Sep 07 2016

Italy Day 6: Montalcino, 2 wineries, and dinner in a quaint town

Today is the day that I’ve been waiting for: getting to see the birthplace of my favourite wine varietal (Brunello) in the small town of Montalcino. There’s only one problem… it’s cloudy and raining! When we went downstairs for some coffee and a light breakfast, though, Marcello told me that the rain was supposed to stop, and that the sun would come out around noontime. That’s relieving news as we’re supposed to visit two vineyards today, and I’m guessing that it wouldn’t be as much fun in the rain.

Our first stop of the day was to Abbazia di Sant’Antimo (the Abbey of Sant’Antimo), which is actually southeast of Montalcino. It was a serene and pastoral place, and the beautiful church was built around AD 1118. We spent some time just walking around the grounds of the Abbey before ever making it inside. Once inside, it proved to be a much different experience than our tour of the Vatican in that people were much more respectful of their surroundings. Nobody was talking, but instead, we were all just taking in the calmness of the holy place.

Outside Sant'Antimo Abbey in Montalcino
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Inside Sant'Antimo Abbey in Montalcino
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After spending time at Sant’Antimo, we headed back to Montalcino just to see the town. We didn’t have all that much time to explore before we had to leave for our first winery tour. Though we didn’t get to go through the village as much as I would have liked, Montalcino struck me as the epitome of Tuscan towns.

Montalcino in Tuscany, Italy - view of the town
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The walled city, like many others in the area was built at the start of the 13th century, and had a fortress atop the highest point. The fortress wasn’t one to be toured, but it did feature a really quaint courtyard with beautiful views of the surrounding hillsides and valleys.

It was also obvious that we were in the heart of wine country because there was a sign in the heart of town that listed all of the registered Brunello producers.

List of Brunello producers in Montalcino
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Our first winery tour was at a very well-known Brunello producer—Poggio Antico. The representatives there were incredibly hospitable, and invited us to walk the vineyards before the tour in order to get a better understanding of the land itself. “Poggio” means “hill” or “knoll” in Italian, so it is fairly common to see wineries with that word in their name. Anyway, we started our tour and our guide was wonderful! She went through the winemaking processes from beginning to end, and spent a good amount of time focusing on the ageing standards for Brunello (which include a mandated 3 years in barrel before bottling). The tour was really informative, and overall, was great. The only downside is that there were some other people on the tour with us, and they were clearly not interested in the vineyard or winemaking. They were being rude and obnoxious during the majority of the tour. Alas, though, we tried to not focus on their behaviours, but rather on the great information being given to us by our guide.

Poggio Antico case of wine - Montalcino
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At the end of the tour, we were invited to taste several of the productions. My personal favourites from Poggio Antico are the Altero and the interesting blend, Lemartine. The Lemartine is not usually distributed, but now that I have been to the vineyard, I have the honour of ordering directly from them.

After a great tour at Poggio Antico, I was really geared up for some more viticultural excitement! Fortunately for me, we had another tour planned. This time, it was at the legendary Conti Costanti. As with Poggio Antico, we were invited to walk the vineyards beforehand, and I was able to get some wonderful photos of their remarkable land.

Conti Costanti crest and Brunello vineyard
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Again, our tour guide was outstanding! She chose to focus on the grapes themselves, and even had us taste some of the Sangiovese Grosso grapes from different Costanti vineyards to see the effects of differing directionality, winds, sun exposure, and water drainage. It was an eye-opening experience for me, and helped me better understand some of these concepts for my Sommelier exams and other wine certifications. We then headed back to the main property, and she took us through the cellars where the Brunellos are aged.

Conti Costanti cellar in Montalcino
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I wouldn’t trade the experience that I had at either of these outstanding Brunello producers’ facilities, and am glad that I had the opportunity to learn about their wines first-hand.

I didn’t really find a restaurant in Montalcino that struck me, so we went farther out to the township of Camigliano to eat at the small, family-owned restaurant Trattoria il Galletto di Camigliano. It was really a lovely experience, and we felt like we were part of their family. Their little dog, Luna, seemed accustomed to people eating there, so she kept us company and begged pitifully for some of our dinners.

