On this day we departed the hotel about 11:00am for an hour long walk to Lobishof. The walk was on narrow roads which were well paved but meandered up and down the hillsides making for a strenuous walk at times. Lobishof is a farm, farmhouse, restaurant and guest house in a beautiful green valley surrounded by green pastures, the valley below and the mountains in the background.
After the walk we enjoyed cold beers, soft drinks, cheese platters and several varieties of cakes. They have picnic style tables under large umbrellas and beach style folding chairs for lounging in the sunshine. Families with children, locals and tourists all seem to gather here to enjoy the food and scenery.
By early afternoon we all headed back to our hotel either on foot or by taxi depending on how tired folks were from the walk over. Those who walked back to the hotel took a well-marked and wide gravel path through the woods. The walk took about 45 minutes. The taxi took about 6 minutes! Kent took a taxi with another fellow and two ladies.
At 5:30pm on the terrace of our hotel we had a lecture on wines of the Alto Adige region with Chris Mayr. The Alto Adige wine region is one of Italy’s smallest winegrowing regions, yet thanks to its geographical position, it is one of the most multifaceted. The Alpine climate mixed with the quality of the soils and experienced wine growers has made wines of this region prized by wine connoisseurs throughout the world.
The region produces twelve varieties of grapes with 38% red wines and 62% white wines. Grapes that we are familiar with include about 12% Pinot Grigio, 11% Gewurztraminer, 10% Pinot Blanc, 10% Chardonnay, 9% Pinot Noir, 4% Merlot, 3% Cabernet and 2% Riesling. We sampled four wines, one sparkling wine, one white, one red and one sweet dessert style wine.
For dinner we were treated to the salad bar again with all sorts of fresh vegetables, greens, breads and more. We then had cannelloni which was very good. This was followed by a zucchini soup with pumpkin seed oil. The main course consisted of chicken and turkey slices with a curry sauce accompanied by white rice, mushrooms and snow peas. Dessert was the apple slices deep fried in a batter and covered with cinnamon sugar and a vanilla sauce. All very good but once again more than we needed.