2016 ITALY Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi 54 - Cellars Plus

Out the front door and around the corner to the cellars.

We entered into a library of sorts. We perused a host of treasures--art, awards, books, memorabilia of all sorts. One thing that caught Mike's eye were two racing helmets previously owned by Jarno Trulli, an Italian race driver. He competed in Formula One from 1997-2011 and won the Monaco (our fave F1 city) Grand Prix in 2004.

Other items were these Zanetti watches, no doubt the finest in Italian watchmaking. After racing, Trulli got into food and wine and these watches relate to that (as it says "something top chef" on the watch face). Jarno currently co-owns a winery in the Abruzzo area of Italy.

We also saw the family cookbook. The cover photo was the very eggplant stack that we had made today, although ours were not so perfecto.

This 40-year old ristorante has a wine cellar dating back to the 6th century BC. It may have been used as an escape route or hiding place for ancient owners of the property. The walls are carved out of volcanic tufa rock.

We stepped down into the first level and immediately felt the naturally cooled air that a good wine needs to age.

The cellars hold over 25,000 bottles of wine and 2,000 distinct labels, some of the best in the world. 

Their priciest bottle was a French Romanee Conti 1971 for a mere 20,000 euros.

Rooms and narrow stone stairs wind their way to over 114 feet (35 meters) below surface level. Bottles of wine lining the walls at every turn. Mike and I did not attempt to go past the second level, but some took the challenge.

The Don Alfonso family also makes cheeses on their biologic farm, so there is a cheese aging room with perfect humidity here, too. 

Back into the warm sunlight, hated to leave, but we were also anxious to get to our next stop in Positano.

The rest of the story: http://www.donalfonso.com/en. If you don't read anything else, be sure to view the video at the end of the home page.