I was first introduced to Fattoria La Vialla by my grandmother. Fattoria La Vialla is a family run organic Italian farm located in Tuscany. It produces food and wine strictly for itself in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Fattoria La Vialla sell directly to their customers like ‘a farmer who brings the fruits of his land right to your home’. No middlemen. It almost sounds too good to be true!
We got sent one of their large hampers to review. To say we were happy is too much of an understatement. You can see from the picture below just how impressive it is. Here is our review. Are their products as good as they look? Let’s find out…
Fattoria = farm and wine estate
We were immediately blown away by the Fattoria La Vialla catalogue (or service card as they call it), which is the most beautiful and charming book I have ever seen. It’s packed with wonderful facts about the food and the amazing history of the farm. It’s filled with genuine love and passion, something you would never experience with a mega brand, and it leaves you feeling totally invested. I highly recommend asking for one.
Our hamper is generously packed, bottles and sauces of different sorts hide under straw. In total we have 4 bottles of wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, four different types of pasta, three different sauces, olives and a huge box of biscotti.
Wine The four bottles of wine consisted of:
Barriccato, a strong, intense red. Fruity and wonderful. This is my favourite red wine now. Superb Riserva, fruity, woody and amazing.
Le Chiassaie is a sparkling white wine. La Vialla call this their ‘most classic’ and says it takes you to the very ‘soul’ of their farm. In that case, I would quite like to stay there, drinking this every day.
Vin Santo; even after all of that praise for the previous bottles of wine, this was probably my favourite. A wonderful sweet wine which is perfect to have in the (late) afternoon with biscotti. In Tuscany they call this ‘death’ because it is a match made in heaven. Made with the most high-quality grapes and then ‘forgotten’ for three years, the time and effort shows; I love it.
Biscotti – The box is a lot bigger than it looks
A wonderful box packed with three different Biscotti was included. These Tuscan biscuits were; Cantucci,; faithfully follows the traditional recipe, flour, almonds, sugar, almonds and organic eggs; amazing, Viallini,; invented by Piera, one of La Vialla’s cooks who is now retired, they taste like goodness and happiness, Brutti ma Buoni; classic and yummy. I can honestly say that all three biscotti were by far and away better than any biscotti I have ever had before. They’re in another league. When we finished the box we actually felt sad.
Olio, Olive Oil; I love the cute bottle, though not as much as I love the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. So high quality that you will never be able to eat supermarket bought olive oil ever again.
The Pecorino Stagionato cheese is matured for at least 3 months. It’s a delicious hard cheese made from sheep’s milk. It has great flavor and texture. A classic Tuscan food staple.
Aceto Balsamico di Modena No kitchen is complete without Balsamic Vinegar and La Vialla’s has a complex fragrance of cooked fruit and wild berries. Delicious and can be added to almost any meal, even some dessert.
Olive Piccanti al Finocchio; I loved the olives. They make the ones we eat in Britain look completely sub-standard. They are big and juicy and full of flavour. I was not as keen on the spicy sauce. I am not a fan of hot things or spice in general. If you like spice this shouldn’t bother you though, and you can also use the leftover sauce for pasta, etc.
Pasta; A good selection of organic pasta came in the hamper. Calamari; which has a great, fun shape, the ever popular Spaghetti and the very traditionally Tuscan Pappardelle all’uovo. The pasta is as tasty and healthy as you would expect.
The Sauces were also amazing. Sugo Bombolino (what a name); Bombolino tomatoes, extra virgin oil, salt, garlic, basil and chilli pepper make up this great sauce. It was delicious. It tasted so real and was packed with so much flavor that I will definitely be ordering some more.
My effort at cooking – Papperdelle pasta with lardons and Bombolino sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pasta all from Fattoria La Vialla
Sugo di carne alla toscana la vialla (Ragu), I must be honest, we have not tried this one yet. It has chicken liver in it which I have never eaten. Will give to another writer and report back. La Rosmarina; Rosemary Tomato sauce. Yum and yum. Like homemade sauce your grandmother would make. If your grandmother was Italian and a professional cook. Another incredible sauce.
Another effort this time with the La Rosmarina sauce and Pecorino cheese
During my research of La Vialla I realised they also have a restaurant. I want to go. Every day. My only criticism of La Vialla is the lack of information on pricing. Apart from that, I am hook, line and sinker in love with their food, their social responsibility and environmentally-friendliness. If every food producer copied them the world would be a better place. There food is amazing, organic and the farm is family-run. I don’t know what else you could possibly want.
http://www.lavialla.it/uk/home_uk.php
In fact we were so inspired by La Vialla’s food that we have filmed are first cookery program using some of their ingredients. Sign up to our youtube channel to watch it and other cookery films in the near future.
For dessert I had ice-cream and my colleague had the Torta Della Nonna. The ice-cream was great. You get three scoops and I had chocolate with cookies, strawberry and a very alcoholic rum. This was superb ice-cream, showing that Italian Boys even gets it right on the simple things. The Torta Della Nonna is a Tuscan dessert known as ‘grandmother’s cake’, it was also brilliant. 
The Italian Boys is a must go to restaurant for all Londoners, not just those in Putney. Both the food and the service is first-class.
