If a picture takes a thousand words, I have displaced 1,000,000 words in 3 days

My father used to say that to live life well, treat your friends like family, and your family like friends. Over the past 3 days we have added Andrea Manganelli to our list of friends and family. He is the driver, tour guide, local expert, who introduced us to Tuscany and its many taste, sounds, hills, valleys, battles, horse races, and people. We leave knowing that we experienced Tuscany, not just toured it, and that is all due to Andrea. 

We are staying in the heart of Chianti at the Castello di Spaltenna. Here, Andrea picked us up every morning to begin our emersion into the Tuscan life. I have taken a lot of pictures, so I will share rather than use a lot of words. The surprise was that the town of Gaiole, we are in the mountains and surrounded by forests as well as vineyards. I had expected it to look like rolling hills all green and interspersed with crops. The air has that clean and fresh feel to it. 

Oh yea..... Not driving was one of the smartest decisions I made. . Not because it is difficult to drive in Italy, but because I would have seen so much less. Paola, my Road To Italy agent had suggested it, and I at first dismissed it as I truly like to drive. But having an experienced guide and a driver who knew the local towns and trattorias, different roads to cater to my constant shutter clicking, and adopting our passage so that we saw far more than the towns on our agenda, was not only a great choice, but a relaxing one. I didn't worry about traffic, or fuel, or potty breaks, or street signs, or getting lost, or how to exit a roundabout, or cyclists, or anything. I simply enjoyed the view of Tuscany roll past my open window.

Andrea took us to the Barone Ricasoli winery and castle in Brolio where we learned about the creation of Chianti Classico and the meaning of the DOC, DOCG, and IGT labels. This was a great tour and tasting and we were led by a gentleman who reminded me of the british comedian Rowan Atkinson. He had similar mannerisms and speech. The way addressed and moved the tour through constantly had me chuckling inside. 

Turns out the old Barone was quite the scientist and experimented with different grapes and processes until he produced what is now known as Chianti Classico. His formula complete with the number of days to age in fermentation 1 and 2, as well as when to bottle, is strictly adhered to today. 

The wine cake waiting to be distilled into Grappa

From the winery we headed to Gaiole where our hotel is, but on the way made a couple of additional stops.

We went to Radda for a quick snack and stroll.

Yes I consider Ice Cream with Espresso a snack.

Then to Greve where he showed us the different kinds of meet and cheeses of the area.

Then on a bit further to our hotel in Gaiole.

Well .... Thats it for day 1,,,,

Framework.......

Day 2

The day started with a trip to Siena where the Duomo floor is uncovered for just 6 weeks a year in the fall. Followed by with a stop in Monteriggion which was a old town on the top of the hill completely contained with in the old roman walls. We had lunch here. San Gimignano where we had gelatto.

Day3

Wine tasting of Montepulciano Gattavecchi winery for Nobile wines.  

Short stop in Pienza with great views of the .....  Valley

Then on to Montalcino the bruenello wine tasting.