It’s my last day in Italy, and I am so sad that it is almost over. Check out this view from our room.
So gorgeous right? I stayed up the last night and sat with my roommate Cara on the small outdoor terrace that was in the middle of our hotel. It was so quiet, and peaceful, I just took it all in.
We woke up and had a little breakfast. There was a plethora of meats, cheeses, jams, breads, you name it, they had it!
Check out all that nutella in the back..OH YEA!
Small pate's
This was where I had my best cappuccino in Italy or maybe even EVER.
We had a long drive today, but it was a beautiful one. We drove for a few hours through the mountains.
As we went further and further north the air got cooler and crisper. It felt like a sunny fall day. I couldn’t get over all the snow on the mountains.
It felt really invigorating driving through the mountains. We just listened to some good music, and I did a lot of thinking. There were cute Chalet’s on the side of the road and through the small towns.
We finally made it to our first destination for the day: Vini Fay.
Vini Fay was founded in 1973 by Sandro Fay. He started the business as small family run wine producing business, but decided to expand the estates activities. I didn’t know anything about this winery, and we didn’t carry any of their wines. We met up with Marco Fay at the bottom of the vineyards and he drove us up to a small house at the top.
Marco Fay and Manu
These vineyards were on such a steep slope, it was so scary just driving up them that I can’t even imagine what harvesting the grapes must be like. I am talking STEEP! The vines are grown at an altitude of 350 to 900 meters.
Vini Fay was located in the Valtellina area of Lobardia, Italy, which is just south of Switzerland. Valtellina is the biggest mountain vineyard terraced area in Italy.
We got to the house and went inside since it started to rain a little. The weather was gloomy and it gave the place a cozy feel since it was a small little stone house looking over mountains and vineyards. They had set up for the tasting, and everything looked so nice. I’m really getting used to the hospitality thing over here.
They had all the wines we were going to taste on a little place card. I loved how everything was set up!
The native grape here is Nebbiolo. Now this may sound familiar because this is the same grape used in Barolo. But because of the different soil types and different climates, the wine tastes very different from a Barolo.
The soil here is a majority of sand and silt. Clay and limestone are absent. The Fay vineyard are spread out among 14 hectares. The weather is also a lot cooler since it is further north and in the mountains.
In Piemonte, the Nebbiolo grape creates a wine that is big, powerful, has a lot of dark fruit, very tannic, and acidic. Here is Lombardia the Nebbiolo grape creates a softer, more elegant wine with all the same flavor characteristics as the Nebbiolo grape in Piemonte.
These wines were right up my alley. They were GORGEOUS. Really plush, dark fruit, very soft and velvety, fresh, and just plain delicious. I loved every single one of them. Each one was a little different then the last, but they just kept getting better and better!
Once we finished our tasting, Marco and his sister served us lunch. We started with a platter of…wait for it, wait for it…CURED MEATS!
They served us some salad and roast beef after the first course. This roast beef was drizzled with olive oil and fresh rosemary. It was outstanding. Really rare, and had the best flavor from the rosemary.
After that they served us some local cheese, which reminded me a little of Manchego.
I loved this little window in the house that looked over the mountains. Really beautiful.
And of course we finished with some espresso, and a little raisin, fig, walnut bread. So much food, but so much fun! The sun finally came back out and we went out to take some more picture of the steep vineyards as well as some group shots.
We headed out back on the road to our next stop. SWITZERLAND!!! I couldn’t wait because I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland, and I had found out we were going to be driving by Lake Como on the way. A few more hours in the car and we were finally there. check out these drive by shots of Lake Como.
We finally made it to Delea, which is located in Ticino. It had been a long day of driving so we were a little late, but definitely ready to get started.
David greeted us, and took us on a tour of this large winery. We got a quick tour so not too many notes, but here are a few pictures.
Steel fermentation tanks-this was outside-very cool!
Cellar
David explaining the aging process
At Delea they also make 3 different types of Balsamic. The difference between the 3 is the amount of aging. We got to see the room where they age the balsamics. We walked in and it immediately cleared out your nose. It was SO fragrant. I have never seen this before so it was really interesting to me.
After the quick tour we headed to the tasting room for some wine and CURED MEATS -can you believe it? 
We also had the chance to taste the 3 balsamics that were unbelievable. They were so good that I bought 2 of them to take home with me. Really rich and flavorful.
Looks like someone took a few bites before I snapped the picture
The wine was nice and refreshing. We tasted a sparkling wine, a white Merlot (which I LOVE, and we normally carry at our store) and one other white. We were in a bit of a rush because it was getting so late and we still needed to go back to the hotel and have dinner.
We got to the hotel, which is owned by Delea, and it was just as cute as all the others. Located smack dab in the middle of the vineyards-it was the perfect location.
This was the view from our room. I took another one in the morning and you could see all the beautiful vineyards out the window, but I accidentally deleted it! Just imagine it though-breathtaking!
We changed and headed to dinner. We had a long table out on the patio and started with fresh homemade gnocchi, and mushroom risotto. I wasn’t able to get pictures of these because people had devoured them by the time I got there, but these were 2 of my favorite meals from the whole trip. The gnocchi was made the night before and just tossed with fresh tomato, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. The risotto was creamy and had a light mushroom taste to it. So good.
Our main course was beef stew with polenta and mixed vegetables.
This polenta was a little different then the last few I’ve had here. It had some herbs mixed in with it and reminded me more of couscous. The meal was paired perfectly with some of Deleas best wines.
Of course David brought out the good stuff at the end.
We finished the meal with some sorbet and Grappa. This time they put the Grappa IN the sorbet. I would have liked the sorbet on its own, but it was fun to try it this way.
I also got to try their Nocino, which is made from walnuts, and the famous Limoncello.
After a fun night we headed to bed because it was going to be an early morning to the airport!
David was such a great host
Thank you David for an amazing time in Ticino and for all your hospitality!
I was so sad it was over. It was an amazing trip I will never ever forget, and I am so thankful that I had the chance to experience this. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.
I will end this post with a few cool pictures as we were flying over the Swiss Alps out of Italy.
We had a long layover in Paris so of course we did some shopping to spend those last few Euros.
Good bye Europe!
