A Day for Wine

On Thursday, October 1, 2009, my youngest and I were the first in the family who were ready to head out for the day, so we took a moment to wander the Sangiovese vines that ran in neat rows from the back of our villa house, which used to be a shed that was used to press the olives from the groves near the outdoor swimming pool.

I had been out to photograph the vines, on my own, a couple of days earlier, but this time our youngest daughter wanted to come along.

I have a confession to make: whenever I visit wineries and wander around the vines, I always pick a grape from one of the vines and eat it. It's the only time that I really eat grapes.

When my daughter saw me pick a fully grown Sangiovese grape and pop it in my mouth, she asked if she could do it, too. She knew that the owner of this villa supplied grapes to a nearby winery, Casa Emma, and knew that these berries would soon be harvested for the 2009 vintage. I nodded my head and she plucked a single grape and sucked the juices from it.

"Am I going to get drunk now?" she asked.

So adorable.

Our villa was just on the border with the Chianti wine region and the closest town, in this direction, was Castellina in Chianti. We took the short drive through the winding roads over countless hills, arriving mid-morning.

We chose this destination for a couple of reasons: it is another town that dates back to the Etruscans, and there was a museum dedicated to this civilization in the town's 14th-century castle, La Rocca; just to the north of the town was Tumulo di Montecalvario, a burial mound that dates back to the seventh century BC, under which are four ancient tombs; and of course, the town itself is beautiful.

We visited several enotecas, pouring over the lovely wines, trying to discover any good finds. In 2004, in Montalcino, I discovered a great Brunello from 1997 that I eventually found out was from a fabulous house that had produced this wine in the best vintage since before World War II.

DW and I wouldn't drink that bottle until October, 2011, with great friends and fellow oenophiles.

We purchased a couple of bottles of wine—nothing that screamed "hang on to me!"—and decided to store them in the CR-V, rather than carry them all over town. And because we were parked near the ancient tombs, we decided to check them out before lunch.

Here's a tip: there isn't much to this site. A couple of information plaques and empty tombs. Unless you're really into this sort of history, stay in the town. But at least the kids were in a good mood—it must have been because we promised pizza for lunch.

Back on the road, we drove north, to Greve in Chianti, and parked in the triangular Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, in the heart of the old town. Our destination was Le Cantine, an enoteca that had more than 100 different wines to taste and purchase. They also had dozens of olive oils, also for tasting.

We purchased 10 tastings, for which we received a chip card. You could go to various dispensers, tap your card, and receive a measured pour from the dispenser. DW and I made notes and then picked our wines.

The olive-oil dispensers were free, and there were small pieces of bread throughout the enoteca. The kids, loaded up, but we didn't buy. Our villa owner, Antonio, left us a complimentary bottle of oil from his groves, which we had been using through the week. We fully intended to buy a bottle from him before we left.

We jumped in the CR-V and wound our way toward San Donato, and at one point I pulled over at a vista to photograph the countryside. As I snapped away, I spotted a Ferrari that I had drooled over in Greve. The passenger had the same idea as me, but rather than get out of the car, she stood up, snapped a few shots, sat down, and they drove away. The driver hadn't even pulled completely off the road.

Sure, I would have done that if I was driving a convertable.

Not far from San Donato was the winery, Casa Emma. Because Antonio grew grapes for this house, we felt we should stop and try their wines.

Both DW and I agreed that the wines that we liked the best were also available directly from our villa host, at a lower price, so we decided to buy the bottles from him. We also agreed that while we enjoyed the wine, it wasn't worth taking back to Canada, so we were going to buy the wines from Antonio and consume them at the villa.

And speaking of the villa, it was time to head back. Because this was our first overcast day in Italy and it had rained off and on, we were unable to swim in the pool. Rain fell during dinner, so it was the first time since we had arrived at the villa that we didn't eat outside, watching the sun set over San Gimignano.

We spent the evening drinking wine and playing games, and we turned in early.

(As a sidenote, in 2012, we found bottles of a 2009 Chianti Classico, by Casa Emma, in our local LCBO. As it was the vintage from our stay in Tuscany, we bought a case of it. I explained to my youngest daughter that, in all likelihood, the grapes had come from the vines behind our villa unit—the very ones she had tasted on that October 2009 morning.)

It was our last evening in Tuscany. The next day, we'd make the trek back to Rome, and return the CR-V back to our friend. Friday, October 2 was one on the road, with brief stops only for food, gas, and the required bathroom breaks. If we were lucky, we could combine all three.

Tomorrow, instead of chronicling our journey to Rome, I'll skip ahead, to October 3, where we caught a flight for the next part of our Italian vacation.

Stay tuned...