We came down the Adige Valley from Merano where we had a magnificent stay at Castel Fragsberg, and moved due south to my favorite winery in the region for an early morning tour and tasting with Graf(Count) Michael von Enzenberg, whose family has made wine here for over four centuries! He is a knowledgeable guy and a truly wonderful winemaker making everything organic, bio-dynamic and even sustainable! This was to be a centerpiece of the trip and indeed it was from the tour to the tasting to the wine purchases, everyone loved it. I should note that Manincor wines are easily available in this area and much of the US; the importer here is Cantiniere Imports of MD!
We headed further south and found the town of Mezzocorona, having now crossed into the region of Trentino. Our lunch choice was the beautiful Elementi where we dined outside yet again (this was quite regular with temps in the 70's and lots of sun every day!), where we had pre-ordered our courses and each of us created our own 3-course meal. The dishes included Tomato Salad with basil, Puglia Burrata and Matera bread croutons; Trentino Beef Tartare with avocado sauce and salad; Mountain potato Gnocchi with Chard Pesto, goat cheese and salted almond; Risotto with grilled Fennel, orange reduction cand caper powder, Lamb Tagliatelle with Alpine butter and Trentigrana cheese; Roasted Croaker fish with tomatoes, olives & wild spinach; Grilled Zucchini Parmigiana with Caciocavallo cheese & mint and Diavola(not very devilish) Chicken with Piquillo pepper, mango chutney & veal jus.
The wines were again wonderful local ones with a Pinot Grigio Trentino 2022 from Endrizzi Elio & Filli and a Baron Wildmann Schiava(since we are now in the Italian zone the Vernatcsh becomes Schiava) 2021. Simple but refreshing and then came desserts which were all beautifully designed presentations: Apricot, Crunchy Katifi pastry, Ricotta Ice Cream & Lemon Thyme; Red Fruit & Savory Pumpkin Seeds with Balsamic sorbet; 75% Dark Chocolate Semifreddo with Caramel Sauce & Raspberry Sorbet!!
We all loved everything and left quite full headed on to our next destination in the Dolomites.
