Return to Garda

three grappas from the Garda region

Just over a year and a half ago Mrs Cake and I took our booze tourism adventures to Lake Garda in northern Italy (which you can read about here), and last year we decided to go back – because we were offered a discount to stay in the same apartment. Actually, not just for that reason; also because it was really good.

So we landed at Milan’s Bergamo airport at around 5pm (UK time) on the Wednesday afternoon. We had already chosen to remain in UK time for the purpose of keeping our little girl on her regular schedule of naps and meals. There were certainly no problems there, but this would lead to one or two difficulties and errors along the way that we’ll get to later.

I picked up a couple of take-out beers at an airport outlet (Ceres Strong Ale, 7.7%, 3 out of 5) for when we got back to the apartment.

After picking up the rental car (which always takes ages because queuing is an under-utilised concept in Italy) we had an hour’s drive to the accommodation, by which time it would be 7pm and getting on for little Sylvie’s bed time. We decided Mrs Cake would take care of bed time activities while I drove down the mountain to the Italmark supermarket for supplies (water, wine, beer, bananas – that last item for little Sylvie’s breakfast) and the nearby pizza bar for takeaway.

Both were closed, but I wasn’t about to give up. Otherwise it would be bed with no tea, and in the morning no breakfast and no water for the little girl to drink. You can probably drink the tap water in Italy these days, but not knowing that for sure, it was time to be the provider. I started to drive toward Salo, figuring there would have to be something open, and after one or two dead ends I found a hotel-restaurant-pizzeria and returned home with two pizzas, a bottle of house white wine and a big bottle of water. Result.

Triumph over adversity is a beautiful feeling.

The next day the people back home would be voting on whether we would remain part of the European Union. Mrs Cake and I had already voted by post, and were hoping for a victory for remain. While all that went on we got on with things. First on the agenda, after getting our little girl up and fed, was a trip to the supermarket to get food for the week, overstock on cold drinks, and get some preliminary booze.

Let’s start then, by looking at some beer selections from the local supermarket.

Peroni varieties

Peroni Nastro Azzurro is a very popular beer here in the UK. It seems to be the lager that is acceptable for drinking when you’re having a meal out. I first came across some of the other varieties of Peroni when we went to Tuscany, but I have noticed one or two of them since on the shelves at local supermarkets. Nevertheless, there are still more varieties available in Italy than there are in the UK.

I picked up the following:

Gran Riserva Puro Malto (5.2%), or pure malt, and I scored it a mere 3 out of 5.

special Peroni?

Gran Riserva Rossa (5.2%), or red pure malt. I was looking forward to this one. I, for some reason, thought it might have been aged in burgundy casks or something, and would be quite special. It doesn’t appear that anything of the sort is the case. I scored it a very disappointing 2 out of 5.

Gran Riserva Doppio Malto (6.6%), or double malt. I have seen this one in UK supermarkets, and would say it’s worth a punt at that nicely elevated ABV. With this one I finally started to deliberately score quarter points on Untappd, awarding it 3.25 out of 5.

For those distinctbeer enthusiasts who are thinking of visiting Italy, other varieties you can look out for are Peroni Gluten (gluten-free), Chill Lemon (a Radler), and Forte which is an impressive 8%. I didn’t see any of those on my travels, but rather on the Peroni website when I got home to do some research for this post.

Moretti varieties

Also available in the local supermarket were a selection of similarly packaged Morettis, representing various regions. I consider Moretti to be a decent quality lager, so I thought I’d get these because they’d also be decent additions to my distinct beers total. The ones I found were:

Lucana (5.8%), an amber ale with a scent of laurel (?) and a slight flavour of eucalyptus and mint (?!). Not things I’d normally be looking for in a beer… I thought it tasted gingery, but that could be my uncultured palate failing to identify eucalyptus. 2 out of 5.

Toscana (5.5%), a dark honey lager with “a chestnut aroma and scents of dry erbs and pine”, according to the website. I had no comment for this, but scored it 3 out of 5.

regional Moretti

Friulana (5.9%), a light yellow lager that tastes of apples. It really does. Fuck knows who wants their beer to taste of apples. I scored it 2.5 out of 5.

Piemontese (5.5%), an amber lager that is supposed to taste of blueberries. I wasn’t able to detect that, and scored it 3 out of 5.

Pugliese (5.6%0, an amber beer, that I actually wrote that I hadn't been able to find. I certainly hadn' logged it. Nevertheless, now that I come to post this, I find a picture, proving that I did find it.

I wasn’t able to get the Pugliese or Siciliana varieties but, as the ones I did try all seemed to be the same lager with an external influence of one kind or another – and as I didn’t enjoy them all that much – I think it’s safe to assume that I didn’t miss out on too much. Anyway, as we’ll find out shortly, there were other beers to be concerned with.

Nardini

The next job was to pick out a bottle of grappa to drink during the week. It was a mammoth task as, as you can see from the photo, there was a veritable butt-load to choose from. And they were all well within the limit of my budget.

a selection of supermarket grappas

I went for the Nardini because I’d heard of it, it was a full 70cl, and it contained a cosy 50 ABVs. You’d be looking at around £37 plus P&P in the UK, while mine was around 15 euros. That was a large factor in my decision – the fact that I was already interested in trying it, and that I knew I wouldn’t want to buy it at home – why not buy it here, where it’s cheap?

