Tuscan wine paradise

Trip Start Dec 14, 2007
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Trip End Mar 16, 2009


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Flag of Italy  , Tuscany,
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Ryan's real birthday was celebrated two days later with a private wine tour with a very knowledgeable guide in the Cinati Classico region. For the wine lovers (and our record|) I'll go into a bit more detail on this region and its wines as detailed in an official Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico publication. Chianti Classico Black Rooster is a premium wine produced solely in Chianti, Tuscany's famous wine region situated between Florence and Siena and covers 70,000 hectares. The special characteristics of the climate, terrain and altitude make this territory particularly adapted to the production of quality wines, with Chianti Classico DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in the lead, which can be produced exclusively in Chianti. This wine draws all its character from its land of origin and from Sangiovese, the red wine that is typical of the zone that is used in the minimum ratio of 80% in the composition of Chianti Classico. It is an elegant, round, velvety wine, with a ruby-red colour, a bouquet of spices and wild berries and a good structure
Tuscan wine country
Tuscan wine country
. The minimum alcohol level, required by the production code, is 12% for the regular wine which cannot be released for consumption before one year from  harvesting; and 12.5% for the Riserva (Reserve) which must be aged for 2 years. A Consortium, Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, founded in 1924 oversees production. It represents over 600 producers who account for 95% of the total production of this wine. The Black Rooster has always served as the Chianti Classico's mark guaranteeing the quality of this wine, which expresses al the flavour traditions and values of the land.
 
REH: I thoroughly enjoyed the tour through the Chianti Classico wine region and all we could talk about was how we were going to arrange a more dedicated trip in the future, hopefully with some friends or family to further explore this amazing wine region. Considering Italy is the second largest wine producing country after France we only tasted the tip on the iceberg and to do this countries wines justice we would need much more time. What I loved most about this tour was the amazing old world scenery where rolling green hills covered with vineyards and olive orchards are occasionally dotted with beautiful old Tuscan styled homes and chapel steeples. It gives you the impression that you have travelled back in time to an ancient romantic wine loving country.
 
Part of our wine tour took us to a little village in the heart of the Chianti country called Greve where we had a lovely little lunch accompanied with wine from the region after which we took a walk through an enormous vinotech. A vinotech is basically a wine shop that allows you to sample some of the wines for sale via vending machine type dispensers. The variety of wine on offer was incredible and you could easily have spent an entire just in this store trying wines. I would strongly suggest anyone visiting Greve should spend a few hours and euros here.
 
All I can add at this stage was that the day was an extravagant treat and we will definitely be back in the future for a more thorough exploration of this beautiful part of the world, and of course to taste as much of their lovely wine as possible.
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