Wine regions
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to France and Italy for two weeks in October 2012. We would like to fly into Rome and travel to Paris by train where we would depart. We want to spend a few days in the big cities and the rest of the time in wine country. Any itinerary ideas? Wineries to visit, places to stay, etc?

www.beaune.com best in France capital of ancient Burgundy
www.lucca.info best prettiest vineyards in Italy
booking.com great lodging both areas.
seat61.com usually train like a local just hop on
works great for us never bookedway cheaper than car.

Have fun!

If you are looking for the best wine area in Italy, definitely get to Tuscany. The whole area is incredibly beautiful - you can't go wrong. This was a fantastic winery I visited in Tuscany:

http://www.verrazzano.com/en/

If you are willing to go outside of Rome, then my suggestion would be to visit Florence for a couple days. It's my favorite city in Italy and there is a bus that goes right to the town, Greti, that the winery above is in. You just have to ask someone at the bus station and they will point you in the right direction. In fact, it is easy to do a day trip to anywhere in Tuscany from Florence.

If you do happen to go to Florence, Hotel Pendini is fantastic. Absolutely perfect location right in one of the main piazzas. Then be sure to eat dinner at Osteria delle Belle Donne - perfect italian meal - the eggplant parm is out of this world.

If Florence isn't a part of your itinerary, then sorry for all of the extra info :) I am sure you will have an amazing time no matter what!

This all depends on what wines you like. Sangiovese would then be Tuscany and it is beautiful. If you like Pinot then Beaune France is also very facinating and beautiful place. Piedmonte is has spectacular food and wine. You could take a train over to Provance then Paris. Provance is also great. Just depends what you like.

Just a note, if you are going to Tuscany then you really should rent a car to get to the wine areas. Train to Orvieto, rent a car, come up S2.... spend time in Montalcino and all the wonderful Brunellos then up to Chianti to see this amazing area.

hi,

I started by looking at how you could easily travel by train from Italy to Paris; it turns out that you can do it from florence with just one change in milan in about 12 hours, which isn't too bad and would be more fun than the plane.

so after your few [3?] days in Rome, you could get the train to Orvieto, pick up a car, then drive up into tuscany, spend say, 4 nights exploring, then drive to siena, return car, spend a night there, get train/bus to Florence, spend 3 nights there, get train to Paris, finish trip.

the variations of such a trip are almost endless - staying in/near Chianti, or Montepulciano, or siena, or....

there is a place in siena where you can taste every sort of Italian DOC wine - http://www.enoteca-italiana.it/w2d3/...ca/esc_en.html

also there are many other possibilities for wine tasting in the area - have a look at Trip Advisor and google.

The claim that Tuscany is Italy's best wine region will likely be contested by a great number of wine lovers and experts, but of course, everyone has their own taste, and many will also concur. It should be mentioned, however, that oenophiles would typically rank Piemonte first (not just for the Barolos and Barbarescos, but also for North Piedmontese Nebbiolos, which are true insiders' stuff but can be incredibly great), and still many would value Umbria (Montefalco, Torgiano) higher than Tuscany.

Btw, Beaune is not ancient Burgundy's capital (that would be Dijon), but it actually is the center of Burgundy's red wine country. What should also not be underestimated is Burgundy's white wine - the more famous Chablis less so, but the all but unknown Macon district all the more.

I agree with the wines of Umbria being better than the Tuscan wines especially Montefalco and Verdicchio. Also don't forget the wonderful Rhone wines such as Chateauneuf du Pape or the great Roses from Cotes de Provence. My all time favorite region is Champagne as we love the French bubbly!

franco, cornelius - where would suggest the OP stay if s/he decided to follow your recommendations to explore the wines of Umbria?

and how to get from there to the Rhone [or burgundy] and thence to Paris.

Where to start!

How serious are you about wine and do you already have any preferences as to grape variety etc?

General de Gaulle reputedly said - how do you govern a country with 246 different cheeses? In many regions of Italy there are over 246 cheeses. No to mention different types of pasta and, of course, wine.

Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino, Veneto, Toscana, Umbria are by themselves (individually) all worthy of a visit for what they offer not to overlook Abruzzo, Puglia, Sicily and many other regions.

cchia130 - Castello da Verazzano is not considered one of the leading Tuscan vineyards (wineries) despite its obvious history but I always recommend that while in Florence you find time to lunch at the Cantinetta da Verazzano in Via dei Tavolini which is very close to Piazza della Signoria.

Ann, they might simply stick to your plan; just that they'd head, from Orvieto (which actually is in Umbria, of course), north-east to Montefalco and Torgiano instead of north-west to Montepulciano and Montalcino, staying in Montefalco or Torgiano proper, or in Bevagna or Foligno or Spello or Assisi, turning in the car in Perugia instead of Siena (or directly in Florence, of course).
As for Burgundy, same train that you recommended, just getting off earlier than in Paris, i.e. in Dijon.

We lived up our rental car in Perugia and from there drove to Umbria staying first near Bevagna and Assissi where we tasted many goon wines from Montefalco in different wine shops and from there drove to an Agriturismo in small village of Le Marche. When we left there we drove to Cinque Terre for a few days and headed to Genoa where we took train into Nice France and into Provence to taste the many wonderful Roses and the TGV to Paris.

Ah yes, and cornelius, I wanted to add that I, too, just love Verdicchio, but it's not from Umbria, it's from the Marche region. (Let's not talk too much about it :) - it's fortunately not yet famous!)

cornelius - that looks like a terrific plan - i might copy it myself!

Franco -where in le Marche is Verdicchio from, if you don't mind giving away your secret?

Oops forgot to say it is from Le Marche. We first tasted it at the Agriturismo where we stayed in that region. Crisp minerally white wine!

Ann, there are two Verdicchio DOCs: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and Verdicchio di Matelica, the former being the far larger and more famous (I also like the wine better, but that's a matter of taste of course) - so if you look up Jesi and Matelica on Google Maps, those are the centers of the Verdicchio growing region. Some basic information is available in English on this website: http://www.bbr.com/GB/grape-vr-verdicchio; strange enough, the most complete information a quick search comes up with is not in Italian but in German (I don't know whether you read German?): http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdicchio_di_Matelica and http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdicc...stelli_di_Jesi
What seem to be the official Italian DOC websites are both unusable: the Matelica site last updated in 2007, the Jesi website entirely offline... which leads back to my customary nagging at "Italians and the www".

strange enough, the most complete information a quick search comes up with is not in Italian but in German (I don't know whether you read German?):>>

lol - better than i read italian! very interesting, franco. thanks for the links. i do notice quite often that italian websites are quite old - they are obviously just too busy out having fun to update them!

I'm thinking about a trip in the autumn - starting in Rome, driving up into Umbria, [and now over into Le Marche] round to Orbetello for a few days to visit friends, and back to Rome.

leaving out any time we might want to spend in Rome, how long would you allow for such a trip?

I would allow 2 weeks. If you need name of Agriturismo in Le Marche let me know. we spent 5 nights there and could have stayed a couple more days.

Ann, it depends on what you want to do, and how long you want to stay with your friends. If it's just about wine tasting, and if you stay two or three days in Orbetello, even ten days might be sufficient, technically (note that I said sufficient, not satisfying). If you wish to visit also what is around in terms of art and architecture, you might easily extend that trip to one month. (Sorry, I don't seem to remember whether you already know other parts of Umbria than, of course, Orvieto.)

annhig, I spent 6 weeks in Umbria a few years ago and could have spent 6 months. Once you've seen all the major towns and gotten out into the hinterlands, it's truly compelling. I just couldn't stop driving around to the most remote places (including lots of wonderful spas way way out in the country). Give yourself as much time as you can.

We did 2 weeks in Umbria this past Sept, in a tiny town named Bazzano, just outside of Spoleto. It was heavenly, and the wine and food totaly amazing. Plus it in the midst of truffle country. Montefalco Rosso for everyday and Sagrantino with especially nice meals...yikes. Our landlord left us a nice Verdicchio, and that too was delightful. We had toured Tuscany several years ago and found it lovely as well, but I like Umbria a bit more.