Nardini - and a view

There was a bit of confusion in that the label states “Aquavite”, so I wasn’t sure whether this actually was grappa (once I got it back to the apartment). I looked for it on various websites and alls I could find was an identical bottle that said “grappa” on the label. Finally, I have to conclude that they are the same since fact of the matter is that aquavite is merely a synoynym of distillate. So grappa is an aquavite of grape pomace. It’s not for certain, but it’s the best I can ascertain from the information available.

As far as the drinking is concerned, it tastes like grappa, the extra alcohol gives the spirit a nice, full body and an extra, not un-welcome sweetness. I tried it straight at first, and figured at 50% a bit of water would be in order, but over the course of a couple of evenings I realised I’d been preferring it straight, so that was how I proceeded and then finished it.

What with everything else I drank during our stay (mostly during the evening when the day’s driving was definitely done) 70cl was almost a struggle to get through. One glass was nudged off the corner of a table (and smashed) by Mrs Cake, but nevertheless, I had to drink four large glasses on the last evening of our stay. By this stage, Brexit had cast a gloomy shadow over everything, but the cheap cigar I picked up at the bottom of the hill made everything better – until the next day when we’d have to find out how much Mrs Cake nearly driving us off a cliff would cost us with the rental company, and what returning to a politically divided UK would bring.

Nardini – this bottle at least – is far from the best example of grappa I’ve enjoyed so far. It is perhaps a little too rugged, too utilitarian. I suspect some Italians might tell you that’s how grappa should be, but I’ve been coming across some beautiful, refined examples in the last few years (as you’ll know if you read this blog), and I prefer those.

Wine Tour Part One

phone notes

In my pre-trip research I’d laid the foundations for some potential grappa tours – one such being an excursion to some distilleries in the Brescia region, to the west of our location, and the other being to the east, in the Vicenza area. These are easily accessible from the region around the southern end of Garda – as indeed is the Trento region, as we’d found out last time – but with our little girl still a month shy of a year old, we ultimately decided to err on the side of caution when it came to road trips. So instead of embarking on journeys that would take an hour or more (in the outward direction), we decided to keep our focus within 15 to 30 minutes of our home. Our host’s website showed that there was a world of wine within our grasp and, as had been the case in Tuscany, a lot of these vineyards, wineries and cantinas also produced their own grappas.

For the most part, they are open to the public from Monday to Saturday from 8.30 until 12, and then from 2 until 6 (give or take half an hour, depending on individual preferences). On this first outing we tried to arrive at our first target for afternoon opening. This should allow us to visit two or three places, then get back to the apartment in time for little Sylvie’s afternoon nap.

Now, we couldn’t find every cantina that was on our list of possibilities, but I had some backups (hastily prepared using the wi-fi at the apartment), so here’s what we got.

Monteacutodi Leali Antonio - Just a few minutes out of Salo, on the SS572 that skirts around the south western end of Garda, the satnav instructs you to turn right onto a country lane that leads by vineyards and to the tiny settlement of Puegagno del Garda. I park next to the fields, turning the car around in the expectation that we’ll be heading back to the main road after this.

I go to do a little recce, to make sure we aren’t getting the baby out of her car seat for no good reason, and find a sign directing me into a little courtyard. There’s no one obviously around, but it is just after lunch, so I go back and get Mrs Cake to come exploring with me.

After a minute or two, and with the help of a dog, I get the attention of a lady who comes down to help. She’s friendly and welcoming and doesn’t speak a word of English, but she’s happy to show us her showroom and let us sample some products. As with most Italians, she loves to see little Sylvie.

After a couple of purchases (Mrs Cake selects some pink fizz – Turmalino at 8 euros – and I some artfully packaged grappa, white in a dark glass bottle for 13 euros for 50cl), we head out encouraged, into the heat and back to the car for round 2.

At the Franzosi showroom

Cantina Franzosi – It soon turns out that turning the car around was a waste of effort because our next destination is behind us and only just up the road. I briefly consider walking because the satnav suggests it’s not far, and it seems easier than putting the baby back in the car seat. I don’t act on that, and it turns out that it’s a bit further than I thought – not very, but far enough to drive.

In contrast to Monteacuto, Franzosi is a larger, more industrial operation. I’m thinking that still makes it seem bigger than it is, but it is a more modern building with a car park, a warehouse and a forklift truck. At the back is a large and well-stocked showroom with many varieties of wine and grappa (one particularly fancy looking 3 year old at 43 euros for 50cl) as well as oils and vinegars.

By now little Sylvie is starting to get a little antsy, so I walk her around the building a little, trying not to bother the employees and keep her away from things she maybe shouldn’t be touching. She isn’t wearing shoes and the floor of the warehouse quickly turns her little feet black.

Meanwhile in the showroom Mrs Cake is being plied by the friendly host with four generous glasses of various wine varieties. Every now and then I hoist up little Sylvie and return her to this starting point before she gets herself in trouble. A couple of varieties of grappa are presented also, and we both select Rebo for our purchases – partly on the recommendation of our host. I could afford, and even be open to buying the 3 year old but as I’m already aware that grappa doesn’t tend to survive ageing more than 2 years all that well, I think it’s telling that it isn’t recommended to me. I also decide to pick up four new grappa glasses. I forget how much Mrs Cake’s wine cost, but my grappa was 14.50 for 70cl.

IlRoccolo – we fail to find the next cantina on our list, so we abort that one and instead come to il Roccolo in Polpenazze del Garda. Once again we are greeted warmly and treated to fresh wine samples, grappa samples and even finger foods for the baby. Mrs Cake selects a bottle of red for herself and a bargain white for our neighbour who is looking after Ruby the cat while we’re away. I also plump for another grappa, making it three for three. We’re already most of the way to achieving our take home target of four bottles each (and one for the neighbour).

