Dutch friends of mine came to Umbria and stayed near Spoleto, a lovely town to spend some days in Umbria.
It had been a while that we saw each other and we decided to catch up and meet in Montefalco. Montefalco is known as the “balcony of Umbria”. It is a very beautiful medieval walled town. From the village you have breathtaking views of the Umbrian landscape.
We went for a wine tasting to the cantina Colle Ciocco. Lamberto Spacchetti is the owner of Colle Ciocco. I know him since I came to Umbria for the first time, about 20 years ago. The family Spacchetti makes very good wines and delicious olive oil.
We tasted some typical Umbrian wine, like the Montefalco Rosso, the white Grechetto and the red Sagrantino! Sagrantino di Montefalco wine is made of 100% Sagrantino grapes and only produced in this area, a typically Umbrian wine of great quality.
At walking distance from the city centre of Montefalco we rent apartments with swimming pool that have a great view over the valley. The owners of these apartments run a lovely restaurant also in the centre of Montefalco, Coccorone, which has a certificate of excellence on Tripadvisor and a winebar with a terrace on the main square, Fra Sacrantino.
This time, though, we decided to have dinner at another restaurant where I participated in a cooking course a few years ago: L’Alchimista. Patrizia is the chef of L’Alchimista. She taught us how to make gnocchi and “piccione cotto in forno” – dove cooked in the oven. The menu is mainly based on seasonal and biological products.
Two years ago I visited Colle Ciocco and fell in love. The hospitality, the wine, the oil; Heaven! I flew some home to the US and have been wanting more ever since I ran out. Hmmm?! I wonder if they will ship it to me again?
Thanks for mentioning about this delicious gem!
Tracey
I think they will! If you contact them and tell them that you’ve read our blog about Colle Cioccio :). If you want I can contact Lamberto?
I would love it if you bridged the gap for me. I am willing to work with Lamberto on my own; but I was unsure if English to Italian would be an issue. When I did a wine tasting and had my goods sent home the individual did not speak English and a few friends did the translations (my Italian is very poor!). I loved the fact that they spoke Italian!! It made the experience even better for some reason; more authentic… does that make sense?
Anyway, if you would speak to them and I will follow whatever needs to be done after that. A million thank-yous!
Tracey
Hi Tracey, I will contact Lamberto! He will be very glad hearing from you again. For further details and information I will send you an email. Regards from Umbria 🙂 Ciao ciao!