While I’m going around to see the grapes blooming, as well as, the cherry trees, enjoying the sweet colors of spring in Romagna, I have already done the hard job of tasting the wines coming from the last harvest. Winter is not exactly the season to visit cellars or going to wine events, but I had the chance to go to a couple of them, Cesena Wine Festival and Wine&art in Faenza.

Cesena Wine Festival

A chance to visit the town, a powerful example of the Malatesta family possession during Middle Age period, but also a very important and excellent area for the Sangiovese production.
Not only a wine, as you probably may know, but also a grape used to produce the most famous cousin, Chianti. Quite a surprise, I’m sure, for most of you. The first edition in 2012 was a way for me to know some producers both of wine and oil but also the chance to visit the Bonci Theater in an unofficial event. More than that, the Cesena Wine Festival put in comparison the Sangiovese producers with the Chianti ones.

The 2013 event was even better: this time was held in one of the most important old libraries in Europe, the Malatestiana, Unesco Patrimony. A coffer for ancient hand painted codex and a place where monks, historians and educated men used to sit and study in the still and silent atmosphere of the place.
This event was also a chance to visit the town with a local who explained the history of the old Trattorias, places where people used to go and drink wine, taking their lunch from home.

The organization called me and Maria Andreucci as official bloggers, dedicating a public moment with all the people who wanted to meet us and understand our work as bloggers. Quite funny, my first public intervention as a blogger. The convention about wine as an important resource for tourism, was also something quite new and very appreciated by the people there.

Now I think you want to know more about the wines. This is what I tasted. All the wines are Sangiovese grapes based pure 100%.

Tenuta Casali
A strong red wine, very scented: cherry and blackberry, the typical notes of Sangiovese di Romagna, make you taste this quiet equilibrated wine that also has something of the ancient times. I would say, Sangiovese as it was once upon a time. Not a surprise of this cellar, which produces the Baruccia only in 7000 bottles per year in barrique. A top wine!
www.tenutacasali.it

La Grotta
Albana Damadora. A name, a poetry, an excellent wine. I’m not very well in tasting white wines but I had the chance to meet the producer, Giovanni Amadori, a very nice and honest man who represents the 6th generation cultivating Sangiovese and Albana. Taste of apricoats and ananas, very persistent, exactly what you should expect from a traditional, classic albana. The colour is light, golden yellow.
http://www.lagrottavini.it

Thanks to the organization of Cesena Wine Festival who invited me, to Maurizio Magni of Prima Pagina Pr Agency, to Alessandro Giunchi of Altavita Cellar.

Some tips for a short itinerary in Cesena
A visit to the Malatestiana Library is a must. One of the Unesco sites that you can visit in the area. And is the only example of a perfectly preserved monastic humanist library building (also furnishings and equipment in the library), as recognized by UNESCO, by inserting, first in Italy, in the Register’s Memoire du Monde.
To book a guided visit (which highly recommended), go to this page and fill the form, malatestiana or contact the Tourism Office of Cesena, Ufficio Turismo.

Tickets

5 Euros. You may have special reduced tickets at special conditions, just go to the page where you can book your visit.
If you want to make a special tour in the traditional and old Cesena, contact the Tourism Office in the central square Piazza del Popolo and ask for Silvia, she is very nice and will help you in having your best time in Cesena