Wine places

Every wine lover has their favorite place be it a wine bar, restaurant or wine shop. These are places where they can taste wines, discover new wines and talk about wine with others who share the same passion. In my many years of experience I have been to scores of such places, if not hundreds, most of which have been in my home city of Rome that is, fortunately, full of excellent wine shops and wine bars. My personal ‘hangout’, as many of you know, is Il Goccetto, on Via dei Banchi Vecchi, in the heart of the old city and around the corner from Via Giulia. But how can one not remember Cavour 313 and Cul de Sac, two historic wine bars that opened towards the end of the 1970s. Then there is the Trimani Wine Bar and Piero Costantini’s Il Simposio, both next to the wines shops of the same names. In the Monti neighborhood there are Al Vino al Vino and La Barrique, while Tramonti and Muffati are in the Appio Tuscolano district. And there’s obviously Roscioli on Via dei Giubbonari and Casa Bleve behind Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, near Piazza Navona. Then there are a slew of restaurants that have great wine lists, not just La Pergola at the Rome Cavalieri Hotel, which has an incredible list that is out of reach for common mortals due to the prices, but also Il Ceppo on Via Panama, Arcangelo in Prati, Antico Arco on the Gianicolo Hill, Convivio on Via dei Soldati, Enoteca Ferrari in Trastevere and Baccano near the Trevi Fountain, which offers wine at an honest mark up. The city’s many top wine shops include Arcioni in the Nomentano district, Del Frate in Prati, which also has a wine bar, Rocchi on the nearby Viale Somalia and Giansanti (ex-Quadrozzi) on Via Ostiense. And these are just some of the ones in Rome so you can just imagine how many there are in all of Italy, in Milan, Parma, Veneto and even Palermo. Behind all of these there are many well-prepared, professional and passionate people who know what to look for and can offer the best quality possible at the right price for the army of wine lovers. Sometimes we forget about this and it is too bad because every passion for wine was born or evolved in places like these. It would be nice to hear from you how and where it all began, a kind of sentimental journey that eventually led you here to Doctor Wine.