The sun rises on Monday
We had great weather all week long, and except for a few showers during our stay in Rome, we had great weather the whole time we were in Italy.
Jan studying up on Brunello. We were getting ready for a tour of three wineries with a lunch scheduled at an olive farm.
We were picked up at the Villa by the lovely young Rebecca Christophersen, owner and operator of Tuscan Wine Tours and began, at least in my opinion, the best day of wine touring one could ask for. If anyone is headed to Tuscany, I highly recommend getting in touch with Rebecca.
Our first stop was Máté where they were still crushing a few grapes. Candace Máté invited us into her meticulously restored 13th century friary. It certainly isn't a friary anymore, it's a beautiful home that had us all drooling and ready to move to Tuscany. Or maybe that was the wine that had us drooling. Lorri and I bought a couple bottles and saved one, the 2002 Brunello for our last night in Italy. We'll get to that later.
Máté is not too far from the Villa, from the back patio area there were expansive views to the south. I believe we could see Argiano and our Villa from that point.
On the dirt road that led to Máté, there was an ancient church. I don't know what it is called but it's just sitting out there in the in the relative middle of nowhere. I had to make Rebecca stop so I could take a photo. I meant to drive back there at some point and check it out but I never got around to it.
Next stop, San Polino, a family run organic "wine farm". We spent time out among the vines with our hostess (I can't remember her name) learning a little about organic farming methods as related to the production of wine grapes. Whatever they are doing is working because the wines were excellent and the vines looked healthy to me. But then, what do I know?
Our hostess was informative without being too technical. Her mom was upstairs behind one of those windows frying onions.
The scene of the tasting
Everywhere you look in Tuscany there is a scene begging to have its photo taken. The two on the left were taken from where we had just tasted the San Polino wines and the two on the right are of the San Antimo Abby on the way to our next stop, which was lunch at the olive farm.
Lunch
This was perhaps the most memorable lunch of our trip. Marzia and Alberto Costagli, owners and operators of Podere La Fonte Olive Oil Farm and Agriturismo, cooked the lunch and served us themselves. They spoke no English but they didn't need to because the smiles on their faces and their friendly demeanor let us know immediately that we were welcome to their home and they were enjoying what they were doing.
After lunch we learned about the process of pressing olive oil with the granite stones in the photo on the left. How did we learn about this from people who don't speak English? Rebecca, our guide did the translating. In fact, she seemed to be nearly as knowledgeable as Alberto about the whole process.
Last stop: Sestadisopra
Another great winery making excellent use of an ancient structure. Apparently the renovated main house at one time was a guard tower along the perimeter of, um, Siena? Montalcino? Anyway, it dates back to the 12th century but the winery part of it is pure 21st century. The owner, a retired banker and his wife were the perfect hosts. We were invited into their house and sat with them at a large table while tasting wines and snacking on various bread, cheeses and olive oil.
The young couple help out with the operation and he was especially proud of his Lamborghini. Yes, the tractor is a Lamborghini, complete with enclosed air-conditioned cab.
Our host, some of us, our host, his wife and the young helper couple.
The back of Rebecca's van. Back at the Villa we did a group photo with Rebecca. She did a great job for us. All three wineries were different yet we felt at home, welcome and comfortable at all three. The lunch was perfect and Rebecca of Tuscan Wine Tours was the perfect tour guide.
Our chosen local for dinner at the Villa that night was the living room - a big salad, pasta, bread, fresh olive oil - just what the doctor ordered after a day of wine touring. Oh yeah, we may have had some wine too!
