Today’s wine excusion was again via boat. We headed north on Lake Garda, which is quite a bit larger than I anticipated. I think this lake may be larger than Lake Tahoe! We hugged the western coast, and the little villages are incredibly beautiful.
Here is Chris and T when we were pulling away from the dock. They had Chardonnay for breakfast, so they are in good spirits! (see what I did there?)
The boat driver pointed out Mussolini’s house in Gargnano, as this was his final home in the waning days of WWII. On Hitler’s instructions he set up his home here and ran the “Republic of Salo” for 600 days, until his untimely removal and death by hanging in the nearby town of Giulino. He was executed just two days before Hilter committed suicide. Hitler was such a pussy.
It is now a high end hotel with a Michelin star restaurant. We will have to stay here next time we come back!
Here is a shot of the entire group! Let’s see….from left to right, Kent, Kelly, Peter, Betty, Eric, Karmenn, Shriti, Eric, Gail, Tony, Paul, Carty, Doug, Michelle, Chris, T, Kim, Chris (wearing the “Don’t Blame Me, I Didn’t Vote for Biden” shirt), Aditi, Nina, Mike Mike Mike (said three times fast), and Stephanie. Whew!
Paul looking quite manly in his pose on the bow!
This is Eric and Shriti (Eric is a spitting image of Shaggy from Scooby Doo!). I saw him signing several autographs for kids, so they must get that cartoon here! His pockets were also filled with Scooby Snacks. Go figure!
Eric and Karmenn are so happy to not be in Seattle!
Paul is holding court. I told you this guy likes to talk! It’s all good though, he knows his Italian wine stuff. I wish I had a tenth of his knowledge in this area!
The area of the lake towards the north becomes somewhat of a fijord, but you can only go all the way up via sailboat. We will have to check this part of the lake out next time, after we stay at Mussolini’s house.
We pulled into the little town of Torre for lunch. We had another Trebbiano that was really excellent. Love these wines!
The red was pretty good as well, reminded me of a French Boujoulais…very light and ready to drink young.
The Virginia ladies on the stern. Chris Stotka would refer to this part of the boat as the “back end of this here floaty thingy”. Sigh.
Eric Hanson is doing his best impression of Beavis and Butthead here. The only thing missing is the Metallica t-shirt.
Some people decided to go swimming. We were all set for it, but it hadn’t been a full hour since I ate, and I know my long deceased mother would have been peeved if I had gone in (she would have invaded my dreams for sure). True story, my mother wouldn’t let me run in the sprinklers in the front yard until a full hour after I had eaten. I haven’t drowned in grass to this day, so that was excellent advice!
Heading back into Salo.
Approaching the dock. I can’t wait for dinner at 6:00. Supposed to be wine and pizza! Paul appears to be advising Mike Mike Mike about the size of something important? Well ok then…
The bus picked us up and drove us to the Turina winery. There we met with Marta and Marco Turina.
Marco is truly a cool dude. Love his wine!
They walked us into the vineyards and explained the process behind their winemaking style. Marta is obviously the more outspoken one, but Marco is the winemaker, and his skills were clearly evident in the finished product! Here is Marta in the vineyard.
The Turina kids (they are younger than me, so they are kids) brought in a pizza truck…excellent food to pair with their wines!
They had all of these tables on top of wine barrels. We felt like little kids since the tables were so high. You can see Tony and Gail on the left have doubled up on chairs. Cheaters!!
Marta is explaining the nuances of yet another wine. I can safely say all of the wines from Turina were excellent. I look forward to ordering some from Peter and Nina’s wine store in Virginia in the near future.
Tomorrow we tour to Slovenia. I hope they let us in!
