Wine Tasting in Chianti
November 11
I had the best sleep last night. I think I slept all the way through the night and didn’t wake up once. I felt so refreshed this morning!
We started out the day with breakfast down in the dining room. For the past 60 days I’ve eaten a bowl of Corn Flakes for breakfast and even though they had a plethora of food for us to choose from I couldn’t seem to break out of my Corn Flakes habit… Hehehe. I also stole about 20 individual-sized-Nutella packets for Marilena and myself for back in Firenze – they are our favorite things and I know she’s going to be super excited when I show her them (heh, it’s the little things in life…)!
After breakfast we went for a walk through the olive groves/hills that surround the villa. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The air is cool but the sun is out strong and the skies are 100% clear. My mom took literally 100 pictures of us this morning because of how beautiful all the scenery is.
While we were walking it was totally quiet and still EXCEPT for the sound of barking dogs and gunshots in the distance. Yea, there were a bunch of people out HUNTING today; notgonnalie, I was a little nervous that I was going to be mistaken for an Italian fox or deer or something and was either going to get wrestled into the brambles by angry dogs or just flat out shot by a hunter! Everything turned out alright though… the three of us survived.
Around 1:00ish our driver came to pick us up for our wine-tasting trip. Her name was Erma and she was a cute little, old, Italian lady. She spoke MINIMAL English but it was okay because for the first time ever I was forced to practice my Italian with her. I surprised myself (and my parents, I think) by how much I understand and am able to say! Cool. After driving for about 45 minutes on some really windy roads through Sienna, we arrived at our first winery. It was called Fonterutoli and according to Erma it was more on the elegant end of wineries. I took notes for my mom and dad in the “notes” section of the brochure they gave me. Heh, whaaaat? It was my first time! I was really excited. Here’s what I have written about the three wines we tried at Fonterutoli:
-Serrata 2004 (Maremma Toscana)… I gave this one 4 stars out of 5
-Fonterutoli 2004 (Chianti Classico)… tastes like pennies, makes it feel like my teeth are being eaten away by acid, meeh; I gave this one only 2 stars
-Castello di Fonterutoli 2003 (Chianti Classico)… big-mama-glass, mmmm; 4 stars; this one was my favorite AND dad bought 2 bottles of it! Woooo!
Not gonna lie, after winery #1 mom and I were feeling a smidge woozy. Heh.
Winery #2 was called Montagliari; according to Erma this one was a little bit more “rustic” than the first. I actually liked this place a lot MORE than the first. Our um, wine guide (?) was named David and though he spoke little English (and made me practice my Italian even more) we all loved him because he did a great job. First he gave us a tour of his winery (where all the wine is produced); we saw the big tanks and barrels where the wine was fermenting (heh… Tera’s picking up sophisticated vocab left and right). We also got to see his cellar where he has bottles just chillin collecting dust from every year all the way back to 1950! I spent about 10 minutes trying to find the bottles from 1986 and after being unsuccessful asked David where they were. His response? “There are none. The wine was very bad.” Figures. Ugh.
Notes from Montagliari:
-Trattoria di Montagliari 2003 (Chianti Classico)… 3 stars.
-Trattoria di Montagliari 1999, Riserva (Chianti Classico)... 4 stars; this one was really good.
-Brunesco di San Lorenzo 1995… don’t really remember WHAT this one tasted like because I was too distracted by David’s story about the multiplying mosquitoes!
By the time we got to Winery #3 it was about 6:00; it took us about an hour to get there on THE MOST WINDY ROADS EVER. I almost passed up tasting the wine because I felt so sick to my stomach by the time we got there. However, I didn’t want my weak stomach to ruin my first wine-tasting trip sooo I drank some water, ate a saltine, and was ready for round #3. Okay, by round #3 I could tell mom and pop were feeling the effects of the wine from rounds #1 and #2 because of the way they were asking to hear the life-story of our wine guide.
Here’s what they found out. His name was Giuseppe, he was 32 years old, he got his degree in wine at UC Davis, he lived in San Francisco for 4 years, he visits often, he has a successful and growing wine business… he’s husband-material for Tera… At the point that they invited him to our house in California I just about died and was ready to leave. Unlike your oldest daughter, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN AN ITALIAN BOYFRIEND thankyouverymuch mom and dad! He was cool, I must admit, AND said I spoke very good Italian but c’mon… I didn’t take any notes about the wine I drank (half cuz I was sick and half cuz I was distracted by my parents interview of Giuseppe) but I guess it’s okay because my dad ended up ordering a whole case of my favorite one and my mom’s favorite one. Everyone come over for Christmas and try them! Yum yum.
On the ride home my mom and I caught up on our gossip… not much has been going on at home. I feel like I actually had more to fill her in on than she did for me. We ate dinner again at the restaurant at Casa Bianca then turned in for the evening.
I had a FABULOUS time with my parents! I am so happy that I got the opportunity to go away with them for the weekend and am sad that it’s already over.
