Wine Tour

Friday, Sept. 11th, I went on a "Taste of Tuscany" wine tour through the hostel. It cost 35 Euro and was worth every bit of it! We met at 9:30 and boarded a bus. There was only one seat not filled. The tour guide, funny guy named Dario (see him all the time around here) asked who was from the states. There were maybe 10 of us. Suprising. Then he asked who was from Australia and then entire bus full raised their hands. It was hilarious. I ended up sitting by a nice fellow named Kane and we talked all the way there.

BUT FIRST>>>a History lesson for you. As you may be aware, Florence is a part of Tuscany and that is Chianti region. A long time ago when Sienna and Florence were trying to claim territory and figure out where the border would be they came up with simple solution. Sienna had a white rooster, and Florence had a black rooster. The plan was that whichever rooster crowed first in the morning, that town's rider was allowed to take out riding towards the other town and the plan was that wherever they met in the middle would be the new border. So, the Sienna people made the mistake of feeding their rooster way too much. It woke up late...and crowed very late. However, the Florence people starved their rooster and so he was very hungry all night and woke up very early crowing. The Florence rider took out very early and made it just 11 km outside of Sienna when the Sienna people rode up to meet them. That's where the border of Chianti region is and that's why a true Chianti will have the symbol of a black rooster on it! :)

BACK TO THE TRAVELING:

Our first stop was at La Palagina winery. It was a quaint little winery tucked up into a hill/mountain. We were ushered into a covered veranda where we were going to have brunch. I sat at a table for 6, and I was the only person not from Australia...but they all ended up being so incredibly nice. We started out with a white wine. It was delicious. Very nice, and light. Our food was brought out on all sorts of different platters. We had lettuce, tomatoes, crunchy bread, porcino cheese, white and red table wine, apple pastry, peach shortbread, procshutto, olive oil, strawberry & peach & pepper jams for the cheeses....and it was all grown and produced right there! :) Then we had red wine...and all the wine here was bottomless..so, we had plenty but no one was getting too crazy. We had some great dinner conversation and then after we had a chance to go in and buy some of the products. Then, we walked up to see where their animals graze, their equipment, and some of their vineyard. It was great. BIG WALK though. Our second stop was Casa Sola...and it was picturesque! :) You can stay at the farmhouse (so if your ever looking for a romantic getaway...perfect spot for it). There were two big friendly dogs that barked and walked along with us when we first got there. Reminded me of home and Lucky and Sallie! Hehe. We walked through the vineyards, the wine cellar, the olive groves, the wine production area, and tasted their products. It was delicious! Their dessert wine was much better than what we had at our LDM (that's my school, Lorenzo de Medici) private dinner. We toured and tasted. Then back to the bus. Our last stop was at the Monteriggioni castle. Parts of the movie "Gladiator" were filmed here. It was a wonderful little castle and village. We had less than 20 minutes here, and after walking up all the steps, all we had time for was our free ice cream and a few pictures around at the neat architecture. It looked like a pleasant little settlement! After that, we started back to the hostel. With bellies full of wine and food, most people snoozed. I wrote in my diary and talked to our guide! It was a wonderful trip! :)