Wonderful Wine. Montalcino

Lana had wanted to visit this area as it had featured in the film "Letters to Juliet." She had researched wine tours and chosen this one...great choice Lansy! The lovely Marielouisa picked us up outside the wall of Old Colle and we joined the other 6 members of the tour. Montalcino is about 1 1/2 hrs from Colle. For those in the know, it is the region that produces the brunello red wine, a wine that we were not familiar with but now...just ask us any question!!!

We visited two wineries. The first was a small family winery, as are a large percentage of vineyards in this area. They make a comfortable living from 10 000 bottles of wine per year. The second, still family owned, a bit like Brown Bros, producing 200 000 bottles per year. Our guide and the two presenters at the wineries were all women. The three were passionate about their industry and VERY knowledgeable. We are so lucky to be here during harvest. At the second winery we witnessed the grapes being delivered, sorted, put into a vat and saw a vat of fermenting rich red grapes.

Between the visits we had a scrumptious lunch at a small hilltop town, family run restaurant. Eight small platters of different dishes were put on the table and we ate heartily. THEN they brought out two pasta dishes, one meat and the other tomato. Coupled with the wine we were all well fed. Marielouisa then drove to an artisan meat producer. As we did not have dessert at the restaurant, the Mamma at this enterprise prepared three traditional sweet snacks for us to try while Marielouisa collected a meat order to take to a restaurant. Super full! Of course the second winery was next and the sample sizes for the wine tasting were most generous. They had deduced that I was not a red wine fan so a white wine was part of the tasting. The other group members thoroughly enjoyed their quality brunello samples as well as the winery's own olive oil and bread.

With a few purchases to transact, including Lana, we finally left this beautiful area about 5.30pm. Such an interesting day with a group of friendly people. No dinner for Lana and I tonight. A large cup of tea and a chocolate did us fine!

Another Tuscan vista.

Enjoying our first tasting...generous tasting quantities!

Lunch, first course. Such fresh produce. perfecto!

Lana with Marielouisa.

 

Posted with Blogsy