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Italian Wine Adventure — Milan and Piemonte
Uncorked reader Niki Foor has delivered the third installment of her Italian wine adventure, allowing us a tiny vicarious taste of a European wine trip. You may recall part I of this adventure entitled Despite gender bias, Italy sparkles, and the second installment entitled Traveling the wine route of Italy, Part II. This time, we join our wine enthusiasts in Milan and Piemonte.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. We’d take the train from Venice to Milan, rent a car, and drive to the farmhouse we’d rented near Asti. Our train was scheduled to arrive at Milano Stazione Centrale around 11:00 am, and the car rental place, located at the station, closed at noon, so we had plenty of time, right? Well, not exactly….
Italian trains run mostly on time, especially in northern Italy, so that wasn’t really an issue. What we’d failed to understand was the scope and complexity of the train station. Refurbished under Mussolini, the Stazione Centrale is itself a work of art. A really, really big work of art, stretching more than a city block, and surrounded by the scaffolding and restoration construction ubiquitous to Italy. We persevered though; arrived at the Hertz office with minutes to spare, and successfully rented two vehicles.
Our next challenge (if one discounts the challenge of actually driving in Italy) was to negotiate the directions provided by our landlord, Mario. With only one wrong turn, corrected via a cell phone conversation, we eventually arrived at the meeting place, a turn-around at the toll road station. Mario was waiting to guide us to the farmhouse. We followed him quickly through the Italian countryside; like most Italians, he drove fast!
The farmhouse was built in 1682 and was even nicer than it appeared in the pictures we viewed on-line prior to booking. Mario gave us a quick tour of the nearest village, Rocchetta Tanaro, and recommended we stop at the local winery while we were visiting. He also showed us the local shops, including what he called the “good bakery” as well as the grocery store. We purchased dinner supplies, which of course included wine.
Back at the farmhouse, we found that Mario had left a bottle of the local rose in the refrigerator for us, the 06 Futurosa Monferrato Chiaretto dei Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta Tanaro, which tasted of tart cherries and sunshine, and had a bit of strawberry on the nose. We sipped that as we prepared dinner; baked chicken, salad, and a quick red sauce with some of the spinach and ricotta ravioli we’d bought. We opened a Soave that cost 2 Euros at the grocery, and enjoyed that with our dinner. Five of us drained that wine, along with a Bardolino from the Veneto region; another cheap grocery store bargain (1.5 Euros), then enjoyed some Limonetto Luigina, which is the lemon liqueur from Liguria. Limonetto is apparently the same thing as Limoncello, but the name varies with the region in which it’s produced.
Our visit to the local winery, on the last day of our stay at the farmhouse, turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip — but that’s a story for another day…
(Photos courtesy of Michael Jennings)
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By patty
May 28, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this
Just wanted to thank Niki for making the effort to write such a delightful journal of their trip to Italy.