Wine-tasting and wine touring

A wine-tasting or visit to a vineyard can be slipped into to virtually any cultural tour of Umbria. One charming stretch of the Lake Trasimeno wine route lies between Passignano and Castiglione. Curiously, the fruity local red wine, Gamay del Trasimeno, is often drunk with the catch of the day.

Not far from Perugia, the family-run Cantine Lungarotti estate have created a small wine empire, embracing wine estates, an inn, wine bar, olive oil and wine museums, and even a wine spa. Doubling as an inn, the family’s delightful L’U WineBar is the place for matching the right wine with artisanal cheeses, pumpkin tortelli or suckling pig (porchetta). The estate’s award-winning Rubesco, a red wine with violet notes, is made with Sangiovese and Colorino varietals. It goes down well with T-bone steaks or aged cheeses.

Closer to Orvieto, you can visit the Decugnano dei Barbi boutique winery for a tasting. This was the estate that introduced sparkling wines to Umbria, back in 1978. These wines need to lie for at least four years and are kept in grottoes. As the owners will tell you, until the mid 19th-century all Orvieto wine was produced and stored in caves. If short of time, call into the Enoteca in Orvieto for local wines, including Barberani’s Orvieto Doc Classico, which has notes of honey, acacia and saffron.

Address: Lungarotti - www.lungarotti.it
Decugnano dei Barbi - www.decugnanodeibarbi.com
Enoteca Barberani - www.barberani.com

For more on wine and oil, see Umbria tourism:
Web: www.umbriatourism.it/en_US/wine-and-oil