Friday night we enjoyed dinner at the Tomato Palace in Columbia, Maryland. We decided to order a bottle of wine. While browsing the wine list, we noticed it was definitely weighted toward Italian wines. This shouldn’t be surprising as the restaurant is an Italian restaurant. Still, I was disappointed that the restaurant did not have any local wines but had one from Napa Valley. The greatest point about the wine list was that it listed a wine from Mormoraia in Italy. It was the 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano. We had visited Mormoraia and stayed in one of their apartments in 2007. It was a delightful and relaxing vacation. The rooms we stayed in were converted into Tuscan-style rooms which were originally a convent. We were allowed to meander through the vineyards and in the distance we could see San Gimignano with its renowned towers. For more information go to Italian Vineyard Destination.

Vernaccia is a grape that grows well in the San Gimignano immediate area. The grapes produce a lovely white wine with a fruit nose. The 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano paired well with our dinner of crab cakes and vegetables. The wine was fruity and medium bodied. It brought back fond memories of our stay in Mormoraia. We visited an exceedingly small wine museum in San Gimignano, Museo del Vino Vernaccia di San Gimignano that is devoted to the Vernaccia grape. As you travel, look for unusual grape varieties and be sure to check them out.