Wine Tasting - Wine Tours in Italy

It’s known that increasingly people, especially rich people, are investing in estates including vineyards.

Italy is becoming the favorite destination for celebrities looking for vineyards in Tuscany or Piedmont or Veneto, just to name a few of the areas which mostly attract the interest of foreigners.

What maybe people don’t know, is that wine companies delivered beautiful returns to the investors over the last couple of years.

A study conducted by Italy’s leading merchant bank, Mediobanca, reveals that wine stocks have averaged 35 percent growth in 2004 (+11.8 percent was the average growth for stocks in the world) and a more moderate 3.4 percent n 2005.
The report has been released by Mediobanca during Vinitaly ehibition, in Verona.

Among the other figures emerging at Vinitaly:
- 297 millions of hectoliters is the yearly production of wine in the world;
- Italy is ranked as second in the table of producer countries, behind France, ahead of Spain,
- but is first in the world for exports.

Starting from tomorrow April 6, for five days, Verona will be the world capital of quality wines.

The prestigious exhibition ‘Vinitaly’ taking place in Verona - April 6, through 10, will host 4,000 exhibitors from worldwide, presenting their best productions.
Top level guided tasting sessions, conferences, competitions, and meetings are scheduled in these ‘wine five days’.

Among the guided tastings organised by Vinitaly:
- Tuscany in Eight Wines,
- Wines of Sicily,
- the Wines of Veneto and Friuli,
- Vinis Extremis - Heroic & Extreme Viticulture,
- Ice wines.

In ‘Food and wine pairing’ tastings, Italian wines will be served together with the best dishes of European high gastronomy.

Four chefs of “Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe” and representing Spain, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland (one every day) will present a ‘Food and wine pairing’ combining their dishes and Italian wines. Every chef will prepare 3 dishes for every tasting; for pairing with different wines. ( See details )

Brad Pitt would be interested to buy an estate including vineyards, in Piedmont. The Hollywood star, would be just latest among the many celebrities interested to own vineyards in Italy.

It’s rumoured that Brad Pitt viewed two estates, both of which are worth more than 6 million Euros, in the area surrounding Alba, famous for red wines, such as Barolo and Dolcetta D’Alba, and the classic white, Gavi.

He was shown around the 20-acre properties, which both have vineyards and produce their own wine, while he was in Italy for the Winter Olympics.
Before the event, he stayed at the Fontanafredda estate at Serralunga, 10 km from Alba. (Source)

Usually, Tuscany is at the top of the preferences expressed by foreigner people, who are attracted from so famed wines such as Brunello, Vino Nobile, Chianti and from the so well known Tuscan countryside.
However, through the Winter Olympic Games, Piedmont gained more exposure as a highly rated wine land, and now can compete with Tuscany, in attracting rich people looking to buy estates and vineyards in the Italian countryside.

The historic Castello Faletti di Barolo, in Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, will host a wine museum.

The castle, located in the heart of Langhe, in the province of Cuneo, is a medieval fortress and an ideal home for a wine museum. It will be transformed inside and in three thousand square metres, through multimedia pictures, it will show how wine is made: processes, terrains, seasons, colours, tastes, but also tell about the history, literature, art, and smells.

The Langhe area is well known for famed wines as Barolo, Dolcetto, Barbaresco, Nebbiolo as well as for great food. Several of the local food specialties and recipes are truffles-based; Alba,the main center of the area, located 10km away from Serralunga, is named the ‘Italian capital of truffle’.

In a few minutes drive, within a few km range, the area offers visitors a lot of attractions and places that are worth to visit.
The tour we suggest takes you through the area named “Via del Barolo” (the Barolo road). It offers a great opportunity to combine visits to a lot of historic sites and wine museums with sampling of some of the most excellent wines and great food, as well as admiring breathtaking countryside landscapes. Below you have the main attractions in the area and the tour itinerary map.

• Alba: The Duomo (XV Century), Medieval towers, S.Giovanni Battista Church, Castello di Grinzane (8 km outside the city) which

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