Ready for wine partying?!

For those who haven't been on holiday yet or are just packing now, Winehippie has great news!!
August is a perfect time of the year for traveling around Europe.

Ok, right, it is high (very high, actually the highest) season which means that beaches and tourist destinations are crowded and it is impossible to find a cheap flight or place to stay, but hey.....it is also festival time!!

Especially if you are staying in the Mediterranean area you will find plenty of little local feasts celebrating patrons, local products or just summer. And if you are lucky enough (or if you chose your destination based on wine interest as well) you can possibly find a wine festival going on....

I have made a bit research for you and found out some interesting things.
Let's start with France....

On August 14th in Rasteau, Southern France, from 5pm onwards there will a Nuit de Vin, where all wine producers will be showing their wines in the town streets, together with other local products and some musical bands. The night will end up with a ball in the main place. For more info you can email the tourist board at rasteau@vaison-ventoux-tourisme.com

On August 31st, in Avignon, the winemakers will celebrate the Harvest Proclamation with a traditional feast that dates back to the Middle Ages. You will find plenty of food and wine stands, tastings and music  all around this beautiful historic city of the Rhone Valley. And all for free!

Let's move to Italy...

The main summer event for wine tourists will be, for sure, Calici di Stelle which goes on between the 5th and 11th of August. A  lot of wineries all around the Bel Paese will be open to visitors during these dates but the event will culminate on the night of the shooting stars with an exceptional late opening of the wineries that will organize tastings or dinners. Here you will find all the wineries that are participating.

In the Tuscia Viterbese, north of Rome, the Feste del Vino della Tuscia will continue until the 18th of August with different events in different towns including Tarquinia and Montefiascone.

And if you are in Southern Tuscany today or tomorrow, you can't miss the little festival of theater and wine in Scansano called Teatro nel bicchiere. A mix of free tastings and live performances among the streets of this medieval little countryside town with young Italian artists and a lot of good Morellino!

Hope you will enjoy and....salute!

Last Sunday an Osteria saved my life...

From where my family is now living (in a small village in the Lazio's side of Maremma) Southern Tuscany is one of the best destinations for a day trip on a Sunday.
The area is still quite unspoilt and has a great rustic charm with its Medieval countryside towns perched on tufaceous rocks. Driving there is quite a peaceful experience among green hills of olive trees and vineyards and it can also be quite interesting if you would like to visit Etruscan ruins.
Here Sangiovese shows its potential in one of the its best expressions, the Morellino di Scansano.

These have always been the best ingredients for a perfect day out to me, so decision taken: Scansano was our destination, although the weather looked unusually miserable especially for the beginning of May (grey sky, fog and all day long rain) and a walk in the vineyards was not really appealing! The other option was to take a walk in the city centre, maybe visit the History of Wine Museum and finally sit down for a nice meal. Once there obviously the museum was closed for a long lunch break! So no more choice. We had to find a restaurant and cheer ourselves up with some Tuscan food and wine!

And this is how Osteria Rifrullo saved our day....
A cosy and warm  place nicely decorated with ancient instruments hanging from the ceilings and coloured frescoes on the walls. But as I am not that interested in interior design...what I was looking looking for was to taste their cuisine! Starting with a glorious polenta tart with cep mushrooms,
carrying on with a scrumptious plate of bichi (a particular homemade type of pasta similar to spaghetti in its shape) alla norcina (with a sauce made of sausage, chilli and cream) and finally having a satisfying sweet end with cantucci and Vin Santo.




How does it sound? Well, trust me, it tasted better than it sounds.Beautiful, filling, palate flattering, genuine food and that's it. On the other side the house wine is not worth a mention.Normally the Morellino is a medium structured wine with a good intensity of dark berries and even if possibly not the most prestigious Tuscan red it is certainly a very enjoyable wine, but the one we had for lunch was certainly lacking of  backbone and its acidity was overwhelming the whole palate sensations. But luckily I bought a good example of it at the enoteca of the main square. Celestina Fe' is an elegant wine with a good texture, soft, rounded tannins and pronounced aromas of black cherries.
100% of Sangiovese and no oak. A wine with a sophisticated character.

Now if you feel enough inspired to explore the area, I am sure you will find many more interesting places and wines...so good luck and enjoy!!