For the first time in 2022 we visited The Wine Bank in the tiny Piemontese village of Pollenzo. It is a comprehensive library of Italian wine, and houses more than 100,000 bottles from around 300 different producers from all over Italy.

Orange Wine has become a talking point for winemakers around the world.  We first tasted it in Slovenia, a country which has a long tradition of making these strong wines from their local white grapes.

On our Lucca, Volterra and Elba tour we pass through a wine producing area on the Tuscan coast known as Bolgheri. Today this is truly one of Italy's wine-growing success stories, but fifty years ago this was not the case.

Anyone who has hiked with us before, in Europe or Australia, will know how interested we are in wine.  Of course our meals on tour are always matched with wines showcasing a great selection of regional grape varieties but occasionally our routes enable us to make a stop at a vineyard and meet the locals whose passion helps to create these wonderful wines.

The little town of Barolo, which sits right in the centre of the Langhe hills in Piedmont, has been voted Italy's first ever City of Wine or Città del Vino for 2021.

It turns out that we’re not the only ones who love our food and wine! Gastronomic tourism is increasingly big news as more and more people appreciate that delicious wine, eating well, and learning about regional culinary traditions are a valuable part of any holiday experience. So where should you go for the best wine tour or food and wine holiday?

Chianti Rufina is one of the seven subzones that fall under Italy's famous Chianti DOCG. The wine-growing area is one of the smallest in Chianti, concentrated in the foothills of the Apennines to the east of Florence.

Many Hedonistic Hikers who have travelled with us in Italy will have happy memories of the famous after-dinner drink known as grappa!  It is a strong grape-based brandy usually taken at the end of a meal as a digestive and usually served in small decorative flute glasses or classic shot glasses.

Hikers on our new Southern Italy tour will have many opportunities to taste a wonderful local wine made from an ancient grape variety known as Aglianico. It's origins are a little unclear but the name probably derives from the word "Hellenic" or Greek, as this part of Southern Italy was colonised by the Greeks before the rise of the Roman empire.

As we head back to Piedmont for our June Jewels of Piedmont tour much of our attention will be focussed on the celebrated Barolo and Barbaresco wines of the area, made from the famous Nebbiolo grape. But the region has another native red grape,Barbera, (pronounced bar-bear-a!) which over many centuries has produced everyday drinking wines for the local population.

Our Winemakers' Dinner last weekend at the Dal Zotto winery turned out to be a really special evening.

Ahead of our unmissable dinner in the King Valley on Saturday 2nd March, we thought it would be fun to write a brief profile on each of the winemakers attending. Here's what you need to know ...

A glass of crisp chilled sparkling Prosecco is one of Italy's best-loved aperitifs and, in recent years, it has gained a huge following in other parts of the world too. President Obama is said to have celebrated at his inauguration dinner back in 2009 with many bottles of Italian Prosecco!

Our spring tours so far this year have taken us to Tuscany's coast and its lesser-known Lunigiana region as well as to Liguria. All three of these areas are home to one of our favourite grape varieties known in Italy as Vermentino. It makes a white wine with an elegant aroma and a light, citrus, fresh flavour, and people say it is a grape that likes to see the sea!