Gorgeous Tuscany, Italy, day 2
We got engaged!!! What a lovely evening last night! I’m soo soo happy! Simon did a great job with the proposal and it was such a lovely end to a great afternoon of swimming in the pool overlooking the Tuscan hills, watching the sun set over the hills in one direction, then looking over the hills lit by a full moon from our private garden patio in the other. Just gorgeous!
After being soo lost yesterday on the windy, steep, scary roads we decided to hire a guide for today. Best thing we could have done! Monica Iris was awesome! She moved to Tuscany from Germany about 27 years ago and absolutely loves the place. Her and her hubby owned a restaurant in a tiny village before moving to a slightly larger village after having their two kids. She picked us up arpund 10:30 and we started the day by heading to a small village named Radda in Chianti. The towns are all so picturesque! It was on a hill and the streets just wind around. The houses all have bright flowers to brighten the streets.
We then headed to Castello d’Albola, a winery in a castle from the 15th century. We had a tour of the winery and tastings. They stock one type of their wines at Dan Murphy’s in Melbourne! We’ll be checking that out! We were so excited to hear that the main grape used in Chianti is Sangiovese - a grape Elissa got us onto in Bendigo. The wines in Chianti were superb!
We then headed to the ancient village of Castello di Volpaia, dating back to the 13th century. Here we had more wine tastings and an espresso in the one and only café. We also bought some barley salad and fresh fig pie for later. The village only has 30 residents, half of who work in the winery. Very cute!
When you don’t think things can get much better, we head to Montfioralle. This is a castle village which we can see from the pool at our place. Monica had organised with Fernando Sieni, a local winery owner to do private tastings and lunch for us at his house. It was UNBELIEVABLE! We arrived to a table set for two with fresh brushetta and crustinis with local Tuscan salami, olive oil and prosciutto. He started the wine tastings for us to enjoy with our meal. Four wines, each from his winery and with only about 10,000 bottled a year (although he and his family take care of about 1500 of these, apparently!). His reserve wine is literally hand-picked, as he knows the best vines and selects each bunch of grapes by hand. Fernando then brought down a freshly cooked bowl of the best spaghetti we have ever tasted. It was cooked to perfection and the sauce (no meat in summer) was delicious! His 75 yr old mother cooks a fresh batch of tomato sauce every morning. It was sooo good. We were chockers by this stage but still had pecorino (sheeps milk) cheese covered with fresh honey and dessert wine to go. Simon couldn’t get enough of the dessert wine and we’re going to attempt to get one home. It really was the most wonderful lunch!
We then headed into the town of Greve in Chianti, where a parade was happening. People from each region decide on a theme and parade down the street. It was wonderful to see the whole area turn out in the town piazza. After stopping in at the local butcher, we started the trek up the very steep hill back to our place. What a lovely, lovely day. Tuscany is the best. We don’t want to leave!! Katie xo
