Friday 5 February 2016

Ceccanti Kiewa Valley Wines and Restaurant

For an Italophile, one of the joys of living in north-east Victoria is the close proximity to many Italian heritage food and wine venues and festivals. The King Valley offers many such delights but today we drove further away to the Kiewa Valley where we visited Ceccanti Kiewa Valley Wines.

When you reach a certain age the 'big O' birthday celebrations go on for some weeks, or even months. Today we celebrated Kelly's sister Glenice's big birthday.

We were welcomed to Ceccanti by Angelo, who originates from Lucca in Tuscany, and he gave us a tasting of his six classic cool climate wines.This is a small family run winery which was established in 1977, and from vineyard to cellar to cellar door to restaurant, the work is done by Angelo, his wife Moya and son Danny.

The winery also includes a small restaurant and as they say, they love food as much as they love wine. The natural scenery outside makes for the perfect place for a long lunch so we took up a table under a spreading gum tree, overlooking the beautiful valley and close to the cellar door. It was a gorgeous day out -  a temperature of 31 deg. and a four hour Tuscan banquet brought to the table by our delightful host Angelo.

The door handles caught my immediate attention.


The outdoor eating area (there is also a small indoor area)

Angelo telling us about his wines


The antipasti was bigger than our normal lunch!

Glenice and Bill

Tuscan bean soup

Two types of pasta - carbonara and puttanesca

The view from the drive way and our table

Buon Compleanno e auguri Glenice!

How to explain this course? - rare roast beef, deep fried pork fillet, chicken livers, chicken salad and roast potatoes.

Baked cheesecake and home made ice-cream.

Ceccanti riesling and shiraz accompanied these delicious offerings.

There was certainly no need for an evening meal after our trip to Ceccanti Wines and their great Tuscan banquet.