Interior Design By The Bottle

I have a friend with the surname Murphy and she has a lot of Murphy’s Irish Stout paraphernalia. Ditto another friend called Campbell whose art collection includes prints of Warhol’s signature Pop Art cans of soup.

With my interest in all things wine-related, my birthday and Christmas presents usually include at least one unusual corkscrew or novelty ice bucket, and, occasionally, delicious bottles of wine produced in all corners of the globe.

Wine gifts are less common that you’d imagine though. There’s so much kerfuffle and perceived snobbery in the wine world that people often feel they can’t give a so-called expert a bottle of wine in case they get called out on their lack of knowledge.

This is clearly a shame.  So let me use this blog post to put the record straight: I am VERY happy to receive bottles of wine… and thank you very much in advance!

The Gorgeous Ristorante da Gigetto

Last week during a business meets pleasure trip to the Prosecco region to give my vines a pep (should that be ‘pop’?) talk I discovered interior design heaven at Ristorante da Gigetto.

Despite a hankering for some cutesy over-sized Champagne cork stools, I try not to make my house a shrine to all things sparkling wine related.

However, I yearn for a cellar, and in idle moments plan out my dream space, complete with vintage wine case art and wall-mounted corkscrews.

And now I’ve the perfect wine cellar at Ristorante da Gigetto to add to my dream Pinterest board. This delightful restaurant in the heart of the Prosecco region near Venice is all regional specialities, daily changing dishes, dapper waiters and starched tablecloths. The garden is a delight, as is the range of vegetarian food.

Wine tastings are held in the cellar here, deep underground and with its own supply of natural spring water. Little niches are carved into the brickwork where you can hole up with some of the cellar’s 1,600 bottles from the world’s best wine regions. Just ask Roberto, the sommelier, and he’ll happily take you into the cellar before or after dinner.

And the piece de resistance is a giant chandelier made of wine glasses. Unhook one for your tasting and I defy you not to imagine how something similar would look in your own house!