Italy’s famous wine fair, Vinitaly, will take place in Verona from April 8-12 this year, and will continue the constant growth in the event. More than 4,000 exhibitors will be on display as part of a program with Italian wine tastings, meetings and seminars on Italian wine. Tickets can be purchased online, taking advantage of a discount, and cost 35 euros for a day or 70 euros for the whole four days.

It’s often difficult to get accommodation for the fair, so book early and take a look at the Veronafiere site for accommodation in Verona (at the time of Vinitaly it can cost between 125 and 160 euros for a double room). The Pro Loco site also has some good information on hotels, restaurants and Verona city events, if you’re still lucid after all that wine tasting!

Continue reading: 2010 Vinitaly program and bookings

The Viniadi 2009 wine tasting in Italy for non-professionals event will occur on November 26. It’s held at Montegrotto Terme in Padua, and is Italy’s largest wine tasting event for amateur wine buffs.

This year, 18 finalists will compete to be champion, with the age range varying from 18 through to 52 years old. Prizes include vines from some of Italy’s great wine producers, limited edition bottles and holiday study programs.

Continue reading: Wine tasting in Italy: Viniadi competition for non-professionals starts

Touring Piedmont means plenty of wine tasting in Barolo, but also visits to medieval towns and castles. In this case you could visit a “ricetto”, a fortified structure that was built to protect villagers and It was also used to house the community’s common produce and livestock.

The most famous ricetto in Piedmont is that of Candelo, one of the most well preserved from medieval Italy. It was constructed in the 12th century, and is surrounded by almost 500 metres of fortified wall, with five main streets.

The Ricetto di Candelo also contains the Torri Angolari, Palazzo del Principe and the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. A must when visiting is a tasting of local products from the many Italian pastisseries, to get know products like the Fiori di Candelo and the Croccanti del Ciavarin.

Continue reading: Touring Piedmont: medieval town of Ricetto di Candelo

We’ve previously seen wine tasting in Italy with the wine train to Montalcino, but now the Brunello di Montalcino brand is taking another step with a collaboration between WineStation, the Treno del Vino di Montalcino and Tuscany Tourism to bring Italy’s Brunello di Montalcino to Scandinavia.

For more information on this historic Italian wine, go to the Consorzio di Brunello site. WineStation is an original way of presenting gourmet tourism and culinary tours. The MyBee site says that it is an unforgettable experience, sipping Moscadello, or sweet Italian wine, and eating local pastries, while watching the Tuscan countryside slip past the windows. On arrival at the station of Torrenieri-Montalcino, a shuttle takes you to a local wine producer.

WineStation: discovering Brunello di Montalcino by train

Continue reading: Italian wine: discover Brunello di Montalcino by train with WineStation

If you were looking for the perfect weekend in Tuscany, with wine tasting, wellness centres and Tuscan cooking lessons, you could try the Country Resort Monsignore della Casa near Florence. The country resort offers traditional Tuscan style with rustic rooms, terracotta floors and ceiling beams. Excursions on horse back, golf and the wellness centre are available with jacuzzi, sauna and hamman style baths.

Until January 2009, the Monsignore resort is also offering cooking lessons and Tuscan culinary tours. The “Gusto e Degusto” packages involve a dinner of tasting porcini mushroom tortellini, beef tagliata and a glass of Brunello di Montalcino. For the more serious chefs, “Tra i fornelli” packages offer a visit to a local Italian market, wine tastings, and a cooking course.

Packages start at 205 euros per person for two nights for the first program, or 221 euros for the second. The only thing to work out is when you can spend your next weekend in Italy.

Source | Viaggi Corriere

Continue reading: Tuscan farmhouse stays and cooking lessons

Umbria has always been one of my favourite regions, less spoiled by the rampant tourism you get in Tuscany. And I can really recommend discovering Umbrian wines - they are definitely worth it.

In Rome tomorrow, Saturday October 25, at the hotel Rome Cavalieri, there is a wine tasting from a young Umbrian wine company, Terre de la Custodia.

The company belongs to the Farchioni family, famous for its olive oil production. The winemaking is managed by Riccardo Cotarella, a famous Italian wine maker, in addition to the services of oenologist Marco Minciarelli.

The event is organised by the Italian Sommeliers Association in Rome, and will take place from 4:30pm to 7pm. For information go to the Bibenda site.

Photo| Enoteca Lombardi

Continue reading: Wine from Umbria: wine tasting from Terre De La Custodia wines

Piedmont is truly a beautiful region in Italy, famed for its Barolo wine, excellent cuisine and historical importance. A tour of Piedmont called Narrar castelli e vini combines these traditions in three Sunday tours to Langhe and Roero, in the Cuneo province, taking in the towns of Benevello, Magliano Alfieri and Serralunga d’Alba, Govone, Mango, Roddi and Grinzane Cavour.

