Tuscan Winemakers Tour

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Janine and I both had a sleep interrupted night but can't explain why! Anyway, regardless we were up and getting sorted as we had our tour of the Tuscan Wine region today. Had a nice breakfast as figured we should ensure we don't join this tour on an empty stomach! We walked to the S M Novella train station to meet up with our group at 10am. There were 8 other people in the tour group so a good number. It was extremely hot today so we weren't happy when we found out the the air conditioning at the back of the mini van wasn't working! And guess who sat on the back seat? Yep, Janine and I - but we only found out it wasn't working after we got into that seat haha. We were sitting next to Rui, who is from China but lives in the Otago region of NZ and is the wine industry. There was also Nate, Dan and Deb, who were a family from the US.

We drove for about 45 minutes out of Florence into the Tuscan countryside. Probably would have enjoyed it more if the airconditioning from the front of the van had reached us in the back seat at some point. To be fair, we did get a whiff of cooler air as we turned the corner into the winery we were visiting ?. The winery is Fattoria di Poggio Capponi which has been owned by the Capponi family for centuries. We met Fabio (please do not be picturing THAT Fabio lol) who was a really funny guy and all his stories of the property and the wine process over the years was very entertaining. Once he knew I was a Bianchini I did become the focus of some banter with him. After the tour of the winery and the cellars, which still had bottled wines from early in the '50's, we headed out of the cellar to some tables that had been set up for us to do some wine tasting. By this stage we were all parched - Janine asked for some water and they bought out a bottle but only 1 glass. Janine asked for glasses for all of us, which Manuela said she was getting, but we never saw!

The wine tasting starting with their rosë, which was made from a Sangiovese and a Syrah so was dry and packed a punch. This was followed by a bottle of Toscano Bianca which was really light and refreshing. We then had the Michaelangelo Governo all'usso Toscano which we both really enjoyed. Then, it was their reserve Chianti - wow! We both loved this one (although we had said that with every bottle so far). Next was the Tinorso which was a gutsy red and we loved it too - of course - but we had to limit our love little. The last bottle was a desert wine but to be honest, we didn't love it, which I know is hard to believe. By this time, all 10 of us were best friends forevvvver.

So, Janine and I decided we needed .... I say needed ..... the Rosë, the Bianco, two bottles of the Chianti and one of the Michaelanglo. All this for €38. This should cover us for a couple of days ?.

Back on to the bus, which by this stage had been cooled down somewhat. We were headed to Roberto's place for lunch. When we arrived the table was already set with lots of cheeses, meats and other anti-pasta dishes. Manuela advised us that we would be having a 3 course lunch but Italians don't count the antipasta as a course, so this was course 0.

Roberto bought out a truffle for us to see as our first course was going to be pasta with truffle. This truffle was huge! They farm them on his property. The pasta came out and it was truely delicious! Very simple with olive oil and then Roberto came around and shaved fresh truffle onto each of our plates. Ohmygoodness!!! One of my highlight dishes so far.

The next course was pork, which was thinly sliced covered with caramelised vegetables. It was also delicious. We then had the homemade tiramasu although most of us were too full by this stage to eat it all. This was accompanied by espressos all round - and Janine had a cup of tea. Of course, I forgot to mention, we had glasses of wine with lunch. We loved 'em. ?

After several attempts to get the group to leave, we were finally on our way back to Florence, probably an hour later than expected Haha. We all swapped numbers and agreed to meet up later tonight to watch the France v Belgium game. Janine and I headed back to our apartment for a siesta.

After a while I felt really quite unwell and Janine messaged the group to see how they all were but one by one, they were also becoming ill. Seems something didn't agree with us and in the end we didn't catch up with the others. Janine was also a bit queasy so we took our time and just relaxed. Eventually we both felt well enough to tackle a bit more exploring of the city. We decided to head to the Piazza Michelangelo around sunset time and we're both really glad we did! It was a good 30 minute walk but the atmosphere and view from up there makes the walk all the way up the stairs worthwhile. We stayed up there for quite a while, until darkness fell. We then made our way back via the Ponte Vecchio and enjoyed the atmosphere along there. There are always street buskers who are very talented and the music fills the air and makes you really appreciate that you are in Italy.

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