We went to Montalcino first. We went to the second-best vineyard in Italy where they make a famous wine called Brunello di Montalcino. The vineyard was gorgeous, of course, though I was surprised at how little of the land they used. Only certain parts of the land can be used to grow the grapes.
They cannot water the grapes (there are strict rules in the wine industry) and so how the grapes turn out is entirely dependent on the soil and weather conditions. I'll bet they pray for rain. Our guide said that great wines are made in the vineyard and that the grape is what determines the quality of the wine. After the grapes are picked there is nothing they can do to improve the quality.
They cannot water the grapes (there are strict rules in the wine industry) and so how the grapes turn out is entirely dependent on the soil and weather conditions. I'll bet they pray for rain. Our guide said that great wines are made in the vineyard and that the grape is what determines the quality of the wine. After the grapes are picked there is nothing they can do to improve the quality.
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| I'm a giant! :) |
The wines go through a strict, intensive process. To ferment the wines, the grapes are put in these barrels. The seeds and skin need to be left in, at least at first, for flavor. They don't do anything to help the fermentation process along except to regulate the temperature.
Then they age the wines in wooden barrens. You know how sometimes a wine can taste woody or oaky? Well that is because of the barrels that they ferment in for years. The little green doohickeys on top of the barrels were made by Leonardo da Vinci. They allow gasses to escape but prevent air from entering. If air entered the barrel, the wine would turn to vinegar.
Then they have a nifty machine that corks the bottles of wine. It puts liquid nitrogen in the wine bottles and then fills them with wine and corks them so that air will not get in.
I got to try a Brunello and I'm not going to lie- I just don't appreciate red wines. I prefer sweet white wines. It just tasted like red wine to me. Also, if you're wondering, the drinking age over here is sixteen.
We bought souveniers and headed out to Montepulciano. Wine is much cheaper if you buy it from the winery. I actually bought face moisturizer made from grapeseed oil. It feels lovely. :)
Fun Fact: Montepulciano is where the second Twilight movie New Moon was filmed! (Sorry that you couldn't come, Dad. I know how much you love Twilight...)
The second winery that we went to actually used to be a prison. I just cannot get away from the creepy stuff.
The underground part of the winery was huge! The tunnels seemed to go on indefinitely, and it was super creepy.
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| A torture device at a winery. #OnlyInItaly |
The second wine tasting was not as exciting. However, I did get some lovely biscotti from there! (I'm not going to admit that I already ate half the bag.)
Also in the lovely medieval town of Montepulciano, there was a Pinocchio store!
I probably shouldn't say this, but the owner was super creepy looking. I didn't notice him standing there and then he moved and I might have jumped and screamed, "Ahh!"
Anywho, then we took the bus back to Firenze. Most people slept on the bus but my seat didn't have an armrest to prevent me from flying out of my seat. So I had to have constant vigilance and hang on to something!
"So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!" ~Ecclesiastes 9:7
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