Italy Day 4-and it just keeps getting better!

After an unforgettable night in Verona we headed to Valpolicella (still in the Veneto), which is North of the Adige River, to meet with the Lorenzo Begali and his family. I had heard so much about their family winery, and I just couldn’t wait to meet them. We carry some of their wine in our store, but I didn’t really know much about the wine or where it came from so I was excited to learn more.

This is what you call a small family winery. We pulled up and the kids were playing together outside, while Lorenzo’s wife and daughter were stetting up our table for lunch. They live in a small little neighborhood, and you could tell everyone worked hard to keep this business going.

We immediately walked up to the vineyards to see where Lorenzo grew his grapes, the soil they grew in, and the training system he used. The family only owns 8 hectares of land, which is about 20 acres. He runs the vineyard with his wife, son Giordano, and daughter Tiliana.

There are 3 main grapes in Valpolicella: Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara. Corvina is the most important grape. The Rondinella grape always grows well and tastes the same year after year, where as the Corvina grape and Rondinella are harder to control. There is also a 4th grape, but not everyone uses it. This grape is called Corvinone. Lorenzo only uses Corvina, and Corvinone to make his Amarone. He uses some Rondinella for the Valpolicella and it always comes out great year after year, but the Corvina and Corvinone are very hard to control, and you never know what you are going to get.

The soil in this area is made up of yellow limestone, and is different from the chalky limestone. It is also very rocky, not like the rocks in the Rhone Valley, but small rocks are found under the soil. The limestone holds water, but the rocks also create good drainage and keep the roots cool. The rocks also reflect the temperature so in the evening when the air cools of, the rocks are still warm keeping the roots warm. This helps to make really juicy grapes.

Lorenzo also uses Pergola Veronese for his training system, but he spreads out the vines a little more to give them more room.

We walked back to the house, and through the vineayrds closer to the house. This is the view from the vineyards at the top of the hill.


The winery is near Lake Garda, which is the largest lake in Italy, and one of the largest in Europe. The lake creates a micro climate because it makes it warmer in the winter. Since the water won’t get a cold as ground, the warm air rises off the lake and into the air creating a micro climate.

After the tour of the vineyards, Lorenzo and Giordano took us into their cellar and showed us around.

By that time we were all a little hungry so we sat down at a long picnic table and enjoyed a hearty lunch.

Everything was so delicious, and I was so thankful the Begali’s put on such a great meal. I had also forgotten who much I loved their Valpolicella Ripasso. Juicy, and dark fruit, and perfect with our pasta.

This is where I realized again we were in Cured Meat Capital of the world.

They kept bringing out platters and platters of cured meats and marinated vegetables. Of course I tried everything.

We enjoyed some cookies for dessert, sweet dessert wine, and of course espresso!

I just couldn’t get over how adorable Tilian’s children were!

After our bellies were full, we took some pictures, and then hoped back in the vans and headed to our next destination: Trentino Alto Adige.

We drove for a while and made it to our next destination: Kellerei Kaltern.


This winery is not a family business, but much much bigger. It is located in Caldaro, Alto Adige. We were in the mountains now so the air was crisp and cool. We met Tobias, and Andreas who showed us around the winery and led us to our tasting. Andreas is the cellar master, viticulturist, and enologist. Tobias does more of the marketing for the company.

The way it works here was very different then anything I was used to. It is a type of co-op where everyone owns vineyards, but no one owns a predominance of land. Everyone owns about 1/2 an acre of vineyards. A board will then get assigned to you, and the board assigns you a cellar master. There are 450 members that own this particular co-op. There are a total of 14 co-ops in Alto Adige, and about 1,000 winegrowers just in the Caldaro region.

Of all the Kellerei Kaltern vineyards about 60% are reds and 40% are whites. We took a look at their cellar which was enormous!

Then we headed into the very modern-looking wine shop for our tasting.

We were just about ready for some delicious refreshing wines. I just love all their wines-so so good. We carry their Gewurztraminer which is spicy, and big, and fruit forward, and complex, but still dry and crisp.

We then went back to the hotel, changed, and headed out for dinner. We were staying in the cutest little village in Caldaro, and our hotel was really nice.

This area reminded me so much of Germany, and I fell in love with it. the hotels theme was perfect: Medical Wellness in a Historical Wine Ambiance.

We got back in the car and drove up into the vineyards. There were tons of apple trees everywhere. I couldn’t wait to taste a fresh apple from the tree later.

The view was outstanding. The vineyards were on a hill that overlooked Lake Caldaro. The lake was the prettiest shade of blue. I had no idea where we were going, but we just kept going and going into the vineyards.

All of a sudden we get to a little opening where a long table is set up with candles, flowers, place settings, and a large tent next to it. Under the tent were platters of cured meats, cheese, fruits, and veggies.

There were also two men making homemade polenta over a fire.

The view was absolutely incredible. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. We were having a candlelit dinner over looking a gorgeous blue lake in the middle of the vineyards of Alto Adige. I mean does life really get any better then this?

Dinner was awesome. We started out with the cured meats and cheeses.

After our first course we had a traditional Northern Italian meal of polenta, speck, sausage, tomatoes, and their version of sauerkraut (which was more like coleslaw). I’m not a huge fan of speck, but of course I tried it.

We topped our polenta with some melting Gorgonzola. MMMM

There was a storm brewing off in the distance so we cleaned everything up and headed to a small cellar at the bottom of the vineyards. We walked in the each barrel had a tea light candle on it. We enjoyed fresh homemade apple strudel in a candlelit cellar.

We enjoyed the strudel with a dessert wine I’ve never heard of before, but was really yummy. It was a Rosenmuskateller, which is Moscato Rosa. DELISH!

This was a truly a night I will never forget for as long as I live. Good food, good wine, good company, and GREAT location. One more day left and it just keeps getting better!