I woke up at 7:15 and went to the bathroom and then fell back to sleep until 9:20. We made breakfast by 9:45. Breakfast consists of cereals, milk, breads, meats and cheeses and a pretty good tasting cake. The coffee was hot which may have been the best part. And of course the view was stunning. We talked with a guy who had taken his wife and daughter to il Palio which was won in a photo finish by the Goose contrada. They waited for over four hours. Apparently they close off the area at 4:30 and the race didn’t run until nearly 8 after three false starts.
We headed out for our first day in Tuscany at about 10:30 a.m. We had planned to go to a winery near Gaiole called Campanelle, but when we got there they had no open reservations until four, so we went in and looked around without a taste. L We next drove to Badia a Coltobuono and looked at the church there, but no wine or tour again. Next we headed to Volpaia, a great hill town and all was redeemed.
Volpaia
We parked and then went to the tasting room for some Volpaia wine (1). Christine and I had had some Volpaia Chianti Classico when we ate at Morton’s a couple of summers ago. At the tasting room we met another guy who looked and talked like Bob Esler. He had his private pilot’s license and offered to take Kevin up in his plane. He also works in the communication wiring business and had been up to work with Hewlitt-Packard when Gary was there.
Next we had lunch at the Osteria Volpaia run by Roberto and his wife Malfada who was the chef . and the food was fantastic. First course was the Involtini de Melanzante, wrapped eggplant stuffed with ham, cheese and tomato sauce. Fagioli al’uccelleto: cannellini beans with onions and tomato sauce. Fusilli Malfaldina: fusilli pasta, ricotta cheese, sweet peas, fava beans and artichokes. 2004 Chianti Classico Volpaia. Tiramisu with crunchy lady fingers (one of the best tiramisu’s we have ever had.) “Hard lady fingers from the get-go” It was funny at lunch, but I can’t remember why now. The total cost was €40 per couple.
Isole e Olena
After lunch we walked around the little village–a great place to explore and then headed off to find first Panzano and then San Donato in Poggio where we had a 3:00 p.m. appointment for a tour with Marta at Isole e Olena (2). This was our first extended dirt road drive, but we did manage to finally find Panzano. We had had a great lunch there two years ago. We stopped and asked a guy on the street and he let us know we needed to head back toward Sienna to get to San Dinato. Somehow we did manage to find it, and we arrive pretty close to our appointed time of 3 p.m. Marta was already giving some kind of a tour to a Belgian couple who had left their kids out in the car. We would see the kids later when they peered into the window of out tasting room. One was a little guy and the other was a teenager with a gross Marilynn Manson shirt on. They left, and we were joined by two couples from Santa Barbara who both owned wineries in the Santa Ynez area. Bill and Becky Walthen who own the Foxen Winery and Vineyard. Bill had the beginnings of a beard and a little blue earring and Becky had longer hair and was the controller of the winery, and Mike and Brooke Carhartt who own the Carhartt Vineyard and Winery. Mike had the ponytail and Brooke wore black and was a little too thin. Or at least that’s what Christine thought. They were obviously tasting pros. We were amazed how they spit everything out, barely drinking anything. It was fun getting to know them. Mike went to Santa Ynez High School, and they knew my CaToy friend Chris Mullin who teaches there. One or several of their kids had him.
We all sat around a big wooden table and tasted about five different wines. Peggy asked and Marta took us down into the cellar and we got to see the whole operation. We had already given her the bottle we brought from Vino Nocetto, but we took pictures of her holding it down in the cellar. AS we were leaving she gave us a bottle of wine from the winery in Piedmonte where her son is working. I think we headed back to the Borgo about 5. Our route took us through Castillina and very close the Fatttoria Tregole where we will be staying in a couple of days. Our route took us over some major dirt roads, bur we managed to make it back to the Borgo by ten to six.
Gary and I decided to try and find the winery in Monti that made the Chianti Classico we had at dinner the night before, but although it had a sign, it didn’t look like they did tastings. We drove down another road and stopped at a place called Rocca di Montigrossi (3) and got the woman to let us in. We had to walk up a beautiful wooden spiral staircase to get to the second floor tasting area. The wines were good, and we also learned more about how they made Vin Santo. Especially interesting that they hang them and dry them and then soak them. The room next to the tasting area had several huge nets where they put the grapes to dry before they soak and press them. We didn’t buy anything and got back home by around seven. Gary and I went up and use the internet in Elena’s office, and I found out that they want me in Madrid! Dixie and Michelle loved my yearbook critique idea. I also left our passport numbers with Elena and paid the bill– apparently it’s €200 per night ($266). She shared some special wine that had been made by this older gentleman who was right there. We thought it was from Podere il Palazzino and then we went back to get ready for dinner.
I’m pretty sure it was after eight by the time we left. We decided on the Trattoria Grotta della Rana in San Santo which was probably about a 15 minute drive. Supposedly Rana means frog as the town has a cute frog statue and fountain. Rana was a cute little trattoria and was packed the entire time we were there. We ate outside next to the kitchen. The service was great; however I left my notebook at home so I don’t have the full descriptions of what we ate. I stated with a Bruschette sampler called Misto. Just like we had back in Florence at that place Jerry had recommended. Christine had a Riboleta and then a salad with garden rockets (?) and I had a pasta, papperdelle I believe with Chingiale (wild boar). Gary had a Carpresi salad and a pasta with tartuffo (truffles) and Peggy had something? We sat next to an Irish couple with two kids and they walked up and took photos of the frog statue before leaving and heading back to the Borgo.
We wandered back over to the patio area in hopes of seeing the moonrise and eventually the couple from Pleasanton (Marty and?) and the MC from Orange County. We had a little Vin Santo and Amaretto but we never did really see that moon rise. It was probably near 12 by the time we got to bed.
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