January 3rd: Montepulciano & Pienza
Montepulciano
The end of our trip was fast approaching, and we needed to stock up on more wine ASAP. So we made the drive over to Montepulciano to visit some cellars, taste some wines, and make some purchases. Montepulciano is yet another medieval walled hilltown, and you know what?, I never tire of them because they are just so dang charming and picturesque. Even in crap weather. We spent the cloudy/rainy day meandering the winding streets and escaped the elements by visiting three wine cellars....
City Walk
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| La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta |
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| Palazzo Communale |
Our first wine stop was Fattoria della Talosa. We toured their labyrinth of a cellar, which was quite cool, but for some reason we didn't taste any wine when we remerged into the store. I guess we just weren't feeling the vibe; it was kinda crowded, the sales girls seemed uninterested....it was no Fattoria di Corsignano. Nonetheless, we were still impressed with their wine caves.
Our second stop on the wine tour was Cantina de' Ricci. Again the cellar was impressive, and their website even claims it has been dubbed "The most beautiful wine cellar in the world" by the Italian wine authority. I found it a bit spooky with its candelabra chandeliers dimly illuminating the ancient vaulted ceilings and stone walls. The tasting room, however, was much more inviting than Fattoria della Talosa's which led us to make our first purchases of the day.
Contucci Cantine
Our final stop, Contucci Cantine, was by far our favorite. The Contucci family have been winemakers since the Renaissance, and are one of the founding fathers of Vino Nobile - a red wine with DOCG status (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita/controlled designation of origin guaranteed).
The wine was so delicious that we just had to buy some, bringing our Tuscan wine purchase grand total to 21 bottles (we had to buy another suitcase just to get them all home).
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| The tasting table |
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| Kevin with our Montepulciano purchases |
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| Me keepin' it classy as always |
Pienza
We complemented our Montepulciano wine day with an evening of cheeses in the city of Pienza. Pienza was the smallest of the Tuscan towns we visited (excluding Brenna of course), and like the rest of Tuscany it oozed charm and quaintness. Pienza is famous for its Pecorino cheeses made from sheep's milk. Just as the streets of Montepulciano were lined with wine cellars, the streets of Pienza were lined with cheese shops. After a short stroll around town we settled upon a little hole in the wall bistro called La Buca di Enea to savor a plate of Pienza's finest cheeses.
Views from City Wall
City Walk
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| WWJD? Buy cheese. |
Cheese Tasting
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