Morning Tastings
The first winery this day, Casalgallo, near Siena, produces organic olive oil and wine. It was a nice small winery. We were (gulp) again presented too much food early in
the day. The Italians redefine "food friendly"!
They had good simple wines. We had our Chianti surprise here - memories of college wine days!
The next winery, that morning, Pomona, is a classic family owned winery that makes Chianti wines true to their origin - they were quite good.
Pomona started making wine in 1899. Their houses are classic stone houses in
classic Tuscan country style. Their compound was like a tiny beautiful Tuscan hill town.
The last morning winery, Castellare
di Castellina, was the biggest disappointed of the two days. We shared a standard
"wine tourist" tasting with a young couple that clearly knew very
little about wine. In fact we had to
wait for them to arrive before the tasting began. The "hostess" was very scripted. Did not get to
taste the very special wines that put them on our list. Sooo different from virtually all our other tasting experiences - made us appreciate them even more. The only redeeming value was the fabulous view.
A Special Lunch
Lunch almost made us forget about that bum tasting. We had a great meal in a tiny Tuscan town in the town's family run eatery - a quintessential Italian experience.
The town is Volpaii, just outside Radda. The cafe is Bar Ucchi. Where to begin...well, we sat down outside on a lovely day and opened the menu...
We had
caprese salad
and crostini with eggplant and cheese.
The desert was as good as it looks.
Lester had emailed the owner before the trip and finally had a chance to meet her.
Inside, you can see a picture of the whole family on the far wall.
After lunch, we took a walk around the town - all of maybe 3 blocks total - but what blocks!
And, of course, looking outward...
Afternoon Wineries
The afternoon wineries were both great. The first one, Vignavecchia, is just on the outskirts of Radda in Chianti in a beautiful setting.
This was a model visit as we were able to meet with the winemaker, learn about her approach and methods and taste very good wines.
The star was again the last winery, Fietri. This winery is to be found about 1800 feet above sea level, a little bit remote with wilderness beauty, views and fresh air! The winery is like a small
hamlet, with high family feeling and privacy.
The sense of tradition is everywhere.
There was even a glass sculpture nod to the symbol of Chianti's best known wine.
The Chianti Classico seal is a black rooster (Gallo Nero in Italian) on
gold. Legend has it that in 13th century Florence and Siena decided to
dispute a funny horse race to end their fights for Chianti. The meeting
point of two knights, who had left respectively from Florence and from
Siena when the rooster sang at dawn, would be the border of their
territories. Florentines got a black rooster and kept it for a few days
in a box with no food. On the race day when they took the rooster out of
the box he sang much earlier than dawn and the Florentine knight left
before the Sienese one and met him only 20 km from Siena walls. Since
then the black rooster has been the symbol of Chianti: first of the
Chianti League in 13th century and then of the Chianti Classico
Consortium. Who knew??
At Fietri we met the agronomist, oh so knowledgeable.
He poured
us more than seven wines of various vintages and would have poured more if we
had not stopped him. All the wines were
beautiful. They make an incredible
Chardonnay Viognier combination that we bought as well as a super Tuscan we
could not resist.
Last Evening in the Tuscan Countryside
Our last dinner was right in Montepulciano at a
restaurant/wine bar in the cave beneath the building - very charming. Dinner was traditional and
very good—Tuscan soup, artichoke soufflé, a simply delicious spaghetti with
tomato sauce with garlic - so simple so delicious.
The main was sliced
steak—tender and quite rare, but very good - a real Tuscan speciality.
Dessert was ricotta mousse with a wine
sauce—wonderful and not too sweet.
But, the real hit of the evening was the baby sitting across from
us. She was four months old and very
cute. At this restaurant, every meal ends with complementary grappa (a fragrant, grape-based Italian pomace brandy that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume) which they serve with great flourish from a long container that looks like a hollow pool cue.
The baby (across the room in her father's lap in this picture) started to cry, but when they brought
out the grappa she stopped. The whole
restaurant laughed. This happened a couple
times leading to a chant of "Grappa Baby, Grappa Baby". What a hoot!
No taxi issues this night and we retired to our lovely Vila Poggiano room for the last time.
We didn't want to leave Tuscany, but Venice beckoned...
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