Italy's Last Untouched Region: What Everyone Wants To Know About Le Marche

I'm participating in a three week educational program on Le Marche, Italy which takes place on twitter Tuesday evenings. For the next three weeks we will discover together what the Italian region of Le Marche holds and I will be sharing it with you.

When one thinks about going to a wine region in Italy, the first thing that comes to their mind is Tuscany. Well, there is more to italy than Tuscany. If you want to get some history and be away from the crowds and taste some great wine, head over to Le Marche. Le Marche is one of Italy's last untouched regions, now let's explore.

Where is the Le Marche region?  It's between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany looking North, Abruzzo vand Lazio to the South.  They share the Apennines with Umbria on the west and stretches to the Adriatic Sea to the East.

Here is what Le March offers:

• Skiing in the winter
• Ancient Villages, medieval towns and cultural centers
• Rolling hills
• Sandy and log beaches to rocky and hidden ones
• Vineyards and Wine
• Rolling Hills and Valleys
• Olive Groves
• Great cuisine
• Music
• Manufacturing and Leather Goods

What to know about Italian Law when in Le Marche: Don't forget your receipt.  Italian law requires that you always take your receipt with you from restaurants, bars and shops. The aim is to stop sales tax fraud and plain-clothed tax inspectors do stop people outside places and can fine them if they don't have a proper receipt. 

Food to try:

• Lonza (salt-cured fillet of pork)
• Ciauscolo (soft, spreadable pork salae)
• Tagliatelle with sugo (meat sauce) 
• Vincisgrassi (baked lasagna without the tomatoes.)
• Passatelli (strands of pasta made from breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and egg cooked in broth)
• Piccione Ripieno (stuffed pigeons) Not sure if I could try that.
• Coniglio in Porchetta (rabbit cooked with fennel.)
• Lumache (stewed snails)
• Brodetto on the coast (fish stew made with 13 species of fish)
• Piadina in the northern region. (flat unleavened bread served with cold meats at roadside snack bars)
• Formaggio di fossa (strong flavored cheese aged by being walled up in limestone holes in the ground)

For more information on the Le Marche are I would suggest visiting http://www.le-marche.com/ When you are planning your trip, don't forget to invite me :) 

Next week we will talk about the wine.

Montepulciano & Montalcino

I am going to wrap up my Italy holiday with Montepulciano and Montalcino. I 've been very busy and have lots of things to share with you after Italy.

Before I get into Montelpulciano and Montalcino, I want to tell you I attended the HVWGA - Hudson Valley Wine & Culinary Food Pairing last night. I will share with you my evening in the next few days. If you can't wait that long, visit Carlo's blog on the Hudson River Valley Wine http://hudsonriverwine.blogspot.com/

Now for Montelpulciano and Montalcino. We got a last start this day and didn't get down to Montelpulciano until noonish. It was about a 1 1/2 hr drive. What I found amazing is you are driving, vineyards on each side of you and in the distance is a walled city.

We got really lucky when we arrived. Not sure where to go to park we found parking right at the gate. I find these cities truly amazing. In Montelpulciano you can find many tasting rooms from top producers. The first tasting room we visited was Pulcino. His wines were very good! His cheeses and meats were too and they found there way into our suitcases for the trip home. Of course we visited the local church. What day wouldn't be complete without a visit. The artwork is amazing.

fter a late lunch we left Montelpulciano and headed towards Montalcino. It was around 4p and to late to stop in Pienza for a taste of pecorino cheese. We wanted to see Montalcino before dinner and we had reservations at Boccoa Di Vino Ristorante at 7:30p.

We also arrived to late to go hear the the monks pray and sing gregorian songs in Sant'Antimo which is 7 miles south of Montalcino. Oh well. Next time.

I wasn't as impressed with Montalcino as I was with Montelpulciano. We arrived to late to visit the church here. However, there was a celebration in town and we got to listen to some outdoor music, some speeches (of course they were in Italian) and Bingo got underway.
Just down the road for these happenings is a wine tasting store. We got to taste some very good wines, and wines that our palate thought were just okay. Prices ranged from $2 euro's to 4.50 euros. Yes I did try an few expensive wines, you only live once. While I was there tasting, the woman next to me was owner of a vineyard/winery in France. Her prospective was very interesting.

We ended the evening at a restaurant that was recommended in an issue of Rachael Ray Magazine...Baccoa Di Vino. First I have to tell you how lost we got getting to this restaurant. We actually went the wrong way at a fork in the road. Then the GPS got screwed up. We were in the vineyards of the region. We went down a dirt road (GPS told us to) and realized we were very lost. We ended up at a vineyard owner or caretakers home. (Upon exiting we realized it was Banfi) There was a group of men outside, none even questioned us dumb American's turning around. Of course they were probably laughing at us. We did stop and ask them where to go and through lots of hand signals and a few words of english, we left to find our way.

I was looking forward to this meal! Everything was so delicious until the main course. I ordered beef in a red wine sauce. I have t o tell you I was very disappointed. When the dish was set down in front of me, just the appearance gave me second thoughts. It tasted like vinegar. I did eat a little. For dessert we ordered flan. It was served with a hint of lavendar. Well, our initial reaction to the taste was like it was eating soap. After we got rid of the lavendar, the flan was quite good.

We all enjoyed our trip to Italy. It is now a distant memory with lots of good laughs. We did enjoy our food and wine. Even through all this touring we did manage to have a few bottles of wine at our villa with local cheese.