The typical sagre (festivals) of central Italy are just about to start.

Summer is, indeed, that season when all the little countryside towns of Italy explode in feast celebrating the local products.

And in Montefiascone, approximately 1 hour drive from Capena, in the area called Tuscia, a 15 days long wine festival is about to begin. From August the 2nd to the 17th, you will be able to taste some delicious wine while strolling along the cosy cobbled streets of the historic centre of the town.

The town is in a dramatic position on a hill overlooking Bolsena volcanic lake and it is very rich in history being in a area where Etruscans and Romans used to live and where during the more recent centuries popes and important ecclesiastic personality stayed.

The festival is going to start on August the 2nd and will consist of concerts, meetings and processions with ancient traditional costumes but most important it will celebrate the most important wine of the area: the white Est! Est!! Est!!! 

The wine’s name has a curious and legendary origin. It is said that a German bishop on his way to Rome had sent his servant ahead in order to find the best places to drink good wine. The servant used to stop, try the wines and if they were worth he used to write with chalk on the door Est (Latin translation for  “it is”). But when he got to Montefiascone (couple of hours away from Rome) he was impressed by this light and refreshing blend of Trebbiano and Malvasia Bianca and wanted to highlitght the pleasure of his experience with an enthusiastic triple Est! Probably this is just a legend, but someone says that when the bishop arrived he decided to stay and lately died here, and his tomb is in the Basilica di San Flaviano on the Route Franchigena.

I am not sure if the story is fiction made up to attract interest over the wine but I know that even if the wine very simple and it may sometimes lack of structure, it has light aromas of green apple and citrusy fruit, a good acidity, and  it’s very fresh!