It’s time to head home and relax while the little lady sleeps.

Rarrw! Manerba brews

ManerbaMicrobrewery

Now, this is a place we went to last year to pick up one of each of their various beers. It’s a short drive from where we were staying, and indeed, close to many of the cantinas we visited during our stay. There was no one else there the first time we went, so we just picked up a box of 8 or 9 beers and went on our merry way. This time – after an occasion where we tried to go before they’d opened – we figured we might be able to get an early evening dinner while we picked up our beers.

It was probably about 17.30 when we got there this time, and it was thriving. We were sat outside with an Italian couple who were interested to know about the Brexit thing (though there was a great language barrier, so we talked a little bit about football instead), where we could listen to the rock n’ roll soundtrack and see a procession of people call in either for their own dinners or to pick up a box of beers.

In terms of food, they’ve gone for a kind of American roadhouse type menu – burgers, wings and that, so it probably doesn’t provide the authentic Italian dining experience that many tourists would be looking for, but it was decent enough food.

And the beer…

The branding has been changed somewhat; shifting from a simple but classic look with plain labels and a small follow the bear style emblem to stark black and electric, ZX Spectrum-type colours with a simple image representative of a snarling bear. I prefer the old style, but Mrs Cake saw the merits of the new one.

Luppulula, 5.2% – this one hadn’t been available last time, and it was the one I chose to drink on draught with my meal (it wasn’t available in a bottle). It’s classed as a pilsner, but it’s very light in body and in colour. 3/5

Fiordalisa, 4.8% - this is a wheat bear, which is usually a favourite genre of mine. That is reflected in the score, and that, at this point I’d given up relying on the fridge to get my beers cold, and had started sticking them in the freezer for 40 minutes prior to opening. 4/5

La Bionda, 5.2% - a Helles style lager, I scored this quite low. I must have been a little disappointed. 2.75/5

La Rocca, 6.8% - a Belgian Tripel that comes in one of those oversized bottles, topped with a cork. 4/5

Cucunera, 7% - a good strong bock, and a favourite of the range for me. 4.5/5

Weizen, 5.2% - a Hefeweizen and, again, a very good one. 4.5/5

Hop ‘n’ Roll, 4.7% - a pale ale, another favourite. 4.5/5

Rebuffone, 6.7% - also presented in an oversized bottle, this Belgian Dubbel didn’t quite reach the heights of the last three, but still; 4/5.

Wine tour part 2

You may not believe it, but a good smattering of months has passed since I last wrote anything on this post. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly I just couldn’t be bothered to write it anymore. Luckily, that’s all over with now and I feel like I can proceed again, though I have to warn you, my memory has faded somewhat and I might not be able to recall all the details. At least that means it won’t take as long to write – or read – right?

So anyway, our second wine tour was a chance to mop up some of the cantinas that were either a little too out of the way, or that we didn’t have time for on our previous excursion. We didn’t plan a big one though, as having already purchased 3 bottles of grappa and 4 bottles of wine, we simply didn’t have the luggage capacity to buy any more. I figured then that we could visit two cantinas, buying a bottle of wine at one and a bottle of grappa at the other – you don’t have to, but you kind of would prefer to be able to buy something everywhere you visit to make the effort the proprietor has put in worthwhile.

Our first stop, LeChiusure, turned out to be something of an unpleasant experience. Let’s make no bones about it. It was quite hard to find, with roadworks blocking the route the satnav wanted to take, and when we got there we ended up going through the wrong entrance, which meant strolling across some beautiful grounds that really ought to have been reserved for the family. They didn’t seem to mind, but we did feel we were imposing on their privacy.

In the showroom Allessandro Luzzago was already concluding business with a couple of visitors from the UK – visitors who were casually buying a couple of cases of his wine. Through this, a couple of sample bottles were already open, though one of the customers recommended we try the Portese. We requested to do so, and the proprietor opened a new bottle for us. Mrs Cake decided to buy that, and the annoyance on the proprietor’s face at opening a new sample bottle to secure a purchase of only one bottle was unmistakable. He quickly tried to make out it didn’t matter, but we knew that really it did. Really, I could understand this, but everywhere else we went the proprietors opened fresh bottles at the drop of a hat, and were delighted no matter how little we wanted to buy. I suppose it’s possible that most other cantinas can put these open bottles to good use later the same day, while perhaps Le Chiusure doesn’t have that kind of set up. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in our mouths and left us apprehensive about continuing our adventure.

Was the wine any good? Well, as you know, I don’t tend to comment on wine. It seemed fine to me.

We had been late leaving the apartment that day – a result of keeping our clocks on UK time, to facilitate little Sylvie’s naps, remember - so when this first visit was concluded it was nearing lunch time, and all the cantinas would be closing. We decided to head into the nearby town of San Felice del Benaco and grab some lunch, then see how we felt after that.

After that we felt like maybe calling at Turina, which we’d spotted was on the main road through the industrial state at Manerba. It can be tough to pad out two hours though, even with lunch in southern mainland Europe, so we arrived at the site a good 20 minutes before it was due to open. The car park was bathed in direct sunlight, and little Sylvie was uncomfortable and upset, so we ended up parking under the only shade, which was actually in the middle of the road around the building.

