Wed 10/12
The rain is gone and it's a sunny but quite cool day making me wish I had brought more warm clothes. We decided to go to the area around the town of Montalcino, home of the renowned brunello wine of Montalcino. It was another really beautiful drive through hills covered with vineyards and expansive vistas across the valleys. Our first stop was the hill town of Montalcino where we walked through the small streets of the town, had an espresso and admired the views across the valleys from the town wall.
Our next stop was an abbey built in the 9th century. It had beautiful surroundings and was an impressive structure but the only area open to visitors was the rather uninteresting church.
We were anxious to try some brunello wine, some of the most expensive wines we see on Italian wine lists so we stopped at a winery. The tasting is a bit different than in CA. First we went to the business office and told them we would like to taste and the young woman took us to a room with a large table and set two places with a place mat, three wine glasses and a carafe of water. She brought out some cubed bread and poured a bit of the house made olive oil on it then began our wine tasting. Brunello's are at least 85% sangiovese and there are strict DOC rules about the length of fermentation and the length of aging before bottling. We first tasted a red wine that was 100% sangiovese but didn't meet the criteria to be called a brunello. Next we tried a brunello that was from 2011 and was called a "special selection." And last we tried a 2010 "reserve." All had fairly high alcohol content but were well balanced and very nice wines with, of course, the reserve being the one that was fabulous. We spent maybe an hour or so at the tasting and enjoyed every minute of it. The woman conducting the tasting was delightful and personable and then there were wines to taste. The olive oil was also a really excellent olive oil. We bought a couple of bottles of wine and of oil to bring home to CA and left feeling newly learned re brunello.
Next stop was the town of San Quirico d'Orcia, another one of those totally picturesque little hill towns. We had a late lunch at a terrific and very traditional restaurant.
I had papardelle with cinghiale sauce and Dick had paccheri with pistachios, prosciutto, leeks and maybe something else we can't remember. Both were really exceptional. (I MUST start taking some food pictures.) We had a fabulous salad of arugula, walnuts and pecorino.....very fresh and delicious. It had tomatoes also which all were donated to me. After lunch we strolled around the town a bit then went to our next stop, Bagno Vignoni. It's a town which was established, probably by the Romans, because of a large thermal spring and it's a very popular spa town. The central piazza has a large pool of the thermal spring water but no one is allowed to go into the pool.
Just outside the gates there was a mill that was used for centuries that was fed by the thermal spring. The mill tower collapsed (possibly because of an earthquake) in the 1820's and there has been no mill operated there since. There are rivulets of thermal spring water that pass through the area and a waterfall to an area far below the level of the mill. The rivulets are popular places for people to soak their feet and the entire area is an archeological park.
By now, it was late afternoon and we headed for our usual exciting evening at home.
The rain is gone and it's a sunny but quite cool day making me wish I had brought more warm clothes. We decided to go to the area around the town of Montalcino, home of the renowned brunello wine of Montalcino. It was another really beautiful drive through hills covered with vineyards and expansive vistas across the valleys. Our first stop was the hill town of Montalcino where we walked through the small streets of the town, had an espresso and admired the views across the valleys from the town wall.
Our next stop was an abbey built in the 9th century. It had beautiful surroundings and was an impressive structure but the only area open to visitors was the rather uninteresting church.
We were anxious to try some brunello wine, some of the most expensive wines we see on Italian wine lists so we stopped at a winery. The tasting is a bit different than in CA. First we went to the business office and told them we would like to taste and the young woman took us to a room with a large table and set two places with a place mat, three wine glasses and a carafe of water. She brought out some cubed bread and poured a bit of the house made olive oil on it then began our wine tasting. Brunello's are at least 85% sangiovese and there are strict DOC rules about the length of fermentation and the length of aging before bottling. We first tasted a red wine that was 100% sangiovese but didn't meet the criteria to be called a brunello. Next we tried a brunello that was from 2011 and was called a "special selection." And last we tried a 2010 "reserve." All had fairly high alcohol content but were well balanced and very nice wines with, of course, the reserve being the one that was fabulous. We spent maybe an hour or so at the tasting and enjoyed every minute of it. The woman conducting the tasting was delightful and personable and then there were wines to taste. The olive oil was also a really excellent olive oil. We bought a couple of bottles of wine and of oil to bring home to CA and left feeling newly learned re brunello.
Next stop was the town of San Quirico d'Orcia, another one of those totally picturesque little hill towns. We had a late lunch at a terrific and very traditional restaurant.
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| Pool in central piazza |
By now, it was late afternoon and we headed for our usual exciting evening at home.
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