Preggio Vineyard In the last year I have met Elena Vezzoli of Azienda Agricola Biologica Preggio at several local wine tastings. Elena has a two hectare vineyard with her husband Bruno and make around 9000 bottles of wine a year, two thirds of the production is redRead more →
Lake Trasimeno Wines As you may know I run a tour at I Girasoli di Sant'Andrea Winery in the Niccone Valley. I have recently qualified as an Italian sommelier and am always interested to try wines and visit other wineries. In the last few years, the winesRead more →
Le Logge, Restaurant In Città di Castello On Friday night I went out in Città di Castello with a group of my Italian friends from the sommelier course that I've been participating in over the last year. The course is run by the Association of Italian SommeliersRead more →
Bianchini Winery, Selci, Umbria The Bianchini winery is in the small town of Selci, situated just north of Città di Castello in the Upper Tiber Valley, Umbria. I went there yesterday with a group of trainee sommeliers to learn how to prune vines and, of course, toRead more →
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Last week I went to the Tuscan hill town of Montepulciano to try the latest release of Vino Nobile, the town's famous red wine. There were around forty wineries at the event and most had brought several wines including whites. Wine tasting at theRead more →
The Pucciarella Winery, Umbria Last night I visited the Pucciarella winery in the village of Villa near Magione. I went as past of a group studying for the first level of the Italian Sommelier's Association and we were given an in depth tour of the cellar. MagioneRead more →
Trebbiano Spoletino After a hot afternoon spent with a big gang of kids at Umbertide Swimming Pool, we decided to call in at the Enoteca Wine Club in Umbertide for a glass of wine. We shared a bottle of delicious white wine made from Umbria's increasingly popular white grape,Read more →
Città di Castello Truffle Festival This weekend was the Città di Castello white truffle festival, an event where many truffle food producers set up stall along with other artisan food makers. The hills of the Upper Tiber Valley are rich hunting grounds for both black and whiteRead more →
Montefalco & Sagrantino A couple of weeks ago I took Robert Hammond of RH wine to visit some of my favourite wineries in Montefalco. Robert was familiar with the Sangiovese based wines of Tuscany such as Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello. However, he had neverRead more →
Ursula Gritti & I Girasoli Di Sant'Andrea Ursula Gritti is the owner of the only commercial vineyard in the Niccone Valley, I Girasoli di Sant'Andrea. Ursula moved to the Niccone Valley in 1996 with her husband Carlo Massimilliano Gritti. They bought a house called Sant'Andrea located closeRead more →