italian Wine, tour and travel Resources

 

Better Tasting Wine
This website presents some basic but interesting and descriptive information designed to turn anyone into an “instant wine pro.” While there is no substitute for lots of practice actually tasting and drinking wine some background on wine varieties, pairing wines with food and wine tasting basics is necessary and always helpful.

Cellar Tours
The Cellar Tours group provides custom-designed food and wine tours of major wine regions throughout the world with Italy being one of their most popular destinations. Their tour guides are extremely knowledgeable about wines and will guide you through selected wineries and tastings and find those wonderful, small hard-to-find-on-your-own restaurants.

Consorzio Turistico Langhe Monferrato Roero
This site has about everything you need to know about wines, wine tours, lodging, food and travel in the lower areas of the Piedmont region where the vineyard landscapes were recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Delicious Italy  
Delicious Italy s.r.l. is a Rome-based company that provides travel-related information supplied by regional tourism organizations, hospitality providers and travel operators in Italy. The site provides a guide, albeit limited in scope, to the food, wine and culture of Italy.

Gambero Rosso 
The English language version of Gambero Rosso's website is a work in progress. Nonetheless, it is still a good source of information on the activities of Gambero Rosso, the arbiter of good taste in Italian food and drink, its reviews of wines and restaurants, the Italian wine scene in general and its extensive list of publications.

History of Wine timeline
This site provides a brief review of the history of wine starting in Armenia in the 5th millennia BC and a general timeline for the subsequent spread of wine and wine culture around the world.

How to Create the Perfect Wine Cellar in Your Home
This interesting article from Porch.com provides everything you need to know on where and how to create a custom wine cellar in your home whether it be for storing just a few bottles or for a serious collector with hundreds of bottles. The article examines some fundamental considerations such as temperature and humidity levels to ensure the integrity of the wines as well as some practical and stylistic considerations.

Before determining the optimal placement and type of wine cellar that’s best for you, you may want to consider exactly what wines you want to cellar. Toward this end it may be helpful to read A $1,000 Wine Cellar for the Italian Wine Enthusiast; or The Perfect $5,000 Italian Wine Cellar; or Italy's Greatest Wines For A Magnifico Wine Cellar.

Italian Cultural Institute – Washington, D.C.
The Italian Cultural Institute (ICI) is the official branch of the Italian government dedicated to the promotion of Italian language and culture in the United States. This site lists events with an Italian theme in the Washington D.C. area, many of which are organized by the ICI, in addition to major cultural events in Italy.

ItalianWineTours.com
Providing wine tours in Italy including Tuscany, Apulia, Veneto, Friuli, Sicily, Liguria, and Piedmont. Private, customized tours as well as open tours are available. The group offers an array of tour options including walking, biking, gourmet food, winery and opera tours, amoung others.

Italian wine central
This website has a handy and easily navigable review of Italian wines. This includes convenient information about the formal wine classificiation system as well as Italy’s wine regions, varietals, producers and the Italian wine scene.The website also has a complete wine search database for virtually any Italian wine – no small feat given Italy’s bountiful wine supply.

ItalyScape
This website provides some helpful tips on how to plan for your trip to Italy. It also details how to get around once you arrive as well as recommendations for things to see and do in Italy. It has some interesting videos that are well worth viewing.

LaRosaWorks Tours of Sicily
La RosaWorks is a boutique company that specializes in tours to Sicily. The owner, Karen La Rosa, hosts fun and interesting tours that immerse travelers in the culture, wine, food, and traditions of Sicily. Guided wine tastings and winery visits are always part of La RosaWorks tours. Check out her website for details about tour offerings.

Wine Enthusiast Magazine 
The Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s website is easy to navigate and informative for not only Italian wines but wines from around the world. Click on the Podcasts tab and check for podcasts on specific wines, producers and regions.

Wine-Searcher
Wine-Searcher is a website I have found extremely useful for tracking down prices and availability of specific wines produced anywhere in the world. Suppose you had a great wine at a restaurant one evening and want to check on its retail price and availability. Simply enter the name of the wine in the search box at the Wine-Searcher website and the search engine instantly returns dozens, if not hundreds, of retailers carrying that wine ranked by prices. You can also distill the search results to your specific interests. For example, if you want a specific vintage you can get availability and prices for just that vintage. You can also specify if you want retailers nationwide, by state or just in your local area. The basic service is free or you can sign-up for the “Premier” version which has some additional bells and whistles. Either way, it is the “go-to” site for anybody with any level of interest in wines.

 

©Richard Marcis
Updated January 10, 2024

 

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