Wine me, dine me...
Had a lovely six days traveling around Tuscany and Piedmont. I picked "Laura" up from the airport since she had been in the States, and on the way to drop her off at her place in northern Italy, we happened to stop off at a few scenic places.
Wed- Picked up "Laura" at the airport in Rome around 11. We drove to a little Tuscan hill town called Montepulciano and had lunch there, at a place recommended by the Food and Wine Lover's Companion to Tuscany by Carla Capalbo. We bought some wine (they're famous for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano). Then, we continued up the road to Siena, where we stayed for the evening. We saw the piazza where they hold il Palio, the famous horserace in Siena every August, and ate at yet another restaraunt recommended by the FWLCT. So far, two for two as far as that particular book was concerned.
Thu- I got up and went for a run. It was a pretty good hill workout because, well, Siena is nothing but hills. I think maybe there is a total of about 20 square feet of flat ground in the city. We headed out to the Chianti region, where we toured one of the wineries belonging to Marchesi di Barolo, one of the larger (and better) Tuscan wine producers. The tour was great; it included an old castle and a lot of wine barrels, and for the first time I saw the giant grape mashing machine that they throw all the grapes into in order to, well, mash them. We had a lovely little wine tasting, after which we of course bought some more wine (Chianti reserva and some other good stuff)--enough that Stefania, our tour guide, threw in a free designer cork screw and Marchesi di Barolo apron. Then we headed out to San Gimignano, where we stayed the second night. San G is the perfect picturesque Tuscan hill town--it was built with defense in mind, so it used to have something like 40 or 50 giant stone towers; now it only has about 14, but it's still an impressive site. The town is all within a giant medieval stone wall, and most of the buildings are made out of stone, and they all have a fantastic view over the Tuscan countryside. We ate at the restaraunt attached to the hotel, and it was fantastic.
Fri- We got up and went sightseeing around San G., climbed to the top of the tower in the center of town, and bought still some more wine (Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a lovely, refreshing white). Then we drove up north to "Laura"'s house. We stopped by the leaning tower of Pisa because it happened to be on the way home and I hadn't seen it yet.
Sat- Not having tasted any substantial amount of wine in the past 24 hours, we were suffering from withdrawal. So we went to the Enoteca Regionale di Barolo, which is basically a giant combination wine store and wine museum in the city of Barolo, which is famous for Barolo wine. (Barolo, if you didn't know--which I didn't until after living in Italy for about 5 months--is one of the finest reds that Italy produces.) We did a tasting there and bought some more wine. Then we had the most expensive lunch I've ever seen for two people--850 Euro. Actually, it was supposed to be 85 Euro, but the restaraunt owner accidentally added in the extra digit when he rang up my credit card, and then didn't know how to cancel it. So he had to go to the bank and take out cash to refund me the difference. So basically I got a big cash advance without having to pay the cash advance fee. After lunch, we went over to the town of Barbaresco, which is famous for a wine called, oddly enough, Barbaresco. More importantly, one of "Laura"'s teachers is the winemaster at a winery there, so he gave us a private tour and then a tasting. A couple glasses into the tasting, we were joined by four more people--the parent's and some friends of a friend of the winemaster, who happened to be in the area and wanted to check it out. It turns out that the two friends are professional violinists in some orchestra in London, and it led to some pretty interesting conversation. Towards the end of the tasting, one of them went out to the car where he happened to have a violin, and he proceded to play for us for the next ten or fifteen minutes or so. One of those nice random things that just seem to keep happening in Italy. Oh yeah...and we bought some more wine.
Sun- I got up and went running. Then we bummed around town. It was very pleasant.
Mon- I drove "Laura" to the town square so she could meet up with her class and get going on her trip to Portugal for school. Then I drove the 8-1/2 hours home.
Total distance driven: ~1900 km.
Total bottles of wine purchased by yours truly (not counting the ones we drank with meals): 54
Wed- Picked up "Laura" at the airport in Rome around 11. We drove to a little Tuscan hill town called Montepulciano and had lunch there, at a place recommended by the Food and Wine Lover's Companion to Tuscany by Carla Capalbo. We bought some wine (they're famous for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano). Then, we continued up the road to Siena, where we stayed for the evening. We saw the piazza where they hold il Palio, the famous horserace in Siena every August, and ate at yet another restaraunt recommended by the FWLCT. So far, two for two as far as that particular book was concerned.
Thu- I got up and went for a run. It was a pretty good hill workout because, well, Siena is nothing but hills. I think maybe there is a total of about 20 square feet of flat ground in the city. We headed out to the Chianti region, where we toured one of the wineries belonging to Marchesi di Barolo, one of the larger (and better) Tuscan wine producers. The tour was great; it included an old castle and a lot of wine barrels, and for the first time I saw the giant grape mashing machine that they throw all the grapes into in order to, well, mash them. We had a lovely little wine tasting, after which we of course bought some more wine (Chianti reserva and some other good stuff)--enough that Stefania, our tour guide, threw in a free designer cork screw and Marchesi di Barolo apron. Then we headed out to San Gimignano, where we stayed the second night. San G is the perfect picturesque Tuscan hill town--it was built with defense in mind, so it used to have something like 40 or 50 giant stone towers; now it only has about 14, but it's still an impressive site. The town is all within a giant medieval stone wall, and most of the buildings are made out of stone, and they all have a fantastic view over the Tuscan countryside. We ate at the restaraunt attached to the hotel, and it was fantastic.
Fri- We got up and went sightseeing around San G., climbed to the top of the tower in the center of town, and bought still some more wine (Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a lovely, refreshing white). Then we drove up north to "Laura"'s house. We stopped by the leaning tower of Pisa because it happened to be on the way home and I hadn't seen it yet.
Sat- Not having tasted any substantial amount of wine in the past 24 hours, we were suffering from withdrawal. So we went to the Enoteca Regionale di Barolo, which is basically a giant combination wine store and wine museum in the city of Barolo, which is famous for Barolo wine. (Barolo, if you didn't know--which I didn't until after living in Italy for about 5 months--is one of the finest reds that Italy produces.) We did a tasting there and bought some more wine. Then we had the most expensive lunch I've ever seen for two people--850 Euro. Actually, it was supposed to be 85 Euro, but the restaraunt owner accidentally added in the extra digit when he rang up my credit card, and then didn't know how to cancel it. So he had to go to the bank and take out cash to refund me the difference. So basically I got a big cash advance without having to pay the cash advance fee. After lunch, we went over to the town of Barbaresco, which is famous for a wine called, oddly enough, Barbaresco. More importantly, one of "Laura"'s teachers is the winemaster at a winery there, so he gave us a private tour and then a tasting. A couple glasses into the tasting, we were joined by four more people--the parent's and some friends of a friend of the winemaster, who happened to be in the area and wanted to check it out. It turns out that the two friends are professional violinists in some orchestra in London, and it led to some pretty interesting conversation. Towards the end of the tasting, one of them went out to the car where he happened to have a violin, and he proceded to play for us for the next ten or fifteen minutes or so. One of those nice random things that just seem to keep happening in Italy. Oh yeah...and we bought some more wine.
Sun- I got up and went running. Then we bummed around town. It was very pleasant.
Mon- I drove "Laura" to the town square so she could meet up with her class and get going on her trip to Portugal for school. Then I drove the 8-1/2 hours home.
Total distance driven: ~1900 km.
Total bottles of wine purchased by yours truly (not counting the ones we drank with meals): 54
posted by Chris at 4:11 PM
1 Comments:
Whoa, that's over a US$1000 (not including any surcharges that your credit card may add for foreign currency purchases)!
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