It wasn’t a very happy time, but eventually someone arrived to open up, and they actually let me in early. He seemed confused by my presence, and my clumsy attempts at conversation got me nowhere, so I ended up just purchasing a bottle of Invecchiata, the aged grappa for 14 euros (I think). Finally we could head back to the apartment, and spend the rest of the afternoon drinking and relaxing by the pool.

Final Days

Brexit did cast a gloomy air over proceedings (and did pretty much ruin our holiday – and indeed, much of my waking life since. I wonder if anyone else is as worried about all this as I am?), but that didn’t stop us trying to get our party on for the last couple of days. The Manerba beers were dwindling, and it was time to revisit the supermarket and see what I could add to my distinct beers for the week.

Bad Brewer, but, presumably they mean bad in a good way

What I picked up this time were three varieties of Bad Brewer, an Italian brand described as street food beers – so they’re small bottles, and funkily branded – presumably intended for drinking with fancy burgers.

Now, as I said a little earlier, all this happened a while ago now, and I can’t remember much detail. Untappd tells me though that the Pale Ale scored 3.5/5 and the California Common and Amber Ale both scored 3/5.

Finally I picked up a super strength Dutch lager, whose cans had caught my eye – all shiny and gold, like. Even more importantly, this 8.6 Gold by Bavaria Brouwerij was 6.5% ABV. But it only scored 2/5.

Duty Free

Finally it was time to head home and find out what life in a fractured and divided Britain was now like. I’d been reading articles about increases in racism and hate crime, Corbyn’s shadow cabinet had resigned – which at first seemed likea good thing – and it all seemed like a great big shitstorm. I actually wished I’d been home the whole time, so that I could at least see things from my own perspective. The distance of a bit of a continent was distorting.

First though, there was the prospect of Duty Free. I’m sorry to say, that once we sorted out the damage to the rental car and got through security and all that, I had no enthusiasm for extra purchases left in me. I also felt a little rushed and didn’t have the luxury of time to adequately evaluate what was on offer. I did have a quick peruse, but all the grappa looked to be around twice the price it would have been in the supermarket. I should perhaps have looked at vermouth or even an Italian chocolate liqueur I’d heard about, but like I say, my mind just wasn’t in the right place.

We went home. Life, for us at least, was pretty much the same as it had been when we left, it was just hard to feel upbeat about the future. I think I’m used to that feeling now. Shit happens, we’ll deal with it. It doesn’t necessarily stop you feeling low, but you deal with it, don’t you?

There will be no trip back to Italy in 2017 unfortunately, and probably no trip to France either – which was something we’d been planning – because redecorating the hallway and carpeting the upstairs bedrooms is looking likely to cost £2k. But that’s life, isn’t it? There’s always next year, and this year’s going to be good anyway. Little Sylvie continues to develop, and there are loads of beers and spirits to try. Let’s get on it.

And if you come back next week, I’ll be looking at the grappas I picked up that week in a little more detail.

Booze Tourism: More from Lake Garda

Wine in the process of ageing at Tenuta San Leonardo

A bit later than intended, let’s return now to my tale of booze-related adventures around Lake Garda. We begin where we left off last time, on our way from the grappa village of Santa Massenza, up to Trento, for a winery tour.

Mezzacorona tour

We continued our drive north from Santa Massenza, and before long came to the town of Trento – just north of which lies the sprawling and modern Mezzacorona plant. After our satnav had sent us to the tradesman’s entrance and we were redirected round to the front, we were able to find the shop where you can buy multiple cases of wine, and the reception, where they were expecting me.

We were greeted by Veronica (not our friend of the same [pseudo] name), with whom I had arranged the visit in advance. It was nice to be expected after the day’s earlier activities – it meant I could relax while Veronica escorted us and an Italian couple around in two languages.

This tour was 5 euros each, and was focused specifically on the sparkling wine that Mezzacorona produces. I hadn’t planned for it to be that way, but it turns out we really didn’t know anything about how sparkling wine is made, so it was very informative in that sense.

Mezzacorona is a collective organisation, utilising the produce of 1500 growers to make [something like] 40 million bottles of still wine per year, and [something else like] 3 million bottles of sparkling wine. You’ll have to forgive my innacurracy around the numbers there; it was something like that, but I don’t recall exactly what we were told. It was a lot.

The modern technology employed allows the winery to control the temperature at every stage, and has even enabled them to automate the rotation process necessary in the production of sparkling wine, using a number of mechanised crates to each rotate 504 bottles at a time for a period of 12 days, where by hand it would take 40*.

It was a decent tour and we learned a lot. I don’t want to tell you any more as it might ruin it for a trip of your own. That, and my memory doesn’t permit me to write about it with too much clarity. I’ll just say, it’s worth a trip if you’re in the area. The scale of production here is staggering and, of course, you’ll get to try some wine at the end.

And that concluded our Tuesday grappa and wine excursion. A great time was had by all, I reckon. The drive back wasn’t as relaxing or pleasant as the drive up, as the satnav chose to take us on the motorway, so there was no scenery and it cost us around 10 euros in tolls, but presumably it saved us a lot of time and we were getting hungry.

*once again, please allow for my poor memory in terms of actual numbers.

Tenuta San Leonardo

lovely views at San Leonardo

The same source that led us to visiting Mezzacorona was also the one responsible for sending us over the mountains on Garda’s eastern side on the Friday for a visit to Tenuta San Leonardo. I remembered the source as saying that if you get a chance to visit, then you should. Though it doesn’t actually say that. I am saying it to you now though.

