Piemonte
Our journey begins in the land closest to us, Piedmont. Piemonte in Italian literally means “at the foot of the mountains” – indeed some of the highest peaks in the alps, like our Monte Rosa, are located in Piemonte! It is one of the largest regions in Italy and due to its variety of soils, climates and possibly its proximity to France, it is home to some of Italy’s most renowned wines.
If you think of Piemonte, you probably think of Barbera, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo, perhaps of Moscato or Asti Spumante, but above all of Barolo. There is such a multitude of wines, that knowing them all is a challenge. Ideally, from a wine perspective, we can split Piemonte into North and South – with the latter being the most renowned. Taken as a whole, the division between North and South is a fantastic example for the concept of “terroir”: the vines are mostly the same (at least the red varieties), but the soil, the climate and the know-how differ considerably. The result is great territorial expressions in the form of wines, unmatched anywhere else in Italy....
Veneto
Perhaps no wine-growing area of Italy has been “victim” of its success as Valpolicella, land of great reds, such as the famous “Valpolicella Ripasso” and the imperial “Amarone”. We would share wine experiences where everyone brought bottles from their region…
Whether it is Romeo and Juliet in beautiful Verona, gondolas under the Rialto bridge in Venice, sunny Lake Garda or the beauty of Cortina, “queen of the dolomites”, almost everyone has an image of Veneto in their mind. Most of us also have a taste for its many wines. From “queen” Prosecco, Bardolino, Valpolicella, Soave to the “king”, Amarone, Veneto is home to some of the best-known Italian wines. Veneto has almost every geographic feature you could wish for: lakes, rivers, mountains, hills, extinguished volcanos, lagoons, a major river delta and some of the most spectacular mountains in the world.
Toscana
Sweet rolling hills, steep mountain sides, white peaks over the blue sea, islands like Elba and Giglio, rivers, white marble… all of it covered in forests of oak and chestnut trees, olive groves, vineyards, cypress tress, wheat and sunflower fields. Famous monuments, the Duomo in Florence, Piazza del Campo in Siena, the leaning tower of Pisa. Leonardo, Giotto, Michelangelo, Macchiavelli, the Medici family, Galilelo Galilei and so many others… when you think of Italy, you think of all this, and yet, it is all concentrated in Tuscany.
Winemaking here has very deep roots, well before the Romans ruled these lands. When Rome was nothing but a few huts, Southern Italy and Sicily were long influenced by Greek culture, of which it became the most advanced expression. Tuscany was settled by a mysterious people, who left their indelible mark on these lands: the Etruscans. According to legend, they were the surivors of the destruction of Troy. Led by Aeneas, they settled in central Italy where they built many strong city states and after centuries, they “merged” with the Romans to form a new, unprecdented culture...
Lombardy
The financial and industrial heart of Italy, Lombardy has much more to offer than just the Milan fashion and design scene, the landmark “Duomo” or Leonardo da Vinci’s amazing “The Last Supper”. Football fans will probably think of AC Milan and Inter and the San Siro Stadium, also known as “La Scala” of football, whereas opera fans will dream of the real “La Scala” theatre. Milan is Milan – but Lombardy is much larger than the city and its industrial hinterland.