Trattoria il Galletto di Camigliano - restaurant in Camigliano outside Montalcino
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A couple interesting things happened during dinner. First of all, there were some farm animals around, and at one point we heard one of them squealing. Our waiter said that there had been a porcupine in the area, and it was likely that one of the animals got a little too curious about it. 😛 Second of all, as we were finishing our dinner, there was a family at another table getting started with theirs. Our waiter told us that the older gentleman at the table has been making Grappa for over 60 years, and that we had to try some of his creations. We tried the traditional, pomegranate, and basil. I liked all of them, but the basil was my favourite—probably because it was really unique!

Grappa flavours at Trattoria il Galletto di Camigliano
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After dinner, we embarked on the crazy drive back to the hotel. Montalcino has some incredibly steep and winding roads, and they only seemed to get worse toward Camigliano. We were making the drive back in the dark, but I just considered it all to be a challenge. 😉 Back at Casa Bolsinina, we again ordered from Maria and Marcello’s outstanding wine list. This time, I went with the 1997 Castel Giocondo Brunello Riserva from the Frescobaldi family, and Deb had the 2015 Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige. My Riserva was outstanding, though it may have gone slightly past its prime. It had one of the most beautiful deep orange / rust colours that I’ve ever seen in a wine.

Cheers,
Zach

Sep 06 2016

Italy Day 5: Tuscany, a lovely B&B, and Siena

After four days in Rome, it was time to head northwest to Tuscany, which is arguably one of the best wine macroregions in the world. We checked out of the Assunta Domus hotel, and Alessandro (the inn keeper) hailed a taxi for us. We took the taxi to the Hertz car rental location near Borghese Park. The rental process went fairly smoothly, and we left the car park with a Renault Kadjar. The vehicle was larger than I had anticipated, and that isn’t great for travel within European cities, but we will make it. 🙂

We took the motorway to a small town that is southeast of Siena known as Monteroni d’Arbia. We had booked reservations at a little bed and breakfast called Casa Bolsinina. It was an absolutely beautiful property that took our breath away right when we first saw it!

Casa Bolsinina bed and breakfast in Tuscany outside Siena
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After dropping off the luggage, and getting unpacked, we drove ~20km (~30 minutes) to Siena. Siena is a city where there are many ZTLs (Zona Traffico Limitato), which are places where you may not drive or park. As such, it really makes sense to just park your car. For Siena, one of the best places to do that is the Il Campo parking garage. It’s only €2 per hour, and is just a short walk from main square of Siena, Piazza del Campo. After just standing in awe of the beauty of the square, we had some coffee and hot tea at a little cafe.

We bought tickets (for €10 each) to ascend Torre del Mangia, which is one of the highest vantage points in the city. You really can’t miss it from just about anywhere near Siena:

View of Siena and the Torre del Mangia in the distance
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Though my fear of open heights came fully into play at the top of the tower, the views of the city were absolutely worth both the climb of the narrow staircases… and the subsequent heart palpitations. 😉 The weather definitely elevated my fear, though, because it had started to rain and the wind was very strong! Like I said, though, the views made up for it:

View of Siena from the top of the Torre del Mangia
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After coming down from the tower, the winds and rains had really picked up, and it was actually starting to get a little chilly. I hadn’t anticipated that large of a drop in temperature, but that goes to show what the rain can do. We walked to Ristorante San Domenico for our dinner reservations. The food was a little hit or miss. Some of the dishes were great, and some were nothing more than mediocre. The two that stood out to me were the Gnochetti tartufati (gnocchi with truffle sauce) and the Pizza rustico (white pizza with potato and rosemary). The truffle sauce was delicious, but there may have been just a little too much of it. That being said, the extra was great on some traditional coarse Tuscan breads.

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at Gelateria Brivido for some gelato. It was extremely expensive by comparison to the other gelato that we’ve had thus far, but at the same time, it was delicious. Deb got Nutella, and I chose black cherry and cream. Both came with a very fresh cookie sticking in it.

When we got back to Casa Bolsinina, we were warmly greeted by the two owners (Maria and Marcello). They are, without a doubt, two of the most accommodating hosts I’ve ever met in my years of travel! Seeing as Marcello is a Sommelier, I asked if I could see his wine list. I was completely shocked to see the amount of 1997 Brunellos that he had available! 1997 was claimed to be one of the better vintages of recent times, and though they may have passed their prime a little bit, I will likely never again have the chance to taste them. I went with 1997 Poggio di Sotto, and Deb had the Friulano (which is actually a renamed Sauvignon Vert) from Schiopetto.

