area and purchased vineyard land, later marrying local vigneron…(Read More)

Tim had alerted us to the long drive, and we were all ready at 8am.  Towards 11am, after a lot of very flat scenery and a very quick coffee stop, we suddenly saw hills.  Then we were driving up into the Colli Orientale de Friuli (eastern hills of Friuli) to arrive at the one of…(Read More)

High in the Cartizze hills of Valdobbiadene is Bisol, one of the most famous prosecco producers.  Daniela, our guide, explained that the family have been in the village of Santo Stefano de Valdobbiadene since the 16th Century, the winery was founded in 1875 to make grappa, and in 1899 Desiderio Bisol started making prosecco and…(Read More)

About an hour’s drive to the east of Bassano del Grappa is the town of Venegazzù, home of the Loredan Gasparini estate.  Here, Giancarlo Palla and his son Lorenzo make prosecco under the Asolo DOCG and red wines under the Montello DOC. Lorenzo greeted us and under some shade he described the unique terroir…(Read More)

The final Spring tour has taken Tim and a lovely mix of longstanding and brand new wine tourists back to Bassano del Grappa, in the heart of the Veneto, from where we will be discovering Prosecco, the wines of the Colli Orientali de Friuli and Friuli Isonzo, and the little known area of Breganze.  This…(Read More)

I am just recently back from my final recce trip to North East Italy and am really looking forward to the first tour in April. The main purpose of this trip was to hone in on some key aspects of the tour and finalise the routes and lunches. Prosecco will feature strongly on one day…(Read More)

I have just returned from my reconnaissance trip to North East Italy feeling utterly stunned by the beauty of the scenery, the quality of the wines, the exquisite food and the customary, legendary warmth of the Italians. We will be staying in the quite spectacular and historic town of Bassano del Grappa. Based in a…(Read More)