This beautiful view awaited us when we got out off the bus at the bottom of what would come to be the most challenging 30 minutes of our two weeks traveling together... The website mentions "a 30 minute walk ... through the vineyards of the property" to get up to the castle (if you take public transport). I thought this sounded pleasant and told Angela the 30 minutes was probably more of an overshot estimation because who would walk 30 minutes uphill to a castle for a wine tasting. Well, we did.
Here's Angela about one third of the way through our hike. It really wouldn't have been that bad except we weren't dressed for any sort of physical activity and it got SO warm as time passed. Oh and it seemed like we would never get there... And about ten cars and one vespa (all heading to the same tasting as us) passed us on the road.
We did make it though- after an accurate 30 minutes of hiking through the vineyards/forest of the property. The gardens of the castle were absolutely beautiful though and provided a calming welcome upon our arrival. The noise from the fountain above helped mask my uneven breaths as we learned about the history of the vineyard. Giovanni da Verrazzano was born here in 1485. He discovered the Bay of New York along with much of it's coast and the Verrazzano Bridge in New York is named after him.
Wine has been produced in this location since 1150. I couldn't really wrap my head around that but I knew we were probably going to be sampling the products of some very fine-tuned methods later that afternoon. Northern Italy is known for their red wines and southern Italy specializes in whites so we would be sampling a few reds and possibly a rosé.
The views from the castle were incredibly beautiful. Tuscany was kind of dreamlike. I could imagine a very nice life sipping coffee as the sun rose, working the fields during the day, drinking the best reds in the evening, and falling asleep in a hammock each night. The hammock just because it's relaxing not because I saw any evidence that this is something people actually do here.
We toured the castle and cellars before our tasting. The grapes below were picked specially for the vino santo that takes three years of preparation before it is ready to drink. The grapes are picked at a certain ripeness and then hung in the attic of the castle where (with the help of an insane amount of fruit flies) they mature and begin to ferment. After a couple months hanging like this, they are put into the wine casks where they mature for another two and a half years. Although this wine wasn't part of our tasting, Angela and I got to sample it because we hung around after the tasting with our awesome tour guide. It was really sweet and very strong.
The wine barrels in the cellar were all massive. All the wine there could keep you stocked for your wine and cheese parties for the rest of eternity. I loved the barrel designs but only chose one to feature below. Well, two technically as you got a bonus pic of me modeling next to this year's Chianti harvest.
After the tour we sampled three wines, a balsamic vinaigrette, and olive oil that is all produced at Verrazzano. The wines were all very good but the vinaigrette is honestly what blew me away. It was incredible. It's typically served with fruits or cheese and we had it with the cheese below (also delicious but that's almost a given). We were taught the official way to taste the wines which I will now describe in detail.
1. Grab your glass by the stem. Never hold the goblet because that will alter the temperature of the wine. Look at it, observe the colors, think about what you are going to drink.
2. Smell the wine. Don't just sniff the edge though- no, you place your entire nose into the glass and breathe deeply. What scents did you notice?
3. Now, take a small taste, swish it around your mouth and swallow.
4. Put the glass back on the table, give it a good swirl.
5. Take another taste. The wine has been given a chance to breathe and develop in the glass and will have a fuller flavor.
6. No need to continue swirling after each taste, simply enjoy the wine.
A bit of an extreme process for my unrefined pallet but it was nice to play along...
As I mentioned, we stayed after the tasting to chat with our guide and a group of Australians that were traveling Italy for a few weeks together. One of the couples was actually a year into a two year trip around the world... something to work towards in life if I've ever heard of one! We sampled the Vino Santo, bought a bottle of rosé, got a ride down through the vineyards (thankfully), and caught our bus back to Florence. We took a train to Pisa that evening so next post I'll share some stories from those few days... hope the suspense isn't too much to handle!
Ang and I sampling some pretty delicious wine. Cheers friends!
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