We started off with a 15-sample tasting upon arrival at Naturalist Museum of Villa Beatrice d'Est, situated on Monte Gemola, Baone. In the main hall, we were presented with all the wines on our tasting schedule for the next 2 days! After a detailed introduction of the region & its wines, we launched into a tasting of dry Spumantes, white blends, Merlots & blends, Cabernet Franc & blends, naturally sweet wines, sweet spumante & passito wines.

After that single sitting, we cleared our heads in the clean fresh air around the Villa, taking in photo-shots of the surrounding hills & human settlements. It was indeed a very pleasant sight of rolling hills dotted with vineyards & farms.

On the way to lunch, we wound our way around several hills for even greater views of this beautiful region that invite mainly local tourists to visit & stay in lovely Agrotourism cottages or Bed & Breakfasts.

Lunch was a simple but delicious affair at Vinoteca Villa Alessi. Samplings of the local delights of thinly-sliced Lardo (pork fat) melting on warm baguettes & chunky salami for starters with their vino bianco. This was followed by whole roast rabbit with salad trimmings. I dug into this fare with much gusto that I forgot to take a photo of it!! All the time, slurping up their lovely Marzemino red wine with sheer pleasure.

The next stop was their other major industry, olive oil production. In this region of small producers, they gather together to build a modern pressing & bottling plant for use by all olive growers in the region. We toured its facilities & training centre that conducts regular courses on olive oil.

On to our next destination - a huge land spread of vineyards & olive groves with a 2-horse stable & hog farm. This was the agricultural farm of DAGAZ & their very own Casa Sabina (Bed & Breakfast). Here we had a first-hand feel of the land, the soil types & rocks that make up this unique region. Here too, we sampled wild asparagus & aragula leaves sprouting from the ground. We learned about olive trees but unfortunately no fresh olives to sample in Springtime. The salami factory was next with its processing plant & ageing cellars. Then, finally, we said hello to the pigs being bred for that rich & sinful lardo & salami.

We ended this tour at the Casa Sabina to sample Lardo & salami with another spread of wines.

Before lunch, we stopped at Borin winery to sample a range of their wines, including a passito & grappa.

After that, with young Francesca Salvan, 3rd generation Salvan, in tow, we headed to Capodilista - La Montecchia for lunch. Dott. Giordano Emo Capodilista, President of the Concorzio Vini DOC Colli Euganei, welcomed us to his vast family estate of vineyards, medieval castle & museum, major golf resort & top notch restaurant. After a brief introduction around the estate, we retired to lunch at Ristorante Relais Golf Montecchia, familiAlajmo.

This was the most sumptuous lunch on this trip, which lasted from 1330hrs till 1700hrs. The various menu courses are seen on the "animated gif", below. This memorable lunch also brought our tour of Colli Euganei to a close.