I think by the Friday morning, Mrs Cake and I were feeling a bit worn out after a stretch of protracted stressing over whether we’d be able to print out our return flight boarding passes, so I have to admit that when we awoke that morning, we weren’t even sure as to whether we would bother making the journey to Borghetto. I had made the necessary arrangements for a tour and packaged some literature up as part of Mrs Cake’s birthday present, but I made her aware that this one was optional. I hadn’t paid a deposit or anything, so if she didn’t feel up to it, that was fine. I’d just buy her something else.

That would have been a bit lame, so I went to the car to have the satnav tell me how long it would take that morning, and it was only going to be an hour and a half. The weather wasn’t great, so we thought we’d go for it.

What I didn’t realise when booking our tour, was that when they refer to San Leonardo as an estate, that’s exactly what they mean – in the noble sense. I won’t go into all the history, as I simply wouldn’t be able to do it justice, but believe me; there is a lot of it, and you can read a little more on their website.

We arrived at the gates, not really certain we’d reached our destination. The satnav said that’s where we should be, but there was no sign – just a small wine bar and some closed gates. We pulled in and awkwardly wondered what to do – eventually resulting in Mrs Cake heading into the wine bar to make enquiries. When she emerged, she motioned for me to follow. And that’s when we met the Marchese Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga. Yes, an actual Marchese, and a very friendly and incredibly well-dressed gentleman he was too. He offered us a coffee and, not realising who we were talking to, I assumed he was visiting too and so, asked him where he’d come from. He said Rome, but I thought he said Norway. At this point Mrs Cake looked over my shoulder to the wall and saw it was covered with pictures and press clippings, in all of which was the gentleman I was speaking to. What an idiot – me, not him. Anyway, it was lovely, and at this point Joseph, with whom I had been corresponding with regard to arranging this visit entered and removed any embarrassment by taking us inside to begin the tour.

I have to admit to being something of a novice when it comes to wine. I may even have been slightly disparaging about it in my youth – you know, way back when the blog started – but by now I’ve built up a bit of curiousity and have definitely been open to learning more. Nevertheless, I briefly felt I might be a bit out of my depth when we met Joseph and he told us that, not only was San Leonardo one of the foremost wine producers in Italy, but the gentleman we had just met was one of the great pioneers in Italian winemaking. In simple terms; this was kind of a big deal. And I had pretty much happened across it in the frenzied internet research I’d tried to squeeze in in the weeks prior to our holiday. Result.

So we went on a walk around the beautiful grounds of the estate, seeing vineyards, getting the history and, since the tour was just for the three of us, the chance to ask as many questions as we liked. Joseph must have clocked that we didn’t know too much early on, but we were having a great time and learning a lot – and not just about wine; also about Italy and the 2^nd World War, making for a very rounded experience.

I won’t give you all the details as I think it’s important to retain a certain number of surprises should you choose to make the trip yourself. Among the highlights though, were of course the wine cellars. First was a number of concrete vats that were used during the fermentation phase, then the store of bottles of vintage wines that was complete with a hidden switch granting access to the barrels where the produce was undergoing the maturation process.

Unlike the modern Mezzacorona plant, San Leonardo don’t utilise any modern climate control techniques beyond opening a window if it gets too hot, or shutting the door if it gets too cold. It was truly fascinating to see how scales and practices can vary so significantly, and how important each variation is to the product.

Well, pretty soon it was time to head back to the small wine bar for the tasting. We’d been having such a good time, we were almost sad to have reached the end of the tour. It’s all about the wine though, isn’t it? More or less. And even though I’m no wine connoisseur, I’ve still experienced quite a bit of it, and this stuff was excellent – across the whole range from the entry level white and red (Vette and Terre respectively) up to the vintage bottlings, San Leonardo and Villa Gresti. It is worth noting that, on their website they have a vintage guide letting you know when your bottle is ready for drinking. Mrs Cake opted for a Villa Gresti, so it will be worth keeping an eye on that guide (though I actually can’t find it now). If you want my opinion, while the Gresti was excellent, I do think the San Leonardo was even better, but at over 40 euros, and in spite of it being an investment, the more affordable option was probably the better choice.

Of course, I was also pleased to find that, as  seems to be the case with all Italian wineries, they also make their own grappa – though not on the estate, as such. They actually transport the marc fresh from fermentation to a small scale local producer (Bruno Franceschini) who distils the two expressions Grappa San Leonardo (white) and Grappa Stravecchia San Leonardo (aged 5 years in barrels that had previously aged the San Leonardo wine).

While Mezzacorona also produced a couple of grappas, there I resisted temptation due to already having fulfilled my purchase quota. This time though, Mrs Cake positively insisted I get another one and, after discussing whether we would have room or even weight allowance in our luggage, I just decided to go ahead.

Both varieties are presented in fancy crystal decanter type bottles that, we were told, are based on a bottle the Marchese found in the attic of the manor house. It would certainly look good centre stage on our new liquor cabinet.

I had a couple of good tastes, but couldn’t decide which of the two to buy. The Marchese said he preferred the white, as that is in the traditional style but in the end I went for the Stravecchia because I thought its flavour profile would help me to convert whisky loving friends to the grappa cause – should any of them be lucky enough to be allowed to try it. To be honest, very few are proving themselves worthy.

The white grappa was 24 euros and the Stravecchia 41 euros (for 50cl) – so quite a bit more expensive than anything else I’d picked up, but at least now I knew I’d gotten my “special” bottle.

