Stresa and Lake Maggiore Wine Tasting and local meal

Again a reasonable start time, meeting in the hotel at 9am for a coach trip to a wine tasting. It was probably just over an hour to the small town of Ghemme where the winery is situated. Unlike most wineries I have visited which have been on farms in large modern buildings probably paid for with EU grants, this one is in the ancient fortified buildings and adjoining streets. The winery has been in the same family for generations and is now owned and run by two brothers,  Paolo and Antonello Rovellotti. It was started in their grandfathers cellar in the historic Recettto with its historic terracotta window inside the old Castello (castle) and their philosophy is to use and maintain the old buildings as much as possible   The large oval barrels you see were specifically made to go through the door of the historic building rather than putting in a new door or enlarging the existing one.

All the buildings are very old with narrow cobbled street. When they transfer wine from one process to the next it involves laying large hoses across the street from one building to the next. Obviously the buildings have been repaired and modified over the centuries and this can be seen by the different materials so there are only parts that are 100% original but this roof is probably one of them,. The anchor is purely decorative and we were told it dates back to one of the members of the family being a seafarer and putting it up there when he came home??

The actual wine making and bottling equipment is all very modern with stainless steel vats, presses and bottling machine.

Nothing is wasted, even the grape skins that are left over after pressing the wine are used as animal feed   Now on to the important part, the wine tasting. This not only involved drinking 4 different wines, a white, two reds and a desert wine but also lots of eating, as each wine was servered with a different dish, meat cheese.    

  It was then off for another hour and a half’s drive for a four course meal with more wine, like most members of the group I did this journey with my eyes closed so missed the hills and vineyards. I don’t think anyone was particularly hungry when we arrived and although there were offers of seconds I don’t think many people took advantage of it. The room we had lunch in was on the second floor of a building that sat on the top of a hill, so the views were quite spectacular just a shame it was so far to travel.        I don’t think anybody wanted diner that night so its a good job it wasn’t one of the nights where we had a meal at the hotel included.