Am I in Napa?

Monday was a beautiful sunny day, and our class took a trip to the Mionetto winery a few hours north of Venice.  While I feel a little dimwitted saying this because (duh) there's a reason Napa is what it is, I kept thinking the whole time that it felt like I was in Yountville, California.  The climate was definitely similar to northern California, and it felt like a summer day back at home.

We took a brief tour of the winery facilities, where they ferment and double ferment, bottle, and prepare their prosecco for shipment all over Europe and the to United States.  It smelled YEASTY...mmmm.

After the tour, most everyone was fiending for the tasting, where they served five different varieties of wine and "soft" / normal sparkling wine (their own, special, family-tradition prosecco).  I was particularly excited by the spread of picnic-like Italian finger foods: hard and soft cheeses, pickled vegetables, and prosciutto.  A very satisfying day, overall, and a great way to get out of the city and see the gorgeous Italian countryside.

Walking home from the train station later that day, I ate some incredible extra-dark cioccolato gelato at a gourmet gelato shop - nom nom nom!  I plan to do a post later on just gelato, and after that, a research paper.  I'm researching by eating it every day.

Lots of bottles...

Mr. Mionetto:

More photos here or in an album to the right -->
And please take a look at the beautiful Mionetto winery website for the history of the company and the process they use to make their wines:

http://www.mionetto.com/index.html