Touring Tuscany – Part 2

We’re continuing to explore this extraordinary part of Italy.  From our base in Trequanda, we make frequent day trips to the surrounding towns and villages. Here is a sampling…

On one very cold but sunny day, we set out to follow the ‘Heart of Tuscany Drive‘ using Rick Steves’ directions.  It was pretty easy to follow (Rick drove and I read the directions and looked for the sometimes obscure signs). Warning…some of the distances in the guide are not exact. It took us in a loop from Montepulciano to Pienza through some smaller towns and the stunning countryside of the Val d’Orcia.
The landscape of Tuscany is like no other place on earth.  The best descriptor I can muster is that everything looks ‘soft’…like God has draped a blanket over the hillsides that roll and undulate as they change hues.

Much of this area is not filled with grapevines, but is used to grow cereal crops. So, in winter, it isn’t as green as it will be in Spring and Summer.  But it’s gorgeous nonetheless.
While the grapevines are bare at this time of year, the primary trees in Tuscany are not.  Three types of tree (all evergreen) predominate…the classic straight and tall Cyprus that you see in every picture of this area, the Pines that remind me of a balloon on top of a tall straight trunk and, of course, the Olive trees.
       

As we approached Montepulciano, we again followed Rick Steves’ advice and parked in P#1 near the TI and walked uphill to the town. There were lots of places open – even in winter – which we’ve discovered is a sign that a town is not just for tourists.  We explored two underground wine cellars, ending each with a tasting of both the Rosso and Vino Nobile of Monepulciano.
     

As we headed uphill, we followed the guide through a narrow alley and up a few treacherous stairs to the workshop of Cesare Mazzetti, a master coppersmith who is carrying on three generations of craftsmanship.  He welcomed us in, even though he was about to lock up as we approached.  He made a souvenir copper medallion that included our initials, the date of our marriage, the initials of each of our children and, of course, his personal seal.
        
We then went back down to the street to his shop where his wife (his ‘minister of finanace’) helped us with a couple of purchases, including a custom designed wine chiller.

We engaged a friend of our Airbnb host who lives in a nearby town to arrange a couple of visits to Montalcino wine estates. We spent most of a day touring and tasting. First, at Palazzo, Elia Loia, who runs this estate with her brother, oriented us to Brunello and explained why it is so special.  After tour her winery and the public rooms in process, we tasted through her portfolio (we had a driver…) and were quite impressed. We especially loved her Brunello Riserva 2010 (a great vintage!), and brought a few bottles home with us.
       
Next we went to Cordella where Aldo, the proprietor, continued our Brunello education and then provided us with a lovely buffet of bruschetta to accompany the wines form his portfolio.

(Note the glass vessel in the bung hole of the barrel. It is called a ‘colmatore’ and serves as a way to top off the barrels AND to see at a glance if they are full…)

Later in the week we visited the town of Montalcino and had a great comparative tasting of 4 Brunellos at the Enoteca Fortezza.  We  had them ship a case back to our wine storage facility in Baltimore…first wine we’ve purchased for cellaring in quite some time!

Something we never knew about Tuscany was that, in addition to being beautiful and providing superb conditions for producing great wine, it is a geologically active area renowned for its geothermal productivity and has been know since ancient times for its hot springs.  We visited Bagno Vignoni where the town square is actually a large hot (125°!) pool…no bathing there, though there is a spa inside the nearby hotel.
       
The springs bubble up into this pool and then flow over the cliff where they create dramatic hot waterfalls and limestone formations.  It felt good to put my hand in this flowing water on a really cold day, except when I took it out and had a wet hand in the wind!
   

We took a short, cold walk through Pienza.  The town was pretty buttoned up but the sun was out and we got some great views from the town walls.
         

Another short, but memorable visit was to a Benedictine Abbey – Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore – near Ascanio. It was a long walk downhill through woods and we wondered what we were going to find at the end. The Abbey is a huge complex, a working monastery where we saw monks in their flowing white robes.  They welcomed us in but provided no guidance save a few small signs so we just wandered through and peeked in every unlocked door.
     
The Abbey is know for its beautiful inlaid choir stalls.  Unfortunately, the church was quite dark.  When I put a euro in a machine, some small spotlights turned on briefly so that we could get some appreciation of the fine woodwork.

We tasted a wonderful olive oil at the local Trequanda restaurant, Il Conte Matto.  When we learned that this oil is made by the brother-in-law of the restaurant owner (good old Italian nepotism…), we asked about arranging a visit.  His farm-Aia Vecchia di Montalceto – is an agritourismo in the season, but now the olive oil is just aging in the tanks waiting for the locals (or tourists like us) to come and gather it.  Ilmari showed us the process even though it’s long past harvest. Then he filled several bottles for us and labeled them right there.
        

Volterra is Rick Steves favorite town in Tuscany.  We found a tour guide, Annie Adair, an American who has lived here for 18 years who provided a  great walking tour with enormous amount of history and lore.  I was so mesmerized by her stories that I really forgot to take many pictures.  This is a town that is less dependent on tourists, so town felt alive even in January.  Here are the old Etruscan gate and a plaque that honors the villagers who blocked this gate from the Germans at the end of WWII so that the village would be saved.
         

Then we drove to San Gimignano.  this town is much more touristy, and when tourists are gone, the town is dead.  It is charming, but Volterra feels more like a real town.

We are heading to Chianti and Florence tomorrow.  Stay tuned…