Tuscany Road Trip Day 1

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We left Florence for the Chianti region of Tuscany around 11am only an hour after the scheduled time so that was pretty good. The hold up was just one last walk through the leather markets as R had been eyeing off a white bag for days. With that and another bag safely in her grip and an unexpected purchases for me of a cream suede number and 3 scarfs (haven’t I mentioned the scarf’s?) we returned to the apartment snapped those suitcases shut and manoeuvred them down the 3 flights of stairs and into the car. We were a little concerned the previous night when we had seen H’s car as it’s a small Peugeot hatch and he already had a medium and small suitcase in the boot, however, somehow we managed to fit 4 suitcases and an assortment of other bags in the boot and on the back seat.

We were off and the first stop for wine sampling was at Castello di Vicchiomaggio where we sampled 2 reds. I’m not familiar with the names of the reds here so H is a wealth of information. I understand the blends of grapes merlot, cab sav and the locally grown sargivonese. Just before I came away I sampled a few sari’s and like the flavour. The two we sampled I didn’t like that much and found them a little acidic.

Our next destination was Greve and where we learnt about the Chianti regions symbol which is a black rooster. Without this symbol on a bottle of wine there can be no claims that it comes from Chianti. The vineyard has to apply to be able to use this symbol too so no shortcuts thus protecting the local market and region. We wandered around a small Piazza surrounded by local touristy shops for an hour or so showing the local wares including pottery, Deli’s carrying ham, prosciutto, salami, etc, from wild boars also another symbolic icon of the region.

We journeyed on through the winding roads and sweeping valleys and yes the Tuscan countryside is just like a picture postcard and something you would see out of a movie. Apparently during the next two days we will visit the areas where Life is Beautiful and Under a Tuscan Sun was shot…can’t wait!

Lunch was at a winery called Vecchi Terre di Montefili I had a chickpea salad with pesto and lemon’s grown in the families own orchard. I followed this with a small serving of spaghetti with tuna. Unfortunately this wasn’t a patch of the Florentine pastas that were home made. This was straight out of the packet and the tuna out of the can, nice, but what a difference to the home made pasta that I have been enjoying. H chose the wine which was one of the wineries reserve reds, which was an improvement on the wines that we had tasted at our first stop. As the wine tasting part was just across the road we popped in and sampled a Rose and a Siepi. The Rose a lovely light wine was great and the Siepi reminded me of a Shiraz from OZ as it was full bodied. H bought a bottle of each and the wine wasn’t the only thing that was full bodied as he paid over $120 for the Siepi!

Pushing on again winding our way through the countryside we reached the village of Radda where H thought there was a Cooking School that he wanted to research, however, it was in a different part (not sure where) so we enjoyed a coffee and then off to find a B&B for the night. We disappeared up a winding dirt road (bearing in mind we are NOT in a 4wd!) as according to the sign there was accommodation and degustazione and came across and lady and man right at the top of the hill. There were vines all over the place and old ruins. When speaking with the lady we found out she and husband (they were English so no interpreting needed by H) were restoring the old building from the 12th and 13th centuries. There was a Cantina however the accom was quite complete so she recommended somewhere else back down the hill about 3km’s. We found the place OK but their rooms weren’t air-conditioned and as it is 30c+ here at the moment during the day and around 17 at night it’s a must for a restful sleep. Nps the gentleman told us there is somewhere else (that he also owned) yep back in the other direction about 2K’s away! Villa de Nico is lovely, perched on the side of a valley overlooking rolling hills and vineyards. The lady on the hill had mentioned tonight was the end of a 4 day festival tonight in Regga with fireworks at 11pm. Festivals are commonplace at this time of the year in different regions with this ones theme being the Festival of Forgiveness. I felt like a bit of “me time” so left the festivities to R&H. No dinner tonight as A) I’m not hungry and B) I’m sure I can live off some stored fat for one evening!

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