Tour Journal 5.0: Wine, wine, wine, wine, wine….that’s all this group does (besides shop, eat and sightsee).

Dear Diary,

We start October 8th by boarding our lovely vehicle and making our way to Deruta; land of ceramics.  What fun to stroll from shop to shop perusing all they have to offer.  Then, as luck would have it, we are offered a spur of the moment backstage tour of the Gialletti Giulio shop and studio!

We watch as the potter makes a vase lickety split, followed by a bowl with scalloped edges….all in about 2 minutes.  We’re shown the giant kiln and are then amazed by the ginormous vat of underglaze each item is dipped into.  The best part is getting to watch the artists at work.  They are amazing…painting all the very delicate and intricate designs with a steady hand.  Maybe they don’t drink as much espresso as I do.

After hauling our purchases to the van, we make our way back to Todi for lunch and to get ready for cooking class.  We have a delicious lunch in a restaurant with a stupendous panoramic view of the valley.  It’s such a fabulous day to eat outside and soak in the natural beauty of the area.  Everyone opts for something different; pizzas, various salads.  We’re trying to eat light in anticipation of cooking class tonight.

Our cooking class is held in a beautiful winery called Decugnano dei Barbi between Todi and Orvieto.  It’s perfectly perched on a ridge with a view of Orvieto in the distance and row after row of grapevines falling away from every side.  We take a tour of the winery and even get to see how sparkling wine is made and stored in the old Etruscan tombs.  After the tour, we’re off to the restored chapel for cooking lessons.  We’re joined by another small group to make:  Focaccia bread, tagliatelle pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce, stuffed zucchini and brutti ma buoni cookies.  What a great name for these cookies!  It means, “ugly, but good”.  Along with each course, we get to taste the wines made here.

We had a long night last night.  We spent five hours at the winery and made our way back to the hotel rather late.  So Oct. 9th is a sleep-in morning.  Yay!  No alarm clocks.  But by 11:00, we are off to Montefalco.  For the first time, the weather is not cooperating.  Since its raining so much, it’s hard to sightsee.  What should we do?  I know…let’s eat!

We have a fantastic lunch; pasta cooked in Sagrantino wine, lentil soup…everyone chooses something different.  But there’s one thing on the menu that we ALL seemed to want: roasted artichokes.   Oh my!  They melted in your mouth leaving the crispy brown edges to crunch on.  Oh. So. Good.

After lunch, we’re in for a real treat.  We have a wine tasting at a winery that is so passionate about natural wine making.  We tour the facility and are amazed to see the freshly picked Sagrantino grapes drying on their racks.  Soon they will begin the process to become Sagrantino Passito, the famous sweet wine of the area.  I have tasted many passiti from Umbria (I am either proud or ashamed to say), and the passito from Paolo Bea is simply the best. 

We’ve been busy the past two days and the trip is winding down….only two more days left on the tour, but there is still so much to see and do!

More coming soon,
Irene