Friday, September 28, 2007. 9:13pm Tuscan time (12:13 pm Vancouver time). Fattoria Tregole, outside of Castellina in Chianti.
What an extraordinary day. How quickly things can change. A day full of beautiful scenery, wonderful wine, and a perfectly gorgeous surprise at the end of the day.
After meeting up at 9:30 am at Adam and Jen’s hotel (Hotel Desiree near the train station), we hiked over with our heavy packs to the car rental agency, which was about a 10 minute walk away. Boris and Brunhilda were weighty, but seemed well behaved. I have yet to name my beastly pack.
At the car rental office, we waited patiently while a pair of elderly couples (from Canada, no less—I spotted the tags on their luggage right away) secured their vehicle and got directions out of town.
After they got their car, we were next. Adam finished the paperwork, and we set off to find the garage. Once there, we waited while the elderly group finished packing up their car with the attendant, and figured out how to drive the thing. (I hope they made it to where they were going.) At one point, Adam mentioned that he thought the back end of the car looked much closer to the ground than the front end—and sure enough, their luggage was probably weighing it down quite a lot.
We loaded up in
to our car, and headed out of town. After a few close calls and tight traffic situations, we managed to escape the city limits (Adam didn’t get honked at once!), and headed south toward wine country. Tuscany bound!
Our first stop was Greve in Chianti. Before I’d gotten to Florence, Adam and Jen had earlier taken a day bus trip out to Greve to do a bit of wine tasting. They discovered a great little wine shop/tasting salon/cantina/wine museum. So of course, they had to share the experience with me, too.
Thank god they did. I was in heaven. But, despite how elated I was, it wouldn’t be the last time that I would feel that way today.
Le Cantina di Greve in Chianti. The place was amazing. Adam and Jen recorded and posted a video of their experience there—they ended up spending all afternoon when they first visited. It sort of works like, well, there is no real equivalent that I know of, I guess. You can purchase electronic cards for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 euro amounts, and use those cards at each of the wine tasting stations. Each station had about 16 or so different wines, and there were stations for the really expensive wines, the Chianti Classico wines, the Annata region wines, some white wines, among others (more on the others below). There was even a station for olive oils, believe it or not! (they didn’t charge for t
he olive oil station—that was free, you just needed to insert your card.) Each of the wine tastings ranged in price from as low as 0.60 euro per taste, up to 9 or 10 euro per taste (for the high end wines).
Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Where to start? What to taste? What to do? It was like spending my allowance, Adam mentioned. I had to be selective and careful about where I was going to spend it all.
While I frolicked and played and rejoiced amongst the wines, Adam and Jen went off to do some research on places to eat, and a place to stay this evening. In all, I must have spent at least two hours cavorting among the wines, tasting everything that seemed interesting (and within my price range). I even got to try some Super Tuscans (oh yes Tom D., it’s true, eat your heart out!!), and ended up buying one, too. The second most expensive Super Tuscan there—but more developments regarding that later. I also picked up a corkscrew with the cantina’s logo and label engraved on the handle. A lovely keepsake that I’m sure I’ll use over and over again.
After Adam and Jen came back to fetch me, we found an open grocery store (most oft he shops in Greve were closed for siesta, and wouldn’t be opening again until after 4pm, yikes!) and picked up some supplies for lunch: bread, cheese, grapes, pears, olives, proscuitto, and pretzels. Then, we took off to go hunting the countryside for wineries and vineyards.
We back-tracked a bit north, and headed to a winery called, Castello di Verrazzano. It seemed very busy, and well-visited. We stood at one of the tasting bars, and got free tastings of their selections. Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva, their Super Tuscan, and even a bit of their grappa, too. I could definitely feel the wine going straight to my head by this point.
After we finished our tasting, Adam and Jen decided to buy a bottle of the Riserva, and then we headed outside to have lunch. We had the food, and the wine… and then realized we didn’t have glasses to drink from. Ack. So while Jen went back to the tasting room to try to get something for us to drink from, Adam hacked up the bread and started making sandwiches. Jen was back in a few minutes, successful on the plastic glasses front, so we drank wine and ate our sandwiches, while overlooking the vineyard, and the Tuscan countryside.
After lunch, we piled back into the car and headed to the next winery. We found the Villa Cafaggio (I had bought a bottle of their San Martino earlier in the day at the cantina, for 40 euro), and Adam and Jen did some tastings. I had pretty much done all my wine tasting for the day earlier at the cantina, and didn’t have the tastebuds to distinguish anything more (oh, did I mention I was pretty drunk, too?), so I declined. They ended up buying a bottle of the Riserva Classico. The attendant there was also kind enough to take us on an abbreviated tour of their facilities as well. If I recall correctly, their volume was somewhere around 200,000 bottles of wine per year.
Yowsers. Ok, even I couldn’t drink my way through that.
Then we set off to Castellina in Chianti, to find our B&B: Fattoria Tregole.
When we found it, it was like something out of a movie. A lovely surprise, and absolutely perfect. On a hilltop, overlooking two valleys of vineyards and olive groves. Absolutely perfect. Perfect rooms, perfect apartment, perfect views. Our dinner that evening consisted of cheese, bread, some prosciutto, some fruit, and of course wine. A perfect evening to end a perfect day.
What an extraordinary day. How quickly things can change. A day full of beautiful scenery, wonderful wine, and a perfectly gorgeous surprise at the end of the day.