I can’t really come close to doing justice to how special this place was. You can use the word “estate” in any way you want, but this was a real noble style estate with all the relics and exotic memorabilia you can’t even imagine. It was just full of highlights, with surprises around every corner. A real personal experience that you won’t get from any tour companies. 35 euros per person might seem a little steep for a winery visit – especially compared to the 5 euros at Mezzacorona, and I’m sure a number would show you around for free – but this is remarkable value and an excellent opportunity to learn something and try some excellent wine.

Last day

packing

Well those were the main booze-related experiences of our trip to the area around Lake Garda. We did other things too, but there’s no room for them here. What I will tell you, is that with all that booze to get home (four bottles of grappa and five bottles of wine), we had to buy extra hold baggage for the way back. Then there was a whole load of booze to finish off before we went. The Grappa di Pinot Franciacorta went down very well, though somehow I managed to spill two entire glasses along the way.

Also on one of the days we’d been able to call at the ManerbaMicrobrewery and pick up one bottle of each of the brews they made – 9 in total, all big and all strong. I’d like to tell you a bit more about them, but by the time we got there we were tired and I just wanted to get a carry out. The beers were good though, and ideal for your own Distinct Beers Challenge.

the Manerba Microbrewery line-up

I hope all this has proved interesting an useful to you, should you wish to plan your own booze tour of the region. There’s just time now to mention a couple of things that we missed due to lack of time, though I’ll certainly be pencilling these into my itinerary if we ever get the chance to go back.

Things we missed

As I mentioned way back in the introduction to last week’s post, there’s the Museo della Grappa in Bassano del Grappa, which is free to visit and contains five “suggestive” rooms as well as another site in Schiavon which contains the largest known collection of grappa bottles in Italy. No doubt there will also be a few distilleries in the area.

Finally, long after we actually returned from our excursion, I found something else that looks like it would be well worth a visit, the ForumAquavitae, a centre for research on distillates where they do research on spirits. That one is somewhere between Bergamo and Garda.

Next time I think we’ll drive the whole way – it’s only just over 1000 miles, right? Should take about 17 hours, but we’ll be able to bring more home (as long as there’s room next to all the baby stuff, and there hasn’t been a referendum on Europe that decides we’re out and no longer eligible for beneficial alcohol privileges), and we might be able to make some interesting stops along the way.

all present and correct and home at last

Well, it turns out that that bellend David Cameron has decided to appease the eurosceptics within his party and the small minded little Englanders with a euro referendum the day after we go back to the area. I’ll definitely be using a postal vote to keep us in, but what does this mean for next time you visit an interesting destination and want to bring back some special grog? Well, it’ll probably mean you can only bring back a litre of spirits. Luckily for me, I’ll be able to use Mrs Cakes allowance, and since grappa is usually bottled at 50cl, that still means I could bring back four bottles. There’ll be no more booze cruises over to France though. Do people even do that, still?

Anyway, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and mine is that we’d be better off staying in Europe – it’s the only thing protecting our workers’ rights, and keeping us from slavery to the political elite and greedy corporations. You’re entitled to your opinion too of course, but if you’re going to wade in in the comments, keep it civil, eh?

Until next time, enjoy yer booze.

Booze Tourism: Grappa Trail

picturesque stills at Distilleria di Francesco

Not being the kind of people to be content with moving house, having a new bathroom installed and a first child being well on the way all at once, the Cake family (minus Ruby the cat, who’s a bit of a homebody) decided another trip to Italy was due – before it was impossible for Mrs Cake to travel. It was to be like the Tuscan Adventure we took you on er… year before last, was it? Only this time we (or rather I) would do a bit of planning in advance.

We selected, somewhat arbitrarily, the general area of Lake Garda in Italy’s north. We could fly to the airports of Bergamo or Venice for reasonable prices, and both of these would be within easy driving distance of our final destination.

You don’t really need to know how we arrived at our various decisions, but we flew into Bergamo (to the East), and found a nice mountainside apartment overlooking the bay and town of Salo on Garda’s west shore. If you like what you see and read here, you can book the same property through Roy, here. 

Pre-research

The Tuscan Adventure sure was fun, but we’d somehow gone with the expectation that everything would just fall into our laps, which it didn’t – at all. We still got to try lots of wine (or Mrs Cake did, at least. I was drivin’), but this time there would be more at stake. For one thing, Mrs Cake’s birthday fell right in the middle of the week in April that we chose to go, so it would be worth ensuring there were one or two special excursions organised to assure success. For the other… this is grappa country. To the west of Garda you have Brescia, where they make grappa. To the east, you have Bassano del Grappa, home of the Grappa Museum, and where grappa was actually invented. Then, to the north you have Trentino where grappa, if not king, is the king’s favourite son. Together it all forms a kind of grappa triangle. Yes, if I was a little disappointed with the focus they seem to place on grappa in Tuscany, there would be no chance of that this time around.

I set about doing as much internet reseach as possible, and found lots of potential places to visit –but we’ll go into a bit more detail about that as we progress. On with the show.

Supermarket – Franciacorta and large beers

The first stop, after collecting our car that Sunday morning and driving the hour or so from Bergamo to our apartment in Peracque, was always going to be finding the local supermarket and stocking up on supplies – most importantly beers and grappa, for drinking during the week.

The beer selection at the Italmark was a bit disappointing. I was hoping there would be a selection from the nearby Manerba Microbrewery, but the only Italian beers I found were the standard (though excellent) Morettis and Peronis. Other than that, it was all German beers. They at least would count to my distinct beers tally, so I opted for 4 or 5 of those, figuring we’d find the microbrewery later in the week. They weren’t spectacular; Dreher, Forst, Ceres and Wuhrer were all average, while Viktor was sub-standard.

