Wine is everwhere in Tyrol, Italy from Gourmet Food Plaza

Wine is Everywhere - Italy Wine is everywhere, Tyrol, Italy from
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Wine is everywhere in Tyrol, Italy.....The Etsch Valley is a treat for the eye, nose and tongue

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Wine is everywhere in Tyrol, Italy
Bozen, Italy - A city of 100,000 without McDonald's - how civilized, instead have white asparagus with Bozner sauce

The Etsch Valley is a treat for the eye, nose and tongue. From the sweep of the orchard checkered flatland, easy slopes carry the gaze upward to vineyards and the occasional ruin of a fort. The gently curving land is dotted with little palaces that poor nobles and rich farmers built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Etsch Valley manor houses have Renaissance loggias, outside staircases and arched gates. They look pretentious, but even the purists would secretly love to live in one. In the foothills parallel to the river runs the South Tyrolean Wine Road that links the villages that make and serve wine. Eppan, a community of several villages, produces the bulk of Sudtiroler wine. Girlan is so dedicated that it has more room in its cellars than living space in the houses. Kaltern has the best reputation for both red and whites. Tramin is a shrine: The Traminer grape - rechristened Gewrztraminer - started here on its conquest of the world. South Tyrol's other varietals stayed home. Few experts know the robust Lagrein or Vernatsch, a grape for light, fresh reds.
		The historic old town of Bozen (or Bolzano) is full of narrow cobbled streets

The whites are more familiar: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, all so well made that South Tyrol owns most of the DOCs, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, Italy's quality rating, akin to France's Appellation Controlee.

Wine is everywhere to sip, drink, quaff. Wine shops sell it by the glass to drink, then a bottle if you like it. In the fall, new wine is served with roast chestnuts at the Troggelen fests. Time your visit right.

The food is resolutely Tyrolean, related to Austrian, German and Swiss. The high-end restaurants do not bore you with international staples: Their base is Tyrolean country cooking, the traditional dishes lightened and refined with invention, spectacularly presented.

The excellent Zur Rose in St.Paul makes an old-fashioned dumpling of potato dough but stuffs it with wild garlic leaves and

drizzles it with butter in which chopped walnuts were sautéed. But even simple eateries will delight you because none is indifferent or complacent - this country has a lively culinary culture.

You could live for days on charcuterie. Italian salamis and Austrian sausages mingle freely. The local meat id not bacon, but cured dry ham, like prosciutto; kaminwrzel is "chimney-spiced" smoked hard sausage.

The two cultures also agree on starchy dishes. The Austrian dumpling, kndel, turns up smaller, called canederli, that Italians can pronounce.

Do not let the name krapfen put you off. The word means doughnut in Germany, but here it is a savoury pastry packed with meat or vegetables, not unlike ravioli.

If you want to stick to the utterly familiar, you can always have spaghetti - but Italian style, not with meatballs like at home.

If You Go

Getting there and around: Most North American Airlines fly directly to the two nearest gateway airports: Milan and Munich. By train, Bozen is 3 1/2 hours from Milan, four hours from Munich. Euro and Eurailpasses are valid; buy them before departure. Bozen, Meran and Brixen are served by rail, the smaller places only by road.

Featured Books On Wines in Italy

Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy	Savoring the Food & Wine of La Serenissima	Burton Anderson's Best Wines of Italy	Hugh Johnson's Tuscany and Its Wine	A Complete Guide to Contemporary Italian Wine


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