vino | GetAway Travel LLC

In October 2014 we are hosting a very special small group wine experience to Italy with Vino Etcetera sommelier Corienne Winkels.

Our very first information night will be Tuesday January 7, 2014 at Vino Etcetera, 120 E Wisconsin Ave, Oconomowoc, WI. Please RSVP (262-538-2140 or sue@getaway.travel) if you plan on attending. We promise lots of fun and perhaps even some Italian Wine!

Tuscany

So what’s so great about this trip? Only 24 people are going, so it promises to be an intimate and relaxed tour. And if you’re wondering how much fun we have – just ask anyone that went with us to Burgundy & Provence in 2013. Our France wine trip was a most memorable and fantastic time, with Italy shaping up every bit as amazing.

During our tour you will discover: The Eternal City – Rome, the worlds smallest state – Vatican City, the classic Tuscan hill town of Cortona, Umbria’s grand hill town of Orvieto, the picturesque renaissance town of Montepulciano, the small town with the powerful wine – Brunello, the medieval city of Siena and the unofficial capital of Chianti – Greve.

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We have lots of wine tastings and winery visits planned – note these are not ones found on “normal” tourist routes, but quite boutique and hand selected just for this trip. Preliminary details are available on our web page, with more information coming soon.

Our group of wine travelers are making their third and final stop of the day at Domaine Pierre André in Aloxe Corton.

One of the great things about our group is the range of winology (is that a word? If not it should be) among the members. We have some relative wine novices, some dabblers, some serious wine lovers and a sommelier in our ranks. You certainly don’t have to be a wine snob to love this type of travel – it’s all about getting close to the land, the products of it and the people who make it happen. Everyone had an absolutely fantastic time and everyone learned something new and gained a deeper appreciation of Burgundian wines.

“In vino veritas” is an ancient latin phrase that translates as “in wine there is the truth”. Most likely it originally referred to that after drinking a lot of wine, a mans truth will flow from his mouth as his tongue loosens up. But maybe we can look for a deeper meaning now. Grape growers are really farmers. Their farm “produce” gently speaks the truth about the land, the weather, the history, and the fruits of their labors. In our experience it is more rewarding to see and feel the veritas of their labors at the location it is actually produced. We travel to open our hearts and our eyes to learn more about the world. And in learning more about the world we learn more truths about ourselves as well. And as wine is one of so many of God’s wonderful creations we can say that in wine there definitely is truth.

At Pierre André, the glazed tile roof of the Chateau is easily one of the first things you notice when you pull into the parking area. It is also one of the first things you notice when you see a bottle of their wine. We held our tasting in the Chateau and then visited the wine cellars before heading back to Beaune for the night to rest up as we had 2 more tastings in Burgundy the next day!