Chianti

My mom informed me that my blogs were talking way too much about food and drinking, and not enough about my cultural experiences or recommendations. I read a few other blogs from girls in my program and got some ideas from them, so in my next few entries I will try to include more history and experiences as apposed to food and drinking, however this might be hard when talking about a wine tasting!

Right after school on Friday almost everyone in the program hustled to the bus station to venture off to Chianti, Italy: a small region of Tuscany where some of the best wine in the world comes from. It looked has if our bus had driven us right into a post card. The scenery of Tuscany is just as every picture portrays it: perfect. We were met by our tour guide, Gino, who welcomed us to the Castillo dei Verranzano (Verrazano means wild boar, and the castle was named this because of the wild pigs that roam the land that they use for their world renown salami and prosciutto). Giovanni, the man who’s castle this was, was the man who discovered the New York Bay Area on April 17, 1524, so they were much warmer to American’s than most of the Italians we’ve run across.

We toured the massive underground stone cellars where they produce the famous Chianti Classico. In this wine they use two grapes that have been growing for thousands of years. Sangiovese is the grape of the Chianti region. The wine is named Chianti to verify that the grapes came from this region and that the wine wasn’t mixed with anything more than 10% of another grape. The wine ferments in barrels made of 15,000 year old French oak, and there are walls and walls of barrels that are all in use.  

Along with the wine, the vineyard is known for their Balsamic vinegar. The production process is so complicated it takes from 12-40 years to make. The vinegar is extremely expensive and pure so it is used very sparingly.

After touring the castle grounds we headed into a room with a wall of glass windows that looked out onto the rolling hillsides of Toscana (Tuscany) for our wine tasting. We were taught how to properly hold a wine glass (by the stem so our body temperature doesn’t transfer through the thin glass), how to swirl the wine, and how to smell it. Right when we got there Gino said, “Where there is food there is wine. Where there is wine there is food” to explain that they use of all the flavors in the region when making the wine.  Cherries, rosemary, flowers, and oak are just some of the flavors you can smell/taste. He explained that in life if you take the time to smell the roses, and savor all of your sensory intakes, you will be able to savor the wine fully and pick out each individual flavor. He said, “The wine is never what you find in the glass, it’s everything that surrounds it. It is our history, our heritage, our ancestry. This is our wine, and our grapes, and our territory”. The whole thing was very poetic.

After the long demonstration, we finally got to taste the wine. He taught us how to keep it in our pallet, and intake small breaths of air to fully embody the wine. The first wine was bitter but delicious. After a few sips, they presented us with slices of bread that had extra, extra virgin olive oil (only a month old!) on it. After tasting the bread we had the wine again, and it tasted totally different! This was to show us that wine and food were created to compliment each other, remember: where there is food there is wine, where there is wine there is food! We got to taste three different wines that were paired with prosciutto, salami, and goat chesse, and finally a dessert wine paired with biscotti.

Leaving the castle was incredibly hard for me. Chianti was hands down the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to, and this experience was hard to put into words. It was absolutely magical. So far, this is my favorite thing I’ve experienced on my trip. I feel like I was able to live a dream for a day. 

Although all of my pictures are on facebook, I thought it would be fun to include some here as well!