Trieste Region Wine Tour

Saturday, April 23

The Medical Group, which Preston's squadron falls under, planned a wine tour for anyone who wanted to go. It consisted of going to 3 different wineries (prosecco mainly, my favorite!), a distillery and enjoying a typical Italian lunch at an aguritisimo, all of these were located throughout the Treviso area in Northern Italy.

First stop of the wine tour was Astoria. This winery has produced wine for over 60 years and has received over 50 medals for their wines.

You think they are used to having huge crowds come to this winery because they have a huge open space just for tasting which is also beside all of their wine fermemters. There are even speakers so everyone can hear what they lady was telling us about the different wines we got to try.

We ended up trying 3 different wines, all while enjoying my favorite, the small Italian puffy bread sticks. Il Millesimato - Extra Dry, Rosé Fashion Victim - Extra Dry, and Cartizze - Dry. They were all really good. But I enjoyed the Rosé and the Il Millesimato the most.

After we sampled the wine, we could purchase as many bottles as we liked from their wine store. Of course I sampled a couple others before buying. We ended up purchasing 6 bottles from here, one being a 1.5L.

I highly recommend buying wine from here and keeping the bottles, as they are made from Murano glass and very beautifully designed!

On to the next winery, Bottega Del Vino or Villa Sandi. This winery has produced wine since the 18th century and is located in the center of the DOCG (Denomination of Origin Controlled and Guaranteed).

We got to sample 3 different wines here as well, along with the same type bread sticks as the other winery. This time we got to sample the Millesimato - Brut, Cuveé - Amabile, and the Raboso - red produced in the Prosecco Area.

These wines were still delicious, but not my favorite. I ended up buying 2 bottles of wine I saw in their wine shop that sounded delicious to me.

While spending our time at this vineyard, Preston and I found a nice swing outside to sit and relax on while enjoying our nice glass of wine.

Next stop on the itinerary was lunch!

We were having lunch at Agriturismo Vedova.

Always make sure you are hungry when you go to Italian restaurants because you will be given a lot of food! But the one nice thing is that you can usually eat everything and not feel like you are going to die stuffed.

Everyone had on their table bottles of naturale or frizzante water, along with different wines.

First, everyone got to enjoy their own plate of appetizers.

Next was polenta. I actually really enjoy eating polenta, as I do not get to eat it very often.

Now for the main dish, which was Treviso style grilled meats. There were 3 different kinds you could get. Before I knew this, I just let them put which ever ones on my plate. I ended up with rabbit and pig. Actually really tasty! Along with the main dish everyone was given peppers, tomatoes and roasted potatoes.

I ended up eating everything on my plate! I guess I was super hungry!

In between the main meal and desserts, we had time to go out on the balcony and see the beautiful views!

(A little dark, unfortunately)

Lastly, we got an assortment of different pastries, cookies and cakes for everyone to share. (forgot to get a picture) And of course as most people do, they order a café or cappuccino. but since neither Preston nor I drink coffee, we both skipped this part.

At the end they said if you liked the wine you could purchase it, as the wine we were served for lunch was wine they produce.

(Outside the agriturismo)

Now after being stuffed with delicious food it was time to go to another winery!

The next winery was called La Tordera.

Here we got to sample 3 more wines. Brunei - Brut, Alné - Extra Dry, and Millesimato - Dry.

They had a nice assortment of different cheeses, salami, crackers and bread for us and even though all of us had just finished eating lunch, we all seemed to go straight for the food after getting our first glass of wine. hehe

(Exploring the winery)

 At this winery I didn't even end up buying a bottle. The wines weren't bad, I just didn't feel like I needed to purchase any since I did not love them.

(Outside the winery)

I was very interested to see our last stop, as it was a distillery and I am definitely not a big fan of grappa. I always love the bottles they put it in, but that's about it.

The distillery we stopped at was called Premiata Distilleria Pagura. This is the oldest and the last distillery in the Pordenone province, with it being founded in 1879.

When we first got there, they had a video for us to watch about the distillery over the years.

We got to taste 3 different types of grappa that were served on or paired with some type of food. While sampling, a couple of the owners played music for us and sang. This family loves music and having a good time with friends and family!

The first grappa we got to sample was blueberry grappa, that was served on panna cotta, which wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be.

Next tasting was grappa aged in wood, that was served in a chocolate cup. I don't know how, but Preston actually liked this one, the only thing I liked was the chocolate cup.

Last sample we tried was a traminer grappa that was served with fruit. I was about to try it, but had to put it down because it smelled even more potent than vodka to me. But I did enjoy the fruit stick! :)

After sampling we could relax and enjoy their music, walk around their courtyard, try more of the different grappas they produce or purchase something from their shop.

Their courtyard had some interesting and unique things. But it worked really well and look nice.

I always love the different designs and shapes the grappa bottles come in. So of course we had to look around and see if we found any interesting looking bottles we had to have. There were a few that stood out to me, but one Preston really liked. It was a celebration bottle for the 100th anniversary of the Great War.

If anybody purchased a bottle and wanted something wrote on it, the guy who inscribes their bottles was there and would put any saying on the bottle for you. Unfortunately, our bottle could not be wrote on.

Finally time to head back home. This was definitely a long, but fun-filled day!! I love going on wine tours, and can't wait to go on another one! :)