Well, when in Rome - or more accurately, Umbria…

Exactly, we just had to visit a vineyard on our trip to Italy this autumn, and MOH lost no time trying to find just the one. And that’s how we ended up at Roccafiore, a vineyard in Todi close to where we were staying. What interested me was what they call the “natural and sustainable viticulture” which we learnt means a more natural way of producing wine.

A view over the vineyard's gardens and terraced patios

It’s just a small vineyard set in the hills of Todi, the terraced gardens where we had our tasting were very pretty - usually the tastings take place inside, but as it was unexpectedly warm we were more than happy to sit in this pretty setting. When we arrived the workers were having their lunch, and they were a great advert for their company - I’ve said it before, but you can tell a lot by a company by their workers, and later when we saw them at work, they looked equally as happy.

A place to perch and enjoy the Italian Countryside

Having our tasting outside meant more work for our host as she fetched and carried everything we needed, including a pretty jam jar of flowers and a wine passport for us to make notes about the wines in, and some weird dog-like biscuits (in the basket) which I wasn’t much of a fan of.

The serious business of wine tasting was ready to begin

We’d chosen to have lunch alongside the wine, which is always a good move, and the lunch included some of the charcuterie from pigs kept on the land, which tasted as good as it looks. There’s also olive groves on the land and they also produce olive oil, which we tasted slathered over bread, and also very tasty. Tasty isn’t a word I thought I’d use about olive oil, and it’s here we realised that we don’t use olive oil in the same way at home, and it’s wasted how we do use it!

local charcuterie to accompany the wines

When it got to the part of the tasting that the price list came out we surprised ourselves by considering the olive oil. We didn’t buy any though as there were only 3l cans available, and this summer aside, we couldn’t think of when we could make use of so much olive oil to do it justice, which was a shame.

We also did the calculation on the optimum bottles of wine to ship home, which turned out to be three cases. Red, of course, although even I was tempted by a couple of the whites. And so a couple of weeks after we returned from Italy, some of their Il Roccafiore, a Sangiovese and Prova d’Autore (a blend of Sagrantino, Montepulciano and Sangiovese) followed us home.

A jam jar of flowers no doubt picked from the vineyard's gardens

As I said at the top of this post, when in Rome (or Umbria)…

Remember that cottage we stayed in in Suffolk at the start of August? Well one of the attractions might well have been that it was attached to a vineyard. Maybe. Well, it definitely made it stand out on the bookings website, that and part of the welcome bundle was a bottle of wine from the vineyard. Sadly that didn't work out for us as our hosts upgraded us to a bottle of champagne as the dishwasher was out of action, which was a bit of a shame, but then again... champagne!

In the house information the owners expressly invited guests to look around the vineyard and to picnic there. And when we bumped into them one morning - they lived next door - they repeated the invitation, and so, as it's not everyday you get the opportunity to picnic in a vineyard we did.

Not only did the owners encourage this, they provided some fold-up chairs, picnic-ware - including plastic glasses - and a hamper. They really meant it. So after a cycle into Framlingham in the morning, we packed our picnic and headed into the vineyard. We knew there was an old oak tree in the middle, which is where the vineyard takes its name, but little else.

This was our view as we entered the vineyard.

A look at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

It wasn't long before we found the large old oak tree and spent time admiring its gnarly-ness before choosing the perfect picnic spot. It's funny isn't it, how we all do that. Looking for a spot that's not too slopey, no unexpected bumps and where we think we'll get the most warmth from the sun, that was now hiding.

Part of the big old oak and where the vineyard gets it's name from Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Knobbly bark and roots of the Oak at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Perfect spot chosen. The view approved and so the chairs were unpacked. And out came the food. In the distance we could see rabbits hopping through the vineyards, and their quick movements kept catching our eyes. We'd brought a bottle along from the house, but resisted opening it until the sun came out for long enough.

Choosing our position and waiting for the sun to reappear at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

And we waited. But as you can see from the photos the clouds were thick and all promise of the sun disappeared. So cutting our losses - and having lasted it out long enough (another British thing I think?) we packed up, explored the vineyards and headed back to the cottage for a nice warm drink.

My post yesterday reminded me of this abandoned picnic and an alarming increase in us preferring a hot drink to alcohol. I'm hoping this isn't a trend and a result of our optimism. Optimism that the sun will be out, the weather will be warmer and such like.

Looking down a row of vines at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Admiring the grapes on the vines at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

But it's not everyday you get the chance to picnic on a vineyard is it, so it was worth trying. Hopefully you've had warmer, boozier picnics than my attempts this summer - please let me know where your best picnic was, I'm curious now...