MacsTravel Blog

We had to be out of our accommodations fairly early on our last day in Riva del Garda, so we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and find a bench along the waterfront where we could people watch, smell the blossoms, take in the lake view and pretend to read on our e-readers.

Mission accomplished.

Our next stop was Verona. We were staying in a historic apartment in the city centre which required a militarily precise check in at exactly 3:00 pm, so with some time to kill we decided to amble down the lakeside before heading inland at Bardolino to Villa Calicantus, a biodynamic winery in the hills that Robin had read about.

It was a great decision.

 Chiara and Daniele Delaini own and operate the winery which features Bardolino style whites, roses and reds. On this day, a very busy Chiara was managing the tasting while looking after her two young kids, watering and moving potted plants and somehow doing it all with grace. We spent a leisurely two and a half hours in their beautiful courtyard, watching an endless parade of farm cats moving along the stone walls, and listening to a rattled pigeon population nervously cooing in the old barn. We sampled a series of wines and enjoyed a series of locally produced products: pickled vegetables from their gardens on fresh bread from their oven, olives from their olive trees, cheeses from the farm down the road that has “15 hardworking cows”, local salami and prosciutto from the other farm down the road from pigs that were, presumably, not as hard working… you get the idea.

The wines were all fresh and delicious, and the relaxed family atmosphere was a delight. We have been to an alarming number of wineries over the years, and this ranked with any of our favourites. We can’t recommend the experience highly enough.

In contrast to our impromptu experience at Villa Calicantus we took a planned wine tour the following day of the Valpolicella wine region to the north of Verona. We piled into a van with 6 Americans (all cautiously apologetic to the two Canadians and the Italian driver and guide Stefano for “the craziness”) and set off to sample the well known wines of the Classico region of Valpolicello: Valpolicella, Ripasso and Amarone, Robin’s favourite wines.

We started at Albino Armani, which is a big, corporate producer high in the hills. The tour was interesting and informative and the wines predictably delicious, but the whole thing was a bit too polished for my tastes.

Next we went to Corte Archi, a family owned and operated estate further down the hill. This was much more appealing for me as the basic facilities lacked the modern sheen of Albino Armani. The Campagnola family has been making and selling wine on this estate for well over a hundred years. The wines were all lovely, as were the attentions of Axel, the winery’s extremely friendly and photogenic Golden Retriever.

Despite our guide Stefano’s efforts and the overall quality of the wine, we both agreed that we preferred the experience in Bardolino. It may have been the addition of food (despite the impression given in the tour promotion there was no food to be had at our Valpolicella tasting), or the time to just soak in the atmosphere, but on this occasion at least, the little wines of Bardolino reigned supreme.