(map) Venezia, Veneto
What could be more Italian than some wine as an aperitivo before dinner or a glass with your meal? While you can buy inexpensive bottles in wine shops, do what the locals do… Seek out the local wine shop, the kind that typically has five to a dozen vats of wines to choose from.
For example, off via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Fondamenta Sant’Anna in Venice, the wines are stored in huge glass damigiane (demijohns) sitting in their own wooden basket and topped with a rubber hose for filling bottles.
Bring an empty water bottle, preferably a liter-size, and have it filled. You can opt for a Merlot, a Chianti, or other types of Italian reds. For whites, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon, and Ramandolo, are available among others.
Prices vary, but a liter of wine is typically under 3 Euros – it’s quite the deal. Residents arrive with their empty bottles and jugs, some of which are clearly stained, as they have been used many times before. These vini da tavola won’t make the top list of a wine connoisseur, but this is a great way to taste the local offerings, doing as the Italians do.
Cin cin!
-- Contributed by Monica J. Pileggi (see bio), Contract Specialist, Photographer and Traveler. You can view the photographs that documents her travel impressions on www.pileggiphotography.com.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Great post! It must be fate, Monica, that your Note went up today – just this morning I walked by a new one of these shops here in Bolzano. This reminds me – I need to get back over there this afternoon!
February 17th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Good morning, how wonderful to see your pictures here.
Great news about the wine shops.
You remember me from the Equinox maybe
February 17th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Wish I’d known about this in Venice! We used to buy wine like this in Sicily – fabulous and so cheap. Never had a bad wine in Italy come to think of it! Maybe the atmosphere has something to do with it!
February 17th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
I’m bringing an empty litre bottle for my 3-week trip to Pienza this September. Looking forward to the experience. Thanks for the info.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Lee, I hope you got your wine today! I always enjoy discovering places such as these wine shops.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
It may be heresy to say this in the Italian Notebook, but the French do this as well. I visited one in southern France a couple of years ago. One of our party bought some and tried to serve it on board our small boat. Some of us couldn’t tell the difference between it and what was served onboard. Such fun it was.
June 12th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Yes, this is done in France too and I know of several locations to buy the wine.