Dear Wine Officianardos, (and people who like to bang on)
Today was our last day in beautiful Toscana. We decided to drive to two of the major townships that produce some notable wines. Montalcino makes the famous Brunello di Moltacino and Montepulciano makes the very good Nobile di Montipulciano. Each of these towns or villages is up around 2000 meters above sea level, which sadly, we didn't know til we got there and it was blowing a gale and the wind was icy. For those of the football bent, think Waverly Park circa late 1970's early 1980's. The wind cut right through us so naturally we took shelter in the largest Enoteca we could find and tasted all these lovely lovely reds- purely for medicinal purposes of course. These magic elixirs prevented, two potential cases of serious hyperthermia!!!!! - or is that hypothermia- I never know the difference. By the end of the tasting it didn't matter anyway.........
At Montalcino, we tasted a significant number of the Brunello and sincerely hope that we can find this at home but we doubt It given the prohibitive shipping costs and the small production numbers. We needed some lunch to absorb the wine so we headed to a nearby trattoria where Siobhan indulged her love of all things Mushroom(yuk) with a lasagna like dish but made with porcini mushrooms, a cheesy béchamel sauce with black truffle (double yuk). I opted for this amazing pizza of rocket, gorgonzola and proscuitto! Delicious.
From there we headed to the car and drove onto Montalpuciano, a good hour away, this was also a hill top town but also a walled village so had a lovely charm. We toured an ancient cellar and tried some of the local Nobile but it didn't grab us in the same way. From here we headed home for our last night at the Fattoria.
A new bunch of guests have arrived. One of the ladies reminds me of Lady Penelope from the puppet show"The Thunderbirds". So taut and stretched is the skin across her face that it has a permanent high gloss sheen and her cheekbones come through the door five minutes before the rest of her face does!!! She was organizing to do a "workout" with her sister the next morning and was very "up". Fortunately we were leaving the next morning otherwise one of us may have pushed her into a ravine!!! Don't know about you but I don't really equate a sojourn in Italy with boot camp training sessions, dietary restrictions and abstaining from alcohol- but call me self indulgent!!
We have enjoyed our stay in Tuscany very much. Staying at a agriturismo is a new experience for both of us and much depends on your ability to blend privacy with interaction with other guests. We met some brilliant people from Bath, Czeck Republic, New Jersey and Cairo who were so interesting that it added a whole new dimension to our trip.
We head to Umbria the next day and Dad still hasn't been operated on. They are waiting for the swelling and blisters to go down but he tells me he is comfortable. Margaret is bravely driving the streets of Thornbury to Heidelberg and both are making the most of a difficult situation. Dad's surgery is now scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday ( October 19 or 20). At this rate we may get home before he does!!!
Thunderbirds Are Go!!!!
Kelly & Siobhan
Sent from my iPad
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