The Grinzane Cavour castle is a symbol of the Langhe countryside and the headquarters of an important literary prize. Here on November 30, visitors will be treated to a castle tour narrated by Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, the mayor of the town.

On November 2nd, at Mango and Roddi, a tour of the buildings and places from the adventures of Sebastiano Sineo, hero of the assault on Turin in 1706, will take place, with narration of the characters from those times, and theatre sketches that give life to the castles of Piedmont.

A tour of the Langhe will take place on Sunday October 26, including the towns of Benevello, Magliano Alfieri and Serralunga d’Alba, including tastings of the local products in the wine shops of the town. For more information, go to the Narrar castelli e vini site.

Continue reading: Piedmont tours: wine tasting, castles and history

If you want to do some wine tasting in Italy with a difference, you could try the “treno del vino” or wine train, which passes through the Val d’Orcia and wine growing region of Montalcino, Tuscany.

The next events are October 12 with the Tuscany Slow Train (that passes from Siena to Val d’Orcia), and October 18 where the wine train leaves from Siena, passing through the Val d’Orcia on the discovery of Brunello di Montalcino.

The experience includes taste tasting traditional Italian dishes, visiting cellar doors in Tuscany and wine tasting, all with an incredible panorama and visits to the various towns and stations along the way. The cost of the trip is around 79 euros a person - worth it for such an original tour.

For more information contact info@winestation.it or the number 0577-832975.

Continue reading: Wine tasting in Italy: the wine train to Montalcino

If you’re looking for some wine tasting not far from Milan this week, you could try the open cellars event in Morbegno, in the Valtellina. About 30 minutes north of Colico, on Lake Como, Morbegno will open its cellar doors to wine tastings of nebbiolo from the Valtellina region.

Various wine tours can be completed, including the green and yellow course which involve the visit to 11 cellar doors and tastings of DOC, DOCG and IGT nebbiolo wines, along with local products such as cheese and bresaola. The cost is 12 euros.

If you want a step up from that, the red course costs 20 euros and involves tasting of the best wines from the Valtellina, including Reserves and Sforzati, served by sommeliers from the Italian Sommeliers Association.

The event closes this weekend, with cellar visits open from 8pm to 11pm on Friday, 4pm to 11:30pm on Saturday and 2pm until 10:30 pm on Sunday. For more information go to the Valtellina website.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Wine tasting tours in Italy: Valtellina cellars

As Brunello di Montalcino has been muched talked recently, it’s a great opportunity to go to some tastings as PR steps up after the Brunello scandal. Tenute Silvio Nardi is turning 50 and is celebrating its anniversary.

The AIS, or Italian Sommeliers’ Association, in collaboration with the company has organised an unusual tasting on September 29, with a triple comparative verticle of three Brunellos of recent vintages, produced in the various vineyards.

The event will be held at the Hotel Rome Cavalieri The Waldorf - Astoria in a double shift of tastings from 4:15pm to 6:15pm, and in the evening from 8:15 to 10:15. Entrance is free for AIS members, or visit this site for information on bookings, contacts and a list of the wines tasted.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Brunello di Montalcino tasting in Rome

While autumn in Italy is not the greatest season in some northern areas, until it snows and it’s time for skiing, it can be a fantastic time to get to know the local products. Autumn often marks wine tasting in Italy and culinary tours, before the winter sports season begins.

In the Valtellina on the weekend, a cow festival took place at Chiareggio in the Valmalenco. Officially called the Festa dell’Alpeggio, the festival marks the return of beasts and their carers to the town areas and stables after spending summer at high altitudes. The festival involves adorning the cows with floral garlands (for photos see Flickr), with the best winning a prize, and taste testing local cheeses and milk, with lunch served by some of the local restaurants.

Other fall events in Italy include the Eurochocolate festival in Perugia - this is a not-to-be-missed festival of Baci Perugina, and other Italian chocolate goodies. It starts in October. There are also plenty of truffle festivals, perhaps the most famous being the white truffle festival, or Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco, in Piemonte.

I’ll be attending our yearly “castagnata” with friends in October, which is our chestnut roasting party. For more tips go to Go Italy, and watch this space for more news and photos on events and autumn festivals in Italy.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Autumn festivals in Italy: chocolate in Perugia and wine tasting

On September 12 and 13 the second edition of the Salice Jazz Wine Festival in Salice Salentino will be held. After the success of the last edition, the fesival will be held in Piazza del Plebiscito with famous artists such as Dado Moroni, Javier Girotto, Rosario Giuliani, Flavio Boltro appearing.

This is a great opportunity to enjoy Italian wine with jazz, with some wine tasting from the Leone De Castris company, historic cellar in Salice Salentino.

Artistic direction of the event is managed by Andrea Sabatino. Entrance is free.

Continue reading: Wine tasting in Italy: the Salice Jazz Wine Festival