After meeting up at 9:30 am at Adam and Jen’s hotel (Hotel Desiree near the train station), we hiked over with our heavy packs to the car rental agency, which was about a 10 minute walk away. Boris and Brunhilda were weighty, but seemed well behaved. I have yet to name my beastly pack.
At the car rental office, we waited patiently while a pair of elderly couples (from Canada, no less—I spotted the tags on their luggage right away) secured their vehicle and got directions out of town.
After they got their car, we were next. Adam finished the paperwork, and we set off to find the garage. Once there, we waited while the elderly group finished packing up their car with the attendant, and figured out how to drive the thing. (I hope they made it to where they were going.) At one point, Adam mentioned that he thought the back end of the car looked much closer to the ground than the front end—and sure enough, their luggage was probably weighing it down quite a lot.
We loaded up in
to our car, and headed out of town. After a few close calls and tight traffic situations, we managed to escape the city limits (Adam didn’t get honked at once!), and headed south toward wine country. Tuscany bound!Our first stop was Greve in Chianti. Before I’d gotten to Florence, Adam and Jen had earlier taken a day bus trip out to Greve to do a bit of wine tasting. They discovered a great little wine shop/tasting salon/cantina/wine museum. So of course, they had to share the experience with me, too.
Thank god they did. I was in heaven. But, despite how elated I was, it wouldn’t be the last time that I would feel that way today.
Le Cantina di Greve in Chianti. The place was amazing. Adam and Jen recorded and posted a video of their experience there—they ended up spending all afternoon when they first visited. It sort of works like, well, there is no real equivalent that I know of, I guess. You can purchase electronic cards for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 euro amounts, and use those cards at each of the wine tasting stations. Each station had about 16 or so different wines, and there were stations for the really expensive wines, the Chianti Classico wines, the Annata region wines, some white wines, among others (more on the others below). There was even a station for olive oils, believe it or not! (they didn’t charge for t
he olive oil station—that was free, you just needed to insert your card.) Each of the wine tastings ranged in price from as low as 0.60 euro per taste, up to 9 or 10 euro per taste (for the high end wines).Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Where to start? What to taste? What to do? It was like spending my allowance, Adam mentioned. I had to be selective and careful about where I was going to spend it all.
While I frolicked and played and rejoiced amongst the wines, Adam and Jen went off to do some research on places to eat, and a place to stay this evening. In all, I must have spent at least two hours cavorting among the wines, tasting everything that seemed interesting (and within my price range). I even got to try some Super Tuscans (oh yes Tom D., it’s true, eat your heart out!!), and ended up buying one, too. The second most expensive Super Tuscan there—but more developments regarding that later. I also picked up a corkscrew with the cantina’s logo and label engraved on the handle. A lovely keepsake that I’m sure I’ll use over and over again.
After Adam and Jen came back to fetch me, we found an open grocery store (most oft he shops in Greve were closed for siesta, and wouldn’t be opening again until after 4pm, yikes!) and picked up some supplies for lunch: bread, cheese, grapes, pears, olives, proscuitto, and pretzels. Then, we took off to go hunting the countryside for wineries and vineyards.
We back-tracked a bit north, and headed to a winery called, Castello di Verrazzano. It seemed very busy, and well-visited. We stood at one of the tasting bars, and got free tastings of their selections. Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva, their Super Tuscan, and even a bit of their grappa, too. I could definitely feel the wine going straight to my head by this point.
After we finished our tasting, Adam and Jen decided to buy a bottle of the Riserva, and then we headed outside to have lunch. We had the food, and the wine… and then realized we didn’t have glasses to drink from. Ack. So while Jen went back to the tasting room to try to get something for us to drink from, Adam hacked up the bread and started making sandwiches. Jen was back in a few minutes, successful on the plastic glasses front, so we drank wine and ate our sandwiches, while overlooking the vineyard, and the Tuscan countryside.
After lunch, we piled back into the car and headed to the next winery. We found the Villa Cafaggio (I had bought a bottle of their San Martino earlier in the day at the cantina, for 40 euro), and Adam and Jen did some tastings. I had pretty much done all my wine tasting for the day earlier at the cantina, and didn’t have the tastebuds to distinguish anything more (oh, did I mention I was pretty drunk, too?), so I declined. They ended up buying a bottle of the Riserva Classico. The attendant there was also kind enough to take us on an abbreviated tour of their facilities as well. If I recall correctly, their volume was somewhere around 200,000 bottles of wine per year.
Yowsers. Ok, even I couldn’t drink my way through that.
Then we set off to Castellina in Chianti, to find our B&B: Fattoria Tregole.
When we found it, it was like something out of a movie. A lovely surprise, and absolutely perfect. On a hilltop, overlooking two valleys of vineyards and olive groves. Absolutely perfect. Perfect rooms, perfect apartment, perfect views. Our dinner that evening consisted of cheese, bread, some prosciutto, some fruit, and of course wine. A perfect evening to end a perfect day.
2 comments:
Hi Lisa,
You sound so happy!
It's been a little gloomy here in Vancouver, your blog has helped :)
abe
It certainly was a perfect day! We do however take exception to your comment about our children being "weighty", you know how sensitive Brunhilde is about being top heavy! Besides, little Miss Underpants, you might want to check out the latest update on our blog- we had a little fun giving you your very own post!
Miss you!
Ciao, ciao, ciao!
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