Carly Read
Angling the glass under my nose, I sniffed its velvety contents before taking a sip and penning a score on the card in front of me. “Thoughts?” asked my Italian host Giuseppe Rizzardi. “This is definitely my favourite” I grinned and then proceeded to down the rest of the glass with gusto.
I was at a wine-tasting session at the Guerrieri Rizzardi vineyard, a two-hour drive east from cosmopolitan Milan. The historic wine house in the Veneto region is the result of a union of two ancient wine producers – the Guerrieri family, owners of a centuries-old estate with vineyards and cellars in Bardolino, and the Rizzardis, who acquired their vineyards in Negrar back in 1649.
In 1913, the two families came together through marriage and Guerrieri Rizzardi was born, with the winemakers producing their first label a year later.
In a picturesque setting near Lake Garda, the vineyards and huge winery are breathtakingly impressive. Sitting back in the grand medieval-style tasting room, I felt rather regal as I drank in the rich history, then Guiseppe suddenly announced that he had the honour of hosting a very famous British royal – Princess Diana.
‘’She came here to sample the wines,” Carly tries a glass of red he said, proudly, showing me a framed photograph of her, adding with a smile “she was very fun to be around.”
Tasting session over, we were taken on a tour of the vineyard’s stunning Pojega gardens, famous in the region for their ‘green amphitheatre’ and spectacular perspectives that feature a temple, theatre, galleries and belvedere.
Of course, more wine was on the agenda when we arrived at charming La Loggia Rambaldi for a prosecco lunch. A starter of tuna and sourdough, followed by mushroom risotto for the main course, rounded off with a selection of Italian cheeses, refuelled us for the two-hour journey back to Milan.
The Ramada Plaza Milano, our base for the trip, is just a five-minute walk from the Linea Rossa Turro underground station, so after a quick refresh it was easy to hop on to the Metro and ride eight stops to the Duomo.
The magnificent cathedral which took a staggering six centuries to complete is the third largest church in the world (duomomilano.it).
And a stone’s throw away is Italy’s oldest and most beautiful shopping mall, the vaulted Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, built in 1867 and designed by architect Giuseppe Mengoni.
Milan is the country’s fashion capital and in the Quadrilatero d’Oro I whiled