31 March - The Hunt for Wine.....

Today we headed east, away from Lucca, but with purpose.  Our aim was to visit the area in which the Aleandri wine is grown (albeit miles out of our way) in order to stock up for the forthcoming few weeks.  There are three vineyards in the Veneto area northeast of Venice so our plan was to visit the nearby town of Treviso – ‘an overlooked jewel in the area’ according to the Rough Guide - and seek some there; it is after all right in the centre of the small area that contains the vineyards.  A two day stop here would give us a well needed break from driving and provide the opportunity to see the town, buy some wine and to take a day trip by train to nearby Verona, Vicenza or Padua before a Saturday morning drive to Lucca.

This little town has some lovely old buildings contained in a small area bounded by river and canals but so far does not seem to live up to the Rough Guide’s promise.  Nevertheless it is a perfect base for our plans for the next two days.  Our first port of call was the tourist information office to ask about accommodation.  The Aleandri name caused a stir with the lady there: she recognised it as Italian - from the area she said - and told us of the fine wine of the same name produced locally.  This all looked very promising and after lunch we went off to look for the many wine shops that we were told we would find around the town.  After over an hour with no wine shops but plenty of very trendy clothes and accessory stores and the very serious risk that we might be departing with a crate's worth of leather handbags but nothing to drink, we happened across the cathedral.  A short break here to do the touristy bit and to allow Lorraine to salve her Catholic conscience and we were off again on the hunt for our wine. Eventually a local pointed us off in the direction of narrow side streets to a promising looking deli.  Lots of nice cheeses and meat and some nice looking bottles but no Aleandri and lots of blank looks at the name.  A few doors down was a specialist wine shop but again lots of blank looks from the helpful owner and despite the language barrier it became clear he had never heard of it.  A third shop and the same result.  Even worse I keep having to repeat the name Aleandri and the locals seem to have trouble pronouncing it; maybe some of those people who seem to think the name is Greek may be correct....

We retired that evening having failed to find our Aleandri wine, but we did manage to sample some alternatives instead….

Has anybody seen any full bottles of this wine..?