I had the best sleep last night. I think I slept all the way through the night and didn’t wake up once. I felt so refreshed this morning!
We started out the day with breakfast down in the dining room. For the past 60 days I’ve eaten a bowl of Corn Flakes for breakfast and even though they had a plethora of food for us to choose from I couldn’t seem to break out of my Corn Flakes habit… Hehehe. I also stole about 20 individual-sized-Nutella packets for Marilena and myself for back in Firenze – they are our favorite things and I know she’s going to be super excited when I show her them (heh, it’s the little things in life…)!
After breakfast we went for a walk through the olive groves/hills that surround the villa. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The air is cool but the sun is out strong and the skies are 100% clear. My mom took literally 100 pictures of us this morning because of how beautiful all the scenery is.
While we were walking it was totally quiet and still EXCEPT for the sound of barking dogs and gunshots in the distance. Yea, there were a bunch of people out HUNTING today; notgonnalie, I was a little nervous that I was going to be mistaken for an Italian fox or deer or something and was either going to get wrestled into the brambles by angry dogs or just flat out shot by a hunter! Everything turned out alright though… the three of us survived.
Around 1:00ish our driver came to pick us up for our wine-tasting trip. Her name was Erma and she was a cute little, old, Italian lady. She spoke MINIMAL English but it was okay because for the first time ever I was forced to practice my Italian with her. I surprised myself (and my parents, I think) by how much I understand and am able to say! Cool. After driving for about 45 minutes on some really windy roads through Sienna, we arrived at our first winery. It was called Fonterutoli and according to Erma it was more on the elegant end of wineries. I took notes for my mom and dad in the “notes” section of the brochure they gave me. Heh, whaaaat? It was my first time! I was really excited. Here’s what I have written about the three wines we tried at Fonterutoli:
-Serrata 2004 (Maremma Toscana)… I gave this one 4 stars out of 5
-Fonterutoli 2004 (Chianti Classico)… tastes like pennies, makes it feel like my teeth are being eaten away by acid, meeh; I gave this one only 2 stars
-Castello di Fonterutoli 2003 (Chianti Classico)… big-mama-glass, mmmm; 4 stars; this one was my favorite AND dad bought 2 bottles of it! Woooo!
Not gonna lie, after winery #1 mom and I were feeling a smidge woozy. Heh.
Winery #2 was called Montagliari; according to Erma this one was a little bit more “rustic” than the first. I actually liked this place a lot MORE than the first. Our um, wine guide (?) was named David and though he spoke little English (and made me practice my Italian even more) we all loved him because he did a great job. First he gave us a tour of his winery (where all the wine is produced); we saw the big tanks and barrels where the wine was fermenting (heh… Tera’s picking up sophisticated vocab left and right). We also got to see his cellar where he has bottles just chillin collecting dust from every year all the way back to 1950! I spent about 10 minutes trying to find the bottles from 1986 and after being unsuccessful asked David where they were. His response? “There are none. The wine was very bad.” Figures. Ugh.
Notes from Montagliari:
-Trattoria di Montagliari 2003 (Chianti Classico)… 3 stars.
-Trattoria di Montagliari 1999, Riserva (Chianti Classico)... 4 stars; this one was really good.
-Brunesco di San Lorenzo 1995… don’t really remember WHAT this one tasted like because I was too distracted by David’s story about the multiplying mosquitoes!
By the time we got to Winery #3 it was about 6:00; it took us about an hour to get there on THE MOST WINDY ROADS EVER. I almost passed up tasting the wine because I felt so sick to my stomach by the time we got there. However, I didn’t want my weak stomach to ruin my first wine-tasting trip sooo I drank some water, ate a saltine, and was ready for round #3. Okay, by round #3 I could tell mom and pop were feeling the effects of the wine from rounds #1 and #2 because of the way they were asking to hear the life-story of our wine guide.
Here’s what they found out. His name was Giuseppe, he was 32 years old, he got his degree in wine at UC Davis, he lived in San Francisco for 4 years, he visits often, he has a successful and growing wine business… he’s husband-material for Tera… At the point that they invited him to our house in California I just about died and was ready to leave. Unlike your oldest daughter, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN AN ITALIAN BOYFRIEND thankyouverymuch mom and dad! He was cool, I must admit, AND said I spoke very good Italian but c’mon… I didn’t take any notes about the wine I drank (half cuz I was sick and half cuz I was distracted by my parents interview of Giuseppe) but I guess it’s okay because my dad ended up ordering a whole case of my favorite one and my mom’s favorite one. Everyone come over for Christmas and try them! Yum yum.
On the ride home my mom and I caught up on our gossip… not much has been going on at home. I feel like I actually had more to fill her in on than she did for me. We ate dinner again at the restaurant at Casa Bianca then turned in for the evening.
I had a FABULOUS time with my parents! I am so happy that I got the opportunity to go away with them for the weekend and am sad that it’s already over.
posted by tera a firenze at 12:51 AM
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