The grappa section was an entirely different matter – so many choices, and so cheap… I could have fulfilled my take home quota of three bottles quite happily right there, but I didn’t consider that for a moment. I already knew it was going to be almost impossible to restrain myself as it was. It was only Ryanair’s luggage policy that would be keeping me on track. We had paid to bring only one item of hold luggage, and that entitled us to only 20kg in weight. We’d managed to keep that down to 15kg on the way out, but we’d kept our hand luggage light and were prepared to layer up on clothes if necessary. Considering that Mrs Cake would want to be bringing wine back also, that looked the most likely outcome. Time would tell.

There was no need to worry at that stage however. There was a whole week to enjoy first, starting with my supermarket grappa selection. I wasted no time in selecting the Grappa di Pinot Franciacorta, basing my choice on the fact that it came in a champagne style bottle with 43 ABVs. It turns out it was a fairly local product, being from Gussago, in the north west of the town of Brescia.

It’s been quite hard to find definite information on this one, but it seems that while this is a white grappa, it may have been aged for between 6 and 12 months. It certainly has what I would call a more syrupy mouthfeel than other white varieties of grappa that I’m certain are unaged, and I can confirm that I enjoyed it very much over the ensuing week.At just over 15 euros for 70cl I’d consider this one a definite bargain.

Grappa tour

Tuesday was the day I was most excited about. That was the day I’d arranged to drive up to the Trentino region to try and visit some grappa distilleries, rounding off with a tour of the Mezzacorona winery. Why had I decided upon the Trentino region north of Garda, when our base was actually in the environs of Brescia (to Garda’s south west), and Bassano del Grappa was just north of Verona, to Garda’s east?

Well, the reason are threefold:

First, on searching for grappa distilleries in the Garda area, I immediately came across a website that is devoted to Trentino grappa producers, thus making it very easy to find out which ones were obviously open to visitors, find out exactly where they were, and contact them to see when we might visit them. Nothing of that kind existed for Brescia (as far as I could see – take note, Brescia), while the area around Bassano del Grappa seemed [at least] to have a far lesser concentration of distilleries. In Trentino there were at least 27 within around an hour’s drive of each other.

Second, Google Maps suggested the drive up to the Trentino region would be far more interesting and picturesque – as it hugged the Garda shoreline almost the whole way – than would a drive along the highways and motorways that would take us west or east.

Third was the website I found that suggested visits both to the winery of Mezzacorona and the estate of Tenuta San Leonardo that I had arranged for us to see on the Friday (that we’ll be talking about a little later). Mezzacorona was near the town of Trento, and therefore a mere 40 minute drive further than Distilleria di Francesco, the first distillery on my itinerary, after which, another hour and a quarter’s drive further north would lead us to Distillery Dallavalle Rossi of Anaunia.

That all seemed very doable at the time of planning, but as you’ll see, while that wasn’t so much the case, what actually transpired was much better anyway.

Beyond those initial considerations, my criteria for distillery selection was based upon how interesting the output of each potential distillery appeared to be (based upon a cursory glance at the products on their websites!). I had to rule out Segnana because they told me we could visit their winery, but that the distillery would be closed during the period of our visit. Nevertheless, I was hoping that once we got to the region we would see signs pointing in all directions, leading us to more distilleries than we could possibly take in.

As the holiday approached, the reality of being able to make those three stops began to seem more remote. It would pretty much mean 4 hours of driving in each direction, which might be a bit much for the pregnant Mrs Cake, who was designated driver, to handle. I decided to take one for the team as it was the week of her birthday, and crossed Distillery Dallavalle Rossi of Anaunia off the itinerary.

So away we went, leaving our base at around 11am with a list of Trentino distilleries and addresses, which would hopefully give us time to make our first stop and have lunch before the tour I’d arranged at Mezzacorona began at 1530. I’d tried very hard to schedule actual timings, but beyond responses from distilleries saying, “yes, you can come and visit, just let us know when”… I’d received nothing further, so I didn’t know what time they would like us to arrive. I eventually stopped worrying about it, and figured we’d just rock up when we got there.

We rolled into the village of Frazione Santa Massenza around lunchtime and, despite specifically looking for Distilleria di Francesco, we actually found it was home to five distilleries in total, all situated within YARDS of each other. But it was lunchtime, and we would soon find out that everyone is closed at lunchtime which, you know, is fair enough, but you would have thought that someone at one of the distilleries I had e-mailed about visits and timings would have said, “don’t come at lunchtime”. Again, to be fair, they don’t speak much English and I don’t speak any Italian – a problem I intend to remedy (by learning Italian, not teaching them English) – before the next time I visit, but still.

at the Maxentia distillery

 It wasn’t a massive problem. We pulled into the car park at Maxentia and figured we’d knock on some doors. A guy came down, took us into his showroom and offered a tasting. I asked if we could see the distillery first and he agreed, though seemed surprised that we wanted to. It was basically a small still setup in a garage (kind of), but that made it even more interesting to me. The last stills I’d seen in the flesh were the ones at the distilleries on Islay, stills which are… Christ, I don’t know how many times bigger than this: big.

He didn’t speak any English, but he explained how the process worked and where the grappa came out. We excitedly tried to make out what we could and carry on a conversation. It would have been nice to have been able to ask some questions like, how many bottles does he produce, how often do they run the still, where do they get the marc from, where is the product distributed… oh, all kinds of things. It is also nice to retain a bit of mystery.

