We started off today with another yummy breakfast! After we headed to the Piazza Indipendenza to meet our bus. We toured Pienza, a winery, and Montepuciano. The bus was dinky, hot, and smelled like dust so the ride made me feel a bit queezy. We stopped at a Autoplaza (truckstop) for bathrooms about half way there. At the stop they had these cool drinks that are frozen coffee drinks. We all tried different flavors for fun.
It took a total of 2 hours and 25 minutes to get to our first stop Pienza. There we toured a church from 1462 and got pictures of the 1st beautiful view of the day. Finally went to visit a famous Pecorino cheese maker. We tasted a 3 month old (red), 6 month covered and aged in ash and olive oil (black and my opinion the best), and a 9 month covered and aged in straw. It is a goat cheese and the black 6 month old one seemed to have the most flavor to me.
After Pienza, we boarded the bus and headed to the Organic/Green Winery in the hills of Montepuciano. The drive up was terrifying it was worth every second. The view was beyond stunning and the winery itself was a wort of art and love.
The winery was fascinating. All wines served 2012 or old are Organic, their old wines are not yet because they are only serving 2010 currently but in 2016 when the 2012 red wines are ready they will be organic. The young wines are fermented in steel tanks to keep oxygen out. This allows the winery to not use sulfates in these wines. These wines only ferment for a maximum of 4 months. The older wines start in the metal tanks then move to the large wood barrels(4,700ml). I never heard where the wood for the barrels came from (guide talked quickly and we are a large group so I didn’t hear). The age in these barrels up to 12 months, then they are transferred to the smaller barrels if they are to be aged further. The smaller (300L) barrels in the deep basement. These barrels are all placed in rolling cylinders for easy turning.
The building itself is amazing. It is as sustainable as possible. They have a vertical garden growing around the walls those keep the building cool, they have tubes with mirrors (those odd glass bulbs you see above found behind me) that prove all the cellar light so no artificial light is needed. They use their own filters to catch and make rain water safe on their grounds. Also the burn all the dead vine branches for heating in the winter months. All the furniture is made from recycled materials like old wine barrels, etc. It really was an amazing tour!
After the tour we sat for lunch and our tasting. First came the Obvius Rosé young wine (2012). This wine was not filtered and has no sulfates, it was 90% cenogiovasi grapes , and 10% mix of grapes (six total). They said it paired well with: appetizer, fish, salad, and summer and was meant to be served cool. Shortly after We were served the local special pasta called Pichi (long spiraled noodle) with a light tomato sauce. It looks so simple but the pasta was perfect and the sauce had a great light flavor. The ROSÉ young wine ended up being my favorite of the four we tried
The second wine was a young Red Obvius (2012). It also only fermented in a steel container with no sulfates. It was a 100% cengiovasi grapes and spent 4 month in the steel container and 6 month in bottle. This was served half way through testing our pasta to taste the paring difference. It was slightly stronger and less sweet than the rosé but it lacked multiple flavors.
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The third wine was my least favorite. It was a Nobile (2010). It was aged 18 month in an oak barrel (large and small) and then 6 month in the bottle. This also was 100% centrovesi grapes. The wine was very bitter to me. I tasted few flavors in it since it's so bitter. It was at this point the Aperitivo was served. There was bruschetta with chicken patté, pesto, sundried tomato cream cheese spread, or chopped fresh tomatoes. Them hen there were various meats, cheeses, and vegetables. The day was gorgeous and as I enjoyed my food and wine with friends I could see the beautiful city of Montepuciano on the next hill side. Talk about an amazing moment in time.
After about 30 minutes of enjoying the company, food, and views the fourth and final wine was poured. This was a close second of my favorites. The Red Salco (2007) was 100% centrovesi grapes still and was fermented for 4 months in steel, 18 months OMG the large and small barrels and then 6 month bottle. It have so many flavors it was hard to taste. It over whelmed a bit but was fun to try! A plum spread soft shortbread cookie was served as a paired dessert. This cookie was amazing, not very sweet but with a good flavor.
This winery spoiled us and I honestly had a truely memorable time. It wouldn’t have even needed to taste a sip to truly love this place. It’s totally unique, in the most beautiful setting, we had the best weather, and we got to relax and meet more and more people!
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After we finished we headed to Montepuciano. We didn’t spend much time here. We hiked up a steep him to see the square, apparently the italy fountain scene from the second twilight movie was filmed here. Though there is not fountain, they brought it in for the film. It was a cute town! I wish we could’ve had more time but it was fun to see.
We drove back to Florence (2 hours) and then Taylor and I had a bit of time to go back to the hotel room and drop off a few things before heading to our FUA Student Activity Cooking Class. These are hosted by FUA every Thursday for all students enrolled. We signed up on Monday so we could do it. The theme was “dolce” or Desserts. I helped make the almond biscotti cookies while Taylor helped make the “grandmothers cake”. This “cake” was a bottom layer of pasty dough, filled with a vanilla, with a hint of orange juice (fresh) and zest, custard, then covered in another layer of pastry dough. It was fun and complex to make but very delicious. We got to interact with other students and learn from a professional culinary teacher. It was a great end to our already spectacular day.
We had an amazing day! We really saw the unique beauty of Italy. We all joked throughout the day that we were just going to “get lost” and have the bus leave us there. I loved it all so much and I am SOOO not going home after all that!
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