Decugnano Dei Barbi Winery in Orveito Italy

When it comes to traveling Europe and making decisions on things to do, I’d really advise you to check Trip Advisor. Decugnano Dei Barbi Vineyard is one of the top rated attractions of Orveito Italy and there is good reason why. With a beautiful landscape, deep history and quaint Tuscan style housing / paired alongside Anna Rita the master wine taster, not even rain can make it a bad day for a tour.

Trip Advisor isn’t exactly how I learned about the winery. I was talking to a Commander that I usually share travel tips and ideas with who stands a watch 4 times a week where I work. Normally I just meander on over to the watch floor and start chatting with him.

I basically stole 2 of his ideas for my dad and I and over the next few posts, will explain. Him, his wife, and his daughter, had gone to Decugnano Di Barbi winery 2 weeks before and loved it, so I decided to write it down as a must see and was not disappointed.

A quick snap shot as we arrived at the winery which was definitely up some very windy roads and not accessible without a car.

Here’s the map snapshot from Naples.

When you arrive at the gate, its very obvious its a remote area and quiet. It would be wonderful to be walking these grounds for sunrise and sunset on a daily basis.

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Rows upon rows of grapevines

Arriving at the main house we jumped out of our car and immediately walked down the lane to begin the wine tour. (We had arrived a couple of minutes behind schedule and they had already started).

Even though we were late, I couldn’t resist a couple of photos of the grounds 🙂

THE TOUR

First you walk over to the main building and discuss the different types of grapes used for the different kinds of wines. You’ll get a rundown of the winery and a short history. Then, you get to walk down to these caves that were naturally made. The perfect temperature to store hand made champagne during its 5 year aging process.

Inside are the bottles, all facing down so the sediment sits at the top of the bottle and they can remove it easier later. They are all in specific areas based on the year that they were made and get turned once a week so that it has an even way of settling.

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For removing the tops of the bottles

In the back room are old style machines that they still use today to finish the champagne. Remember that sediment that sits at the top of the bottle I was telling you about? Well that must be removed before the bottle is ready to be sold otherwise your first sip would be all that nasty stuff. That’s what these machines are designed to do.

The machine on the right is a centrifuge to ensure all of that sediment goes all the way down into the neck of the bottle, then the bottles are frozen to maintain the carbonation, the lid is removed, the ice with the sediment is cut out, more wine is added to fill the bottle, and the cap is replaced. The champagne is ready for selling.

After all that work, its time to pop the bubbly!

The machine all the way to the left is used to refill the champagne where it had been removed.

Sitting on the shelf, waiting to age.

The next room over is full of the barrels of wine. Each barrel is handmade and Anna Rita says when you start talking about barrels that’s another topic entirely. You could spend days explaining the ins and outs of barrel making, if you cared to know.

These barrels are new and just changed out. When they receive them they fill them with water to make sure there are no leaks. Better to have some water spill out and not waste any fine wine! eek!