It is surprising to me that it took nearly a month and a half to feel something real but it is true. Today we started out our day with a wine tasting at Passeti.  When we arrived we felt like we made a mistake because the lobby was basically a gas station for wine. Note: that is our type of gas station.

It turns out that we were in the right place. Laura, the owner, met us and took us around the winery. While it is tucked in the middle of a super industrial area, the winery is typical of what you would expect.  Lots of tanks and wine production equipment. After touring the winery, that is when everything changed. Laura was welcoming us to her home. She had prepared many home cooked items for us to enjoy with our tasting. We unfortunately had just eaten breakfast but we had to suck it down.

It was easy though because everything was so delicious including the wine. At some point her daughter also joined us. This wine tasting ended up taking about 4.5 hours and includes tasting four wines and finishing the bottle of Montepulciano d’abruzzo. Honestly with a wine tasting at 10:30 we were worried about what to do between our appointments with our next one at 15:30. Turns out we would barely have enough time to make our next one because we spent so much time with Laura.

Our next appointment was not nearly as homey but still quite fun. We headed to San Lorenzo which is more up in the hills. They again had a gas station of wine. We tasted about five wines here. While the Montepulciano is what is famous, they also do a nice job on whites and rose. Again here we were hosted by Gianluca, the winery owner, and one of his associates that manages their wholesaling. The tasting including sitting by the fireplace with them watching the rain and chatting about everything from overly tanned politicians to the industrial agricultural complex. Oh, also Gianluca also gave us a ride up to his family’s castle in the hilltop village above the winery where the Montepulciano is stored for aging for a visit in the middle of the tasting.

After finishing up our tasting around 19:00, we started the drive back towards the hotel and to our dinner at Villa Maiella, a Michelin started restaurant. The food was delicious.

We have seriously loved our time in Abruzzo, an area that is usually left off the typical tourist itinerary. Unfortunately last year’s appolyptic earthquake/avalanche in the Rocorasso ski resort of Abruzzo has severely impacted what small amount of tourism they do have. So this is our little plug for Abruzzo, come here it’s awesome!

Our next stop is a slight change of plans.  With the weather turning a bit worse, we decided to spend a few more days in the city. Therefore, we are headed to Bologna.