We woke up on Saturday very excited about our day. Did you know that the Prosecco region of Italy is one hour from Venice? I did not either until Ken did a little research and discovered this wonderful fact. We hired a private driver to take us to wineries in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene region of Italy.
I did sneak off for a quick run around Venice, which proves to be rather challenging when you are trying not to get lost!
Once again, the scenery was very beautiful and picturesque.
Venice early in the morning
We took a quick one-hour train and met our driver at the train station. Oriana had arranged all of our wine tastings and we quickly discovered that we were in for a real treat. The tastings were different than those in the United States and we quickly realized that we would be getting one on one tastings with the owners/winemakers.
Our first stop was Marchiori where Sara taught us all about the difference between Prosecco and Prosecco Superiore DOCG, which is what we would be tasting at the wineries we were visiting.
We sampled four different Proseccos and realized that Prosecco tastes much different in Italy than the DOC bottles we drink in the USA. This stuff was delicious!!
Ken was loving his tasting of Prosecco Superiore!
I loved the Prosecco! This was the highlight of the trip for me.
Us with Sara. She is an attorney turned wine maker and was so knowledgeable.
Inside the tasting room of Marchiori
We loved the wine at Marchiori and we purchased a case to have shipped home. Sara was so kind and knowledgeable and we really enjoyed learning about Prosecco.
We left Marchiori and Oriana started driving up into the hills. Soon enough we arrived at our next stop, Riva Granda, where Silvia was waiting for us with delicious salami, cheese, bread, and Prosecco of course. We could not believe the views from Silvia's property.
Riva Granda vineyards
Silvia plans to redo this building making it a partial tasting room and guest house. The views from this house are beautiful!
Enjoying my day tasting Prosecco
More gorgeous views
Looking down to the village below
Having a wonderful day together
The vines are so beautiful. Every grape is picked by hand. No machines are used in these vineyards.
The majority of the wineries and vineyards in this region are family-owned and run.
We loved our tasting at Riva Granda. The Momi was our favorite.
Us with Silvia. Silvia was kind to us.
We left the building up in the hills and drove down to the valley to Riva Granda's current building. We ordered six bottles of wine to be shipped back home and got a look at the salami room which was home to our delicious salami from our tasting.
Riva Granda's salami room. We loved the homemade salami that was part of our tasting.
After Riva Granda, we had lunch with a view and wine. The food was delicious and the view was even better.
Our view during our Italian lunch
After lunch we went to our final winery of the day, Merotto. I have no pictures from this winery, due to the amount of wine that had previously been consumed. I even told the lady at this winery that I needed a smaller tasting, but she insisted that I try them all. When in Rome, I suppose! The wine was delicious, but the wheels were starting to fall off fast. It was quite clear that I had been overserved.
Soon enough, we were back on the train to Venice. One of us was awake for the train ride and one of us was not.
The sign of a great time on an Italian Prosecco tour.
We got back to our hotel and I told Ken there was no way possible I could go to dinner. I guess the small amount of lunch I had in no way was enough with all of the Prosecco that was consumed.
It is safe to say I called it an early night.
Ken, however, had a lovely evening around Venice. He enjoyed his dinner, cocktails, and walking around. I enjoyed my sleep.
Taken on Ken's Saturday night in Venice, alone.
Beautiful Venice
The Prosecco tour was absolutely amazing. The sweetest part about it was that Ken is the one that suggested we go on such a tour. Sparkling wine has never been his thing, but after this tour, he is in love!
