Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano

Trip Start Jul 31, 2009

Trip End Aug 15, 2009

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Flag of Italy Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Met Jane in Chiocchio early in the morn. Our goal is to taste wine and cheese and to bring some back home. On our way to Montalcino, we visited a fortressed farm/granery. It was called Buonconvento, a place that where the town meetings and markets were held. She told us that the Brunello wine, was a hardy red that was aged for only 5 years. There were poplar trees along the riverbed and I saw many more cornfields here along w/some sorghum fields. Also some scotch broom plants (ginestra), which is related to vetch. We stopped at the Altesino winery and did some wine tasting. Was a very nice vineyard. I noticed that they had roses growing at the end of each row of grapes. Jane said that these are grown there to help spot diseases before they infect the grapes (they affect the roses first). We bought two bottles of wine here. A Brunello and a Slevonion (sp?) Oak. While driving to Montalcino, Jane said that therre were a lot of farmhouses that were abandoned in the 50's exodus to the city. In the 60's Brunello was a cheap wine. But things got more technological, enologists became more popular and the production of wine was better controlled. Then Brunellos got better and became much more expensive.

Montalcino was beautiful - situated up very high on a hill w/beautiful landscapes. We had lunch there - Pinci w/tomato sauce and bruschetta. We went to the Fortress of Montalcino Enoteca and bought a case of wine. It was very expensive. I didn't realize that we were just tasting Brunellos - I thought that this was all the wine that we were going to taste and buy and that it was from this whole area of Italy. Really didn't know what we were doing. We had this shipped to our home. Jane told us that the volcano, Monta Amiata, is in this area and that ash from this volcano is what contributes to the fine taste of the Brunellos.

We then went to Pienza, which was also very beautiful. All these towns are perched up on hills, overlooking the vineyards and olive groves. This town was name by Pope Pious II for himself. Jane said that he was a professional man who wrote erotic short stories and was very well educated. We went to several places to taste pecorino cheese (sheep cheese) and finally bought three kinds. We also went to an very old church here.

We then headed to Montepulciano. We went to the San Biagio church, built in the 1500's and also went to another enoteca and tasted some wine here. Bought some here also. We wondered how we were going to get all of this home.

Pienza hotels

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