Flashback to Italy: A delicious wine triggers memories of Montepulciano

In May 2016, we took a really wonderful trip to Italy. We were gone for almost a month. Our itinerary included Milan, Piedmont, Cinque Terra, Umbria, Amalfi Coast, and Rome. We were planning a return trip to Italy this June. That seems quite unlikely now with the coronavirus causing such devastation there.

GATTAVECCHI VERNACCIA

We, of course, are in the midst of social-distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders. So on Saturday night, we made a special meal and opened a bottle of wine that we had brought back from that remarkable trip four years ago.

Here's the story ...

We were staying at an agriturismo in the tiny little town of Civitella D'agliano outside of Orvietto. The weather wasn't so great. On the last day of our stay the forecast was for rain. We had planned to drive around the region and do some wine tasting. According to the forecast, the weather looked less threatening farther north. My wife suggested we go to Montepulciano. That was a little further than I had wanted to go. But we had time, we had a car, and the weather forecast seemed better. So off we went.

It took about 90 minutes to get there. We found parking on a street below the town square. Honestly, the weather still looked iffy, but we decided to leave the umbrellas in the car. We walked up to the square and started looking around. Then it started to rain. Actually, it was a downpour. We ducked into an "enoteca" along with some other tourists. We tasted a couple of the wines available there, but they weren't anything special.

On my iPhone, I checked TripAdviser to see what other wineries were available nearby. One, called Gattevecchi, had very high ratings. The rain shower passed, and we set out to find the winery. I relied on Google Maps on my phone for directions.

We found the address and went inside. There we encountered an elderly woman with a very stern countenance and who did not speak a word of English. I don't know a lot of Italian, but somehow I figured out that Google had lead us to the business office. The tasting room was on the other side of the town square.

Happy days in Montepulciano

By now, the clouds had started to disperse and the sun started to dry the streets. We found the Gattevecchi cantina, but the tasting room and retail shop seemed to be deserted. We were about to leave when a very friendly woman came rushing to greet us. It turns out that besides the tasting room there's also a restaurant and she had been busy getting guests seated for lunch.

She gave us a quick history of the winery and a tour. And then we started tasting. We liked the wine very much and ended up buying some to bring home. As we chatted with the proprietor, we learned that Total Wine & Spirits carries Gattevecchi wines. Out of curiosity, when we got home I checked the pricing at Total Wine and was surprised to learn that it was almost exactly the same as what we paid at the winery.

The bottles of red wine we drank relatively soon after returning from the trip. But somehow, the bottle of white got overlooked until Saturday when we wanted something special to go with our dinner at home. Our menu was shrimp seared on a grill pan and Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms With Gremolata and Quinoa. We had a very pleasant evening savoring the wine with the meal and remembering our rainy-day adventure in Montepulciano.