1997 Poggio di Sotto Brunello and snack tray at Casa Bolsinina
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To go with our wines, Maria made us a lovely tray of snacks which included crisps, peanuts, crackers, and cheese. She brought it up to the terrace near our room, so we were able to sit and enjoy the wines in the cool and crisp air of Tuscany. It was a blissful experience, and one that I’m sure we will be repeating whilst we’re here! 🙂

Cheers,
Zach

Sep 05 2016

Italy Day 4: A private Vatican tour and elegant dinner

We woke up a bit earlier than normal this morning because we needed to be at the entrance to the Vatican Museums at 09:30 for our private tour of the Vatican. This particular tour company (run by a wonderful woman named Livia) was absolutely a pleasure to work with, and our tour guide, Claudia, couldn’t have been better! Not only was she incredibly knowledgeable and able to select the highlights of the museums, she also went well out of her way to make sure that we were treated like the only people there!

After seeing one of the exhibits, we went outside the main museum entrance to the Vatican Gardens. They were very peaceful, and we sat down on a bench to look at a book. At first, we couldn’t figure out why we were sitting there looking over a book when there were so many things to see! However, perusing the book about the history of the Sistine Chapel proved to be a highly valuable experience—one that we would more greatly appreciate later when we actually got to see the Chapel.

Rome - The Vatican Gardens
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As a quick aside, the coffee at the café near the Vatican Gardens was some of the worst I’ve ever had… ever. Okay, enough of that.

Over the course of the day, we saw many different exhibits within the Vatican, and, in my opinion, some of the highlights were the Hall of Roman Statues, and the Carriage Pavilion. The Hall of Roman Statues had many different busts, but also some replicas of famous and not-so-famous Greek statues. Being intrigued by the Greek myth of Ganymede, I was excited to see a replica of the statue of him with the eagle:

Ganymede with the Eagle replica in the Vatican Museums
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The Carriage Pavilion was one of the newer additions to the museums, and contained the various carriages (read: “Popemobiles”) used by the Popes when they travel. There were some incredibly ornate ones, as well as the more modern vehicles (some of which were donated by well-known automobile manufacturers like Mercedes and Alfa Romeo).

After viewing many of the exhibits, we ended our tour of the Vatican with a visit to the Sistine Chapel and lastly St. Peter’s Basilica. The beauty of the Sistine Chapel can’t really be captured by words, and we were certainly glad that Claudia had told us some of the history behind the paintings. The only downside was that people were very rude and disrespectful in the Chapel. They were talking, and taking photographs, even though both are prohibited. Frequently, priests would proclaim “Sliencia!” in effort to quiet the masses, but it seemed of little use. St. Peter’s Basilica was remarkably beautiful as well, and the most stunning part (in my opinion) was seeing Michelangelo’s Pietà:

Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
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We exited St. Peter’s into the main square, and looking back, the main façade was beyond grand!

Front facade of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City
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There was a near-disaster when I was told that the Vatican Museums had already closed, so they weren’t sure how I would pick up my camera bag (which had to be checked at the beginning of our tour). Fortunately, though, there was another entrance to the Museums, and I was able to get into the coat room, and grab my bag.

After quite the full day, we walked back to the hotel, changed clothes, and headed out for our dinner reservations at La Fata Ignorante. The restaurant came very highly rated, and the owner (Gianluca) was an exceptional host! He indicated that the key to a nice restaurant is balance between food, service, and ambiance. I have to agree, and say that La Fata Ignorante had a wonderful combination of all three elements! Deb and I again split three dishes. This time, they were Pappardelle (one of my all-time favourite pastas) with wild boar sauce, Risotto with saffron and mushrooms, and Carbonara. I think that both of us greatly preferred the Pappardelle, but all three dishes were quite nice.

It started pouring down rain, so we took a taxi back to the hotel. However, we stopped in at Café Friends near our hotel for one last bottle of wine before ending our stay in Rome. We headed back to the hotel, packed our bags, and prepared for our journey into the heart of Tuscany tomorrow.

Cheers,
Zach