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One afternoon Bell and I were taking our daily six mile walk in Rome. We were going down a very unassuming street near the Campo de Fiori called via Pellegrino, when we saw a restaurant - no signs on the outside at all - that happened to have a Michelin sticker in the window. The restaurant was called Bric and we decided to makes a reservation for our last dinner on this wonderful trip to Italy. Bric really does deserve its own post, because the meal was amazing - our best during this trip. What helped was that we had the best wine on the trip as well, the 2003 Ca'Marcanda Promis, a red blend from the Tuscan region. Only after we got the bottled did I discover that Ca'Marcanda is a project from Italian wine icon, Angelo Gaja. The wine was deep, with dense black fruits and mineral notes with a pleasantly ripe and lifted personality.

This is a special wine that provided a fitting end to a very special trip.

A dinner at a very unassuming ristorante called Abruzzi, near the Vittorio Emanuele monument in Rome, came the discovery of another fantastic Chianti Classico: the 2001 Marchese Antinori. Was I biased because of the Antinori name again? Absolutely, but Isabell nor I had ever had this particular chianti - the reserve for Antinori.

This lovely wine was deep ruby red with light garnet hues. It had pronounced cherry and violet fruit with tobacco nuances on the nose. It was a full-bodied and rounded red wine of remarkable depth, structure and length... all for 22 euros ($28). The next day I found the wine at an enoteca near our hotel and saw it retailed for 19 euros.

So what justifies so many American restaurants marking up mediocre wine by 50%??

On New Year's day Isabell and I walked from our hotel near the Vatican to the fun, but low-key area of Rome called Trastevere. We had dinner reservations at an osteria called Ferrara. Upon being seated we were given two books, both about six inches wide. They were the white and red wine lists respectively. It took us nearly ten minutes just to page through the books. We settled on a barbera from the Piedmonte region, taking a breather from Tuscan wines. The 2001 Paolo Scavino Barbera d'Alba was an excellent wine that we enjoyed throughout dinner. Unlike many of the Tuscan wines we had, this barbera was more smooth than dry, more dark berry than cherry, and had a nice floral aroma. I looked into Paolo Scavino a bit more after we had this wine and discovered his well respected as an excellent winemaker of barberas and barolos.

Before we left for Italy I called a great wine shop in Napa called the Bounty Hunter, where I have bought wine now for the last couple of years. I asked about winery recommendations for Italy and they gave me the name of Isole e Olena just outside of Florence. Unfortunately Isabell and I were not able to make it to the winery, but while strolling through the medieval town of San Gimignano I spotted the wine in a local enoteca. So, we bought a bottle of the 2004 vintage. It was a great wine with cherry and beery fruits on the nose and palate, followed up a touch of chocolate on the finish. No meal with this wine - but we did enjoy it from our hotel room in Rome for New Year's!

No trip to Florence is complete without going to La Spada - home of the Bruno special and a staple for those who went to Gonzaga-in-Florence. It is a real tribute to the larger-than-life personality of Fr. Bruno Segatta that by simply stating his name, the entire staff of La Spada treats you like a regular and a friend. Amazing.

To add to the nostalgia of this meal I ordered an Antinori wine. As a student at Gonzaga both Isabell and I took classes in the famed Palazzo Antinori just down the street from La Spada. But this go around I ordered an Antinori I had never seen, the La Braccesca Vino Nobile de Montepulciano. On the nose, the wine was intense and had typical aromas of fruits with a delicate hint of vanilla. On the palate it was structured and well-balanced. A great wine for my meat and potatoes!

For the past two week my wife and I have been in Italy. Before I left my intention was to blog from there about various wines and restaurants we came across during our trip. Two things prevented this from happening: 1) Italy rates near the bottom of the European Union in internet connectivity - and it showed. Finding an internet connection in either our hotel or internet cafes was a little tough. And when we did the prices were ridiculous. The most laughable was our hotel in Rome: 10 euros ($15) get you one hour of internet time. And 2) We were in Italy - the home of long meals and so much history it would literally take a lifetime to see it all, which makes blogging not much of a priority. Ok, excuses out of the way, on to the good stuff...

For dinner one night in Florence we went to an enoteca/ristorante called Enotria. The restaurant was a little out of the city center walls, about a ten minute walk from our hotel and the Santa Maria Novella train station, and the prices reflected this - as did the patrons. This was a great local place that took a lot of pride in matching great Italian wines with classic Tuscan fare. Isabell and I both ordered a pairing menu where we got an anitpasti, pasta, and main course all matched with selected wines. Each of our meals was excellent and the wines were great, too. One wine in particular stood out to me: the 2003 Monteraponi Chianti Classico. It embodied all that is great about chianti, but offered tastes that were complex and smooth. I had this wine pared with my pasta: rigatoni with a classic Florentine ragout sauce. Fantastic!

I ended up buying the 2003 Monteraponi Chianti Classico reserve to bring home, as well as another Classico that the manager highly recommended.