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Small Group Private Tour Specialist

Plan your Italy adventure with the small group private tour specialist. Escape overtourism and discover the back roads and authentic small towns with us. Kathy and Vernon create your perfect trip, with off-the-beaten path destinations, activities from walks and bike rides to city tours and shopping, and expert-led culinary adventures.

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Food and Wine

Any tour of Italy is incomplete without indulging in the amazing food and wine. But to truly appreciate It requires an understanding of the regional history, culture and geography. All become part of your adventure with Kathy, chef, food blogger, and Certified Italian Wine Professional, and Vernon, mountain guide, MS in European Literature and avid history enthusiast.

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Your Unique Adventure

Not all private trips are custom. Most tour companies don't have the flexibility to deviate from their set itineraries, so there are always compromises. With Kathy and Vernon, your adventure will be as unique as you are, and your itinerary will be personally designed us to meet the desires and varied interests of your group.

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The ItaliaOutdoors Difference


Truly Personalized Service and a Custom Plan for Every Trip

Kathy and Vernon

NO MIDDLEMEN

You communicate directly with Vernon and Kathy. We know your dreams for an Italy adventure, we’ll have it ready for you when you arrive.

No Group Too Small

SMALL FOOTPRINT

Our small footprint allows us to travel like locals and enjoy spontaneous adventures as we explore the path less traveled.

 

Custom Plan

UNIQUE ITINERARY

Each tour itinerary is unique and serves as a framework for an exceptional journey, where a thoughtful plan adjusts to your pace.

 

Authenticity

KNOWLEDGE

We focus on just a few select tours to provide an exceptional level of regional knowledge and an unforgettable authentic experience.

Travel after COVID-19: How do you wish to travel in Italy when we are able to return? In a small private group of your family and friends? Plenty of outdoor explorations? Off the beaten track destinations far from tourist crowds? Private cooking classes, wine tours, small intimate hotels? That's how we've been traveling for ten years. Plan your adventure in Italy with Italiaoutdoors Food and Wine, the custom tour specialist.

Customize Your Adventure - Food - Wine - Walk - Hike - Bike

With Italy's "Best Local Guide 2013"

Read about our tours in Adventure Cyclist August 2015

Our passion is creating intimate, personalized active food and wine adventures that explore an authentic Italy
- its outdoor beauty, its hidden back roads, its small family producers, its traditional wines, at your preferred pace.
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Cantina Nals Margreid is a "star on Alto Adige’s wine scene”, to quote the Italy wine guide Gambero Rosso. This cooperative of now 140 or so small growers was formed in 1985, when the cellars of Nalles and Magre - two well regarded entities in the region - joined forces to marry some of the most respected wine growers along the Sudtirol Strada del Vino (Wine Road). Our Bike the Wine Roads of Trentino-Alto Adige tour winds past vineyards of this cooperative for the first few days, from Nals/Nalles to the north and west of Bolzano, and continuing south along the Adige river valley to Margreid/Margre. All along our route, we will pass the vineyards of this cooperative, which are smaller parcels located throughout the picturesque hills just to our west.

nals margreid winery custom walking tours italy
Nals Margreid winery


Today, the growers of Nals Margreid employ natural methods of cultivation, using ecological means to prevent diseases and parasites rather than pesticides and fungicides. The production of the wines is in the very capable hands of a young cellarmaster, Harold Schraffi. He relies on rigorous grape selection, coupled with a passion for developing wines that accurately reflect the traditional characteristics of the grapes and the unique terroir of this beautiful region.

view nals margreid private tours italy
View of Sudtirol from Nals Margreid


Cantina Nals Margreid offers a nice array of wines, many of which have received accolades from prestigious wine publications, including Wine Enthusiast, Wine and Spirits, and Wine Spectator. Their whites are particularly interesting, exhibiting an intense minerality and acidity. They include two Pinot Biancos, a dry Moscato Gialla, Muller Thurgau, two Sauvignon Blancs, and two Pinot Grigios. Their reds include a Schiava Santa Maddalena (a blend of Schiava with a bit of Lagrein), Schiava Galea, and a Pinot Noir.

nals margreid schiava wine tours sudtirol
Nals Margreid Galea Schiava

I sampled the Cantina Nals Margreid Schiava Galea 2011. A very interesting, and relatively unknown varietal from Alto Adige, Schiava is a black skinned grape that carries many names; in Alto-Adige with its dual languages of German and Italian, it is Vernatsch in German, while Italians use Schiava, which means ‘slave’. This same varietal is grown in limited quantities in Germany, where it is known as Trollinger. These wines have been primarily produced for export to German-speaking countries to the north, but just recently Nals Margreid has begin exporting to the US.

The Galea Schiava is produced from 100% Schiava grapes which have been cultivated in the exceptional Galea Vineyard. Some of the vines here are more than a hundred years old, and the strict selection process ensures the grapes used in production will result in a top quality wine.

This wine is bright ruby red, lighter in color, with a wonderful fruity nose. It is a very drinkable, lighter wine, with lots of berry flavors that mix with a nice earthy spiciness and a sound acidity. The finish is persistent, with a slight pleasant bitter note. The best pairing for a lighter wine like this with a sharp acidity is an antipasti featuring the traditional mountain cheeses and cured meats of Alto Adige. It would also go well with pizza, or a pasta with meat ragu.