Another day in paradise.

One of the perks of a hotel is the breakfast buffet. A woman makes us cappuccinos and serves us fresh fruit and croissants. If only I could get that with my Airbnb. After breakfast, my dad takes the kids down to a tiny playground near the hotel. It’s the saddest playground you’ve ever seen, but they absolutely love it.

//Grandpa notes> These kids love any playground.

We want to explore the region, particularly the towns our sommelier Simone mentioned yesterday. We start by heading to the town of Monforte, where we park and walk around. It’s a small town built on a hill, so small walk around town involves hiking up and down steep hills. It’s actually a pretty intense walk. At the top of the hill sits an auditorium where the city hosts a summer jazz festival. We finally get to walk downhill, back toward the main street where we parked. We’re disappointed to not find any place to taste wine or even just sit for a break. When we get back to the bottom, we walk over to the church where we parked. It’s locked.

//Stefan Note: Looks good and it tastes good.

//Grandpa notes> Smear some raw hamburger meat around on a plate and voila “Steak Tartar”.  I ate some to prove I could, but why?

It’s 12pm, so Stefan researches lunch options online. One place we passed at the bottom of the hill gets good reviews, so we walk back over there, only to find they are fully booked (though it’s empty). Our last resort is the tourist office, but it’s just a small room of business cards. I pick up a couple, and luckily another tourist says, “oh, La Terrazza is great!” He’s noticed one of the cards in my hand. He’s a sommelier from NYC and says it’s a very nice place to visit in a nearby town.

Empowered by this solid lead on good food, we get in the car and drive to another town to La Terrazza da Renza. The staff are incredibly welcoming and pull a table together for us under an umbrella. (It’s very warm, so shade is essential.) The view is amazing. This place is also special because they don’t serve pasta or pizza. It’s only a set of 5 cold antipasto dishes (at 20 Euros/person). Everything is incredibly fresh and delicious. The wine selection our server makes for us is great as well. All in all, this is a wonderful place for lunch. I’m so happy we received the recommendation.

Our appointment at the next winery is at 4:30pm, and it’s only 2:30pm now. We talk to the owner of the restaurant and he recommends the winery we are already visiting. He points over the valley and says it’s just the next town you can see. The topography here is amazing that you can just look and see the next village on the hill. On our way over there, he suggests we stop at FontanaFredda, a place to taste wine but also a nice place to walk around.

My dad has a phone interview at 3:30, so he stays near the car while we explore. First we walk into the woods along a path. The kids are happy to discover a vegetable garden. Though we are told there’s a lake, we don’t find it. We walk back to the main building for a tasting. Here they charge by the glass for tastings, but I don’t want to do that again after our first tasting experience. I ask if there’s a way to do a small side-by-side tasting without paying per glass. He concedes. I think all of these places are willing to give tastings if you will buy some wine, but it isn’t the general policy so you should just ask. I’m surprised none of the wines blow me away, and they aren’t cheap. We buy of the cheaper two bottles that my mom likes and head to our tasting.

//Grandpa notes> This is the rare occasion when Debbie likes the cheaper of anything.

Paolo Manzone is the place I’ve pictured wine tasting would be like in Italy. It’s a beautiful farmhouse, on the side of a hill surrounded by vineyards. The owner greets us and directs us to join her assistant on the tour that just started (we are a couple minutes late). The tour is short and sweet. Basically, she introduces us to the way they make wine here, mostly due to old Italian tradition of aging in large barrels and only sometimes using the smaller French oak barrels. Then she leads us into a tasting room that is exceptional. We sit at a large square table covered with glasses. The entire room is stone and brick, with an arched ceiling. It’s perfect.

Our guide is incredibly knowledgeable, but she speaks quickly and leaves us feeling fairly overwhelmed. There is so much to learn and not enough time to really absorb it all. The wine is so, so good. We make friends with the other guests from Belgium and Denmark. We buy some wine. It’s a perfect tasting experience.

We drive back to the hotel where we hope to take the kids swimming for a little bit. We get them all dressed and in their obligatory swim caps, but as we walk down there we’re told it’s closed. Drat! We beg the guy to let us swim with the kids for just 10 minutes. He agrees. This is plenty of time. They are so, so happy.

We rinse quickly and go to dinner at the restaurant here again, Ristorante Brezza. Another simple good meal. The staff are super nice to us, and we enjoy another bottle of the wine made here. When the kids get restless, we send them on errands to count the windows on the castle, the turrets on the skyline and even the stars in the sky.