We went back to the showroom and were given very generous samples of four, five, maybe even six expressions – all, as ever, reasonably priced. I decided my first purchase would be a standard white variety, the Nosiola, which you will be able to read about in a later post – after I’ve opened it of course.

Before we left, we asked if he knew whereDistilleria di Francesco was, since that was where we were intending to go in the first place, and he pointed us around the corner, but didn’t give any indication that we should maybe wait until 1.30 as Francesco would be likely to be having lunch and might not want disturbing.

Francesco’s distillery was gated, and the gate was closed. We rang a couple of buzzers outside but, receiving no response, thought we’d go and knock on at any other distilleries we could find. At this point we didn’t know quite how many of them were just around the corner, and we hadn’t connected the lack of access to lunchtime yet. We just thought that maybe people weren’t in. They probably didn’t get many visitors, so it wasn’t likely they’d be waiting to greet us.

Just to the other side of Maxentia was another distillery, though I’m afraid I seem to have lost the map that I was relying on to remind me what it was called. It seemed to be at the bottom of an apartment building where the various doors were unlocked, but there was no one around. A few old bottles were on display, and we were able to pick up a leaflet which had mapped out all the distilleries in the village. We headed on to the next one, which was just around the corner, that again, I was relying on the lost map to remind me of. At this one, the radio was on, but there was no one around.

the old still at Casimiro

The final distillery was Casimiro. We knocked once again, and were let in by the owner’s daughter who was able to tell us in good English that it was lunchtime, but it was fine for us to come in, though it wouldn’t be possible for us to see the distillery, as a lady upstairs said so. In the end though, the father, who I am assuming is Bernardino Poli,  came down, and said that would be ok also. Once again, it was a small operation, but as well as the new still, we were able to see the original one which had only recently been replaced.

I opted to purchase the Ritocchi nel Tempo this time, which we were told was aged for 2 years (though it says a minimum of 18 months on the website), and we went back to sit in the car for 10 minutes until it was 1330, which is when we had now been informed that the various distilleries would be open once again.

And so on back to Distilleria di Francesco, where this time the gates were wide open. Mrs Cake urged me to just drive in and park up. Still there appeared to be no one around, so Mrs Cake approached the distillery building, knocked, and then tried the door.

“Look at this,” she said. I went over and peered in to see a spacious and tidy display area with two pristine stills in one corner.

“This is a bit more encouraging,” I ventured, “though I’d feel more comfortable if there were someone around…”

It was then that a familiar face from the Trentino grappa web page emerged and I offered a greeting. Like at the previous distilleries, he seemed bemused as to why we should be there. Is it that it wasn’t peak season? Do they just not get many visitors? They must do, given the well appointed display room each distillery has for tastings and such, but still… perhaps we just seemed more enthusiastic than your average visitor. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t get so many from the UK.

Well, as you can see, we got a couple of pictures, and I bought a five year old variety this time as well as two grappa glasses. I thought I probably should have gotten more of those, but at that point we were expecting to come across more, branded with the names of various distilleries. We didn’t, but thinking about it, it’s unlikely I’m ever going to need more than two grappa glasses at a time anyway – as I keep saying, I’m the only one in the UK who seems to like it.

Thanks to the friendly and welcoming people at these tiny distilleries, and the generous samples they provided… it was time for Mrs Cake to take over the driving for the next leg. I had a nice grappa glow going on, and any further driving for me would not be smart. Mrs Cake had restricted herself to one or two sips, and thusly it was onto the drive to Mezzacorona. There were two distilleries in Santa Massenza that we didn’t go back to, but by this point I’d already bought three bottles, which was my full allowance, so I didn’t want to go and get free samples from other places and not be able to buy anything – it would seem a little rude. We’ll come to Mezzacorona next time, but I’ll leave you now with some closing remarks.

First, let me urge you once again to give the spirit world of grappa a chance. I really don’t get why it is such an unknown entity among so many people, and an un-liked entity among others, but that’s by the by. If you do get into it, there’s a whole country of it (Italy) out there where it is plentiful and reasonably priced. Yes, it is more expensive in the UK and there isn’t as much variety so, really, you do have to go to Italy, but why aren’t you going to Italy anyway? You should be. And if you do, I recommend you do a bit of a grappa trail of your own. You don’t even need to announce yourself or arrange any tours, just show up – but not at lunchtime.

This was a real thrill for me, and a bit of a surprise that these distilleries were very small scale, artisan operations. There are companies producing grappa on a grander scale in Italy, but if like me, you’re always on the lookout for something unusual that you probably can’t get in a supermarket and definitely can’t get back home, these are the kind of places you owe it to yourself to go to.

I did have a good look around everywhere we went, at the grappa in the boutique liquor stores and in the supermarkets, and there was a dizzying array of interesting varieties, but I never saw any of the ones I picked up in Santa Massenza. I suspect distribution is limited and, in all honesty, that was the only day we spent in the Trentino region. Perhaps the more immediate environs of Lake Garda tends to stick to varieties more local to itself. That’s something to find out next time – I fully intend for there to be a next time.

So if they’re reading this, to the producers we met on this trip, thanks for your hospitality and keep up the good work. To the ones we missed, hopefully we’ll see you next time.

As for you, readers, if you join me next week, you can read part two, where we’ll be visiting a couple of wineries, summing up, and commiserating over things we missed. I’ll hope to see you then.