‘Rock Star’ Wine Makers! Umbria seems to have more than it’s fair share of Rock Star wine-makers! Young, enthusiastic and innovative guys! We’d like you to meet Roberto Dionigi from Cantina Dionigi near Bevagna, Umbria. The family Dionigi have been in the wine & olive oil making business since 1896. The care, passion and attention to detail have carried on through the generations. Cantina Dionigi was one of the very first wineries we visited when we moved to Umbria and years later, we continue to love our many visits there! There’s something about the combination of the soil, the...
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This year’s Enologica Montefalco celebrates 25 years of the DOCG Sagrantino This year’s Enologica Montefalco is from Friday 15th September to Sunday 17th September when Montefalco once again opens its doors for a weekend of bacchanalian fun! Umbria Domani – (In Italian) Shows the partaking wineries. (I put this link here as a result of unknown motives, the official site for Enologica Montefalco hasn’t been updated from last year yet!) The highlight of the weekend comes after lunch on the Sunday with the Festa della Vendemmia (Grape Harvest Festival). We love this afternoon of fun most of all! The summer of...
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‘After the earthquakes, we must pull together and show that central Italy is open for business’ Sarah & Mark. “Our little valley spoke to us like nowhere else had before and we both said together “This is it!'” said Sarah Topps, who set up a holiday rental business in Le Marche in 2007. Together with her husband, Topps spent six years renovating a derelict farmhouse into The Hideaway, a set of self-catering holiday apartments in the idyllic rural town of Amandola. Then last year, a series of earthquakes damaged both their home and the apartments. To keep their home from collapse,...
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This upcoming Auction is to raise enough money to pay for a temporary home for Mark and Sarah. Save the Date! Sunday 19th March at 9 am Italy time! Running for one full week and ending on Sunday 26th March at 11.30 pm Italy time https://www.32auctions.com/SarahandMark2017 We have amazing donations for the auction… From original works of art to fantastic breaks in Italy and England! There are tours, workshops, wine tastings, vintage items, designer goods, Umbrian wine and more, all ready for your bids! We hope to raise as much as possible for Mark and Sarah so they can...
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Gusto Wine Tours presents Special Offers for 2017 2017 Special Offers! This will be our 7th year of having the best time showing off the wonderful wines, tasty produce and introducing you to the delightful and friendly local artisans! To celebrate and to show how much we appreciate your support, we have a superb offer for you! For our previous guests This is a shout out to ALL our marvellous wine-loving guests who have come out with us over the years – you know who you are! Book a tour with us before 31st May 2017 for any time this...
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The Vendemmia is upon us!! We are very fortunate to live right smack bang in the middle of the Sagrantino area in and around Montefalco. Wine-lovers who take a Gusto Wine Tour at this time of year (September/October) are often lucky enough to see part of the vendemmia (grape harvest). Sometimes, they might even be able to pick a bunch of grapes or two! When do you get to see Sagrantino being harvested? The Sagrantino grape is one of the last of the grapes to be harvested, usually around the middle of October. The bunches are carefully picked by hand, and brought...
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TONIGHT ON TWITTER AT 9PM ITALIAN TIME! On Twitter tonight: We are guests of Tina Moray of Protocol Wine Studio (@ProtocolWine & @winescop) (use #winestudio to join in the Q & As). Along with Angelo Fongoli, award-winning wine-maker of Cantina Fongoli (@CFongoli). And Amy Ezrin, Senior VP of Massanois Imports (@massanois) who imports Fongoli wines in the States. Of course, we, Mark and Giselle from Gusto Wine Tours (@gustowinetours). We will be talking about our beloved Umbria and how we started our business here in Montefalco! We will be tasting the Fongoli Sagrantino 2010 and pairing with aged parmesan and...
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I’ve put together some snapshots of our lives in 2014 and look forward to creating more fabulous memories this year! It’s a big year for us! We are celebrating five years doing what we love to do! I (Giselle) turn the big FIVE .OH. later in the year, and I plan on having many adventures to celebrate that! So, Happy New Year from Gusto Wine Tours in beautiful Umbria! Do pop by and say hello!
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Business e via Italy’s exclusive series of case studies featuring expats starting businesses in Italy. This week – Gusto Wine Tours Thank you to Fiona Tankard for this interview with us at Gusto Wine Tours – This is a a little snapshot of why we are here and why we do what we do! Gusto Wine Tours in Umbria It was just after their wedding in Falmouth, Cornwall in 2000 that Mark and Giselle Stafford decided life was too short to spend on the usual nine-to-five routine. Neither had a serious career (Mark...
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Party Time in The Umbrian Wineries! Cantine Aperte Umbrian Views The nationwide Cantine Aperte (Open Cellars) in Italy is always the last weekend of May. This is one of the few days in the year we DON’T work! We use part of the day to go to new cantine that we normally don’t have time to visit in Umbria. The latter part we go local – so we can get home easily! So, if you’ve never been, how do you go about it? I’m here to tell you how! You have a few months to book your holiday in Umbria! This is an...
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