6/20 -- Transfer to Lago d'Iseo, Franciacorta Wine Tasting

We took a scenic drive towards Edolo and then south to Lago d'Iseo. We stopped for a rest break in Edolo and even before that, discovered some challenges of Italian highways. As we were close to Edolo, we encountered a big truck coming uphill on our road, which was not wide enough at that spot for both to pass. Our bus backed uphill quite a ways right along the low guard rail with a sheer drop below. Two more trucks came after the first one, and they were all a tight fit -- one driver opened his door a little so his  mirror would not stick out so far.

Ski area -- it was bigger, but I was too slow

 

A horrible storm last year toppled hundreds of trees. There
were much worse looking sections than these, but it was
difficult to capture from the moving bus.

 

Once we were in Edolo, we walked around to see the sights including a river that had been bricked in on the sides and the bottoms. We noticed that traffic was backing up and realized a similar situation was playing out in a short tunnel ahead -- bunches of trucks lined up to go two ways on a one-lane road with gridlock from cross traffic. Finally, an orange truck blocking the intersection backed up into the cross street enough to allow one cross car to back up and the first oncoming truck came thru. The next truck wanted to turn left onto the cross street, forcing another car to back up to let him in. There was no sign of any police presence to try to direct traffic.

Women's room sign. There were similar ones for men and
wheelchair.

Above/below statues near our stop

 

Above/below: the captured river. Note below
that the traffic situation is getting started.
There is already a line of trucks and cars on
the far side of the tunnel. The white truck on
this side might have been the last to get thru
easily.

 

The valley road to  Lago d'Iseo is one of the longest in Italy at 58 miles, and a lot of it was tunnels, so I closed  my eyes and dozed. Jim, however, took pictures when he could.

When we neared Iseo, we turned off to go to a sparkling wine winery near the lake. We walked about 20 minutes through the vineyard to the winery, which was very modern. It has been in the Bersi-Serlini family since 1886 and is now run by two sisters, great-granddaughters of the founder. We got a tour of the facility, which is virtually identical to what Mumm does in Napa. This was followed by a 'Blind Tasting', which I thought meant they would not tell us what we were trying until later. But they meant it much more literally and I was partly right. What I didn't guess was the blindfolds. We got 3 glasses and had to identify the youngest and oldest, the fruitiest and the sweetest. She claimed we were one of the most accurate groups ever. I guess all that champagne drinking I've done didn't go totally to waste.....

A Roomba for your lawn!

The vineyards. All the rows are oriented towards the
direction the wind comes from: hot days, cool nights
due to the wind. Picking starts in early August to
maintain acidity.

 

Entrance to the tasting room

The bottle turning room. Each bottle is rotated a quarter
turn each day for weeks to get the yeast sediment to
settle in the neck so that it can be frozen and popped out.
They have room for about 700,000 bottles in 2 stages of
development in this room.

After the wine is complete as still wine, yeast and a bit of
sugar are added and it is capped with a metal cap because
of the pressure that builds up. A sample bottle of each set
of wines has a pressure gauge like the ones here.

Afterwards, we got to look at what we drank and have the rest with what passes for a light lunch here in Italy. We ended up buying some of the rose, which was our favorite in the tastings, but we are a bit concerned about how to keep it from overheating during our upcoming transfers (3 more).

It was Sheila's birthday today and it seemed like she got
a celebration everywhere she went.

We had our tasting and lunch in the barrel and bottling
room. They were labeling bottles by machine as we left.

Our hotel here is literally on the lake and we have a view of the lake and a marina. This is similar to Lake Como, but less well known and not so crowded.

The lake when we arrived.

After dinner

 

Thirty minutes later