Visiting Chianti

We took a day trip to San Gimignano, a well preserved mostly brick medieval town. It was declared a UN World Heritage Site, but I have no idea what that denotes. The town is predominately a tourist destination although the prices for goods there were much cheaper than what I saw in Siena, for nearly all goods I compared, for as much as 10 euro less.

I purchased a set of olive wood handled cocktail spears and a holder and a t-shirt for my hubbie there. At another store in San Gimignano, I purchased a leather bag less than Siena. I got my obligatory cinghiale sausage, which I have yet to try. I need a knife.

From there we went to a Chianti Classico winery. The host had won numerous awards around the world for his wines. He also spoke good English and was quite charming. His wines were delicious too! as was his olive oil. First we tried a white. I don't recall the name. The rest were Chianti Classico reds. Initially a 2008 and then a 2007, followed by a reserve 2007. Each taste improved with succession.

I tried some grappa there and because of the fact that I could actually stomach it I decided to purchase a bottle for Chef Luna at home. I know he likes grappa (and Calvados). If I hadn't already purchased olive oil I would have purchased some there. It was quite delicious too.

Next we visited another Chianti Classico winery in a small town with a population of only 52. We toured the facilities there while a woman spoke English with added emphasis at the end, like "reservo" instead of reserve and "the wine-a" instead of the wine, etc. This was a more commercial approach than the previous tour. We ended our tour again with some tastings. First with a white, which was tasty and then the reds. First of the reds was a 75% Sangiovese grape. This could not be labeled Chianti Classico because the Chianti wines must be a minimum of 80% Sangiovese. The last red was a 100% Sangiovese. I could tell the difference. These wines however were not as good as our fist stop and they didn't appear to have earned the accolades the first winery had. Possibly our inclusion with over thirty 70+ aged tourists tainted my opinion. It was not as inviting and intimate as our first stop and more like cattle-herding.