Chris & Kelly's Travel Adventures

My apologies for the delay in posting...we've had back to back days of small tuscan hill towns and wineries.  Today's post covers 9/21 & 9/22.

On Tuesday we took a Brunelo wine tour.  They took us to several wineries were we were taught all about Brunelo wine.  It is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes.  They have very strict rules to be able to call a wine Brunelo a Montalcino, mostly that every aspect must occur within the land boundaries of Montalcino.  We were given tastings of Brunelo's of different ages and years produced.  I was suprised at how different they were, considering they are grown in the exact same place with the exact same vines...who knew?  

Our 2nd winery of the day, after a tour of their cellars and art gallery (the owners are artists) they let us taste a prosecco, white, rose as well as the traditional Brunelo, all the while pairing them with courses of our lunch.  We then visited the town of Montepulciano, that is famous for their Nobile red wine and saw some great skyline views.

We finished the day watching a storm and light show play across our lawn. 

9/22/2021

Today we visited the hill top towns of Pienza and Montalcino.  Chris and I both love visiting these small towns.  The views are always breathtaking, the towns charming and full of personality.  Many are Etruscan in origin.  Its not uncommon to have many churches, but usually they are small & unadorned.  Forts, bell towers and high ancient walls are also common features.  These are the places to take your time and really get to know Italy. 

In Pienza we sampled the Pecorino cheese (they are famous for it).  It is nothing like Pecorino I've had in the U.S. Here it can be very soft and mild, more like a mozzarella than the strong dusty flavor like Parmesan.  We bought a wedge to have with our dinner tonight.

In Montalcino we walked the streets, popped into their main church, took some photo's and laughed at the amount of Brunelo stores catering to tourists...every 30 ft.  Trust us if you want to get drunk...this is place to come, although bring your own food as we couldn't find a place to eat to save our lives!!

We piled our goodies on a platter (proscuitto, capricola, salami, pecorino cheese, grapes, rosemary foccacia, walnuts, honey and fig jam) with a nice white wine we picked up at the Co-op.  

CHEERS! Night all.