Prosecco in Italy: a guide to guided or self-guided tours

 At the World Travel market in ExCel London 2015 I went looking for a tour of Prosecco. Prosecco was originally both a place and a grape. Confused? So was everybody else.

So they changed the name of the grape from prosecco to G l e r a and let other people nearby make Prosecco. Still confused. Never mind. Just have a glass of Prosecco and smile.Want to take a tour and find out more? Here is one suggestion.

 Wine tasting in Capello Andrea winery, aperitif at Bar Alpino, dinner at Salis Ristorante Enoteca.

I made notes for myself. You could fly from Heathrow to Treviso on Ryanair; or on Alitalia to Venice. Or drive there taking the ferry from Dover to Calais. Then drive via France to taste Champagne and do a Champagne tour; then drive on across the border to Italy via Milan. 

If you did not stop at all it would be 15 hours of driving, which is possible if you have two or more drivers, in relay, such as a husband and wife, a foursome of two couples, a stag party, business associates, or two generations of an adult family with parents and children who drive.

In Italy you could drive with stops at Milan, Verona and Padua and Venice then north of Venice is Prosecco.

More details: Champagne: On your way through France, stay in Rheims or Epernay and book a tour at one of the Champagne cellars. If no tours are available, stop at a champagne shop or two and look around. 

Milan, see the cathedral in the main square. Even if you don't go inside, the facade is impressive. Verona, see the courtyard with the statue of Juliet of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, under the balcony. Verona , still on the Shakespeare theme (two gentlemen of Verona).Venice is another possible stop. More photography, Venetian glass.

Speaking of glass, then on to Prosecco.

Can't wait? Your supermarket will have plenty of bottles to get you in the mood. Here's the Waitrose bottle with the reminder that to avoid confusion with the place name and grape name being the same, the grape name was changed from Prosecco to G l e r a. (Letters separated because Spell checker keeps changing names.) J a n c i s Robinson, British wine expert, author of the Oxford Companion to wine, in at least one of her books, if I remember rightly, makes a point of using the original old grape name Prosecco.) 

Only 11%. You would not think it makes much difference but it does. The lower alcohol content means it doesn't knock you out so quickly.

More on alcohol from waitrose.com/alcohol

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.