Valdobbiadene

When buying Prosecco, we always look for DOC or DOCG Valdobbiadene on the label. It's the benchmark for quality Italian bubbly. We were, naturally, very excited to take the one hour bus ride from Conegliano for a day trip to the city bearing that name.

The fact that the bus was almost empty should have tipped us off that something was wrong.

The bus dropped us off very close to the main town square, which contains the requisite bell tower, municipal building, cathedral and what looks like the world's biggest bird bath. What it didn't have was people. It was like a ghost town. There were a couple of cafés open, but for the most part, it looked like it was a civic holiday.

Where are all the enotecas and wine shops? We Googled where we could do wine tastings, and most of the better rated ones were far outside the city. Brenda found Casa Brunoro, with a 4.8 star rating and only a 28-minute walk from town. After yesterday's long walk through the hills around Conegliano, the last thing I wanted was another uphill climb, but that's exactly what we got. On the plus side, the winery and tasting were outstanding, and the winery deserves its high rating. We tried four different Proseccos and were shown the different types of soil from the different vineyards where the grapes were grown.

After the tasting, we walked back down the hill into town, hoping to have a bite to eat, but, according to Google Maps, the closest open restaurant was back in Conegliano!

Mamma mia!

We found a cafe that served us some pretty good veggie sandwiches and then hopped on the bus for the return trip to Conegliano.

Not our best day in Veneto, but at least we discovered Casa Brunoro.Read more