Day 7 - Tuscany - Montepulciano

We only had one winery planned today. We had loose plans to stop I at a wine cellar after the first one, but only one stop planned, Avignonesi. Typically, I would call one stop a waste of a good long drive, but this one stop was special.

We had a couple of traffic stops due to construction and we nearly missed it entirely due to a two trailer semi trying to turn down a one lane gravel driveway. It was a nail biter. The car behind me lost faith and turned around, but we all witnessed a vehicular miracle when he made it down the narrow lane.

The winery was on the other side of the truck. When we caught up with our tour guide, she asked if we found the place okay. I replied that it was "just a couple of trucks [that slowed us down]," but before I could say more, she said, "Ah, yes, I am Italian. I know." Apparently vehicular miracles are more common than we thought.

The winery property was from the 1800s. It was speckled with charming out buildings and included a large organic farm we first saw the round vineyard, where they told us that the vines toward the center of the ring that are closer together make better fruit. We all chuckled internally because that is what we were told at Podere di Ripi yesterday.

Then, she took us to the most unique part of the tour. Here in Tuscany, there is a dessert wine called Vin Santo. People order it and dip cookies in it. Avignonesi makes an entirely different Vin Santo. They pick white and red grapes from early September, then dry them until January. In January, they press the raisins they have left for all of the juice they have. Then, they are that juice to barrels with mother yeast and seal them for at least 10 years. Let's just pause here for a moment- is there anything else you can think of where to have to wait a decade to have an idea if it turned out okay? That is some serious European patience. 

So after the decade plus in the sealed barrels, some of the barrels were from 2006, so they're almost to two decades, the barrels and all of the wine is dumped into stainless tanks, where it sits for another year. Basically, the stuff that is stored lower in the open air cellar has more acidity and the stuff that is stored higher has more sweetness and it all melds together in stainless steel tanks. Then it s bottled, where it sits for one year more. Yes, you counted that correctly, a minimum of 12 years from vine to consumer. As you might imagine, these tiny little bottles put a much larger dent in your wallet.

We saw the cellar covered with natural mold to maintain the right humidity levels, a locked wine cellar full of magnums for decades so they can test how well a wine is aging, and a mysterious tiny door under the stairs that our tour guide did not know its purpose, then headed to lunch.

We walked into the restaurant at 1:05 and left the restaurant at 3:30. It was an epic meal, made more epic by our sommelier, Tassos. Tassos is a Greek who made Tuscany his home. He had a big warm heart and was ready with a story every time he visited or table. He shared with us his for rules for visiting Tuscany, "gelato, gelato, coffee (or coffee, coffee, gelato depending on your preference) and hire a driver." He was a very generous pourer, and being the driver, the Tuscany rules were really directed at me. I kept shooing him away with his second and third round pours. We were all enamored with Tassos and invited him to visit us in San Francisco the next time he comes to the U.S.

We had a four course lunch with 8 different wines to try. One was a Chardonnay that tasted like a Sauvignon Blanc. Tassos explained that in the summer, it can around 107, and people don't want to drink red wine in that kind of heat, so they created this crisp white wine to ease them into it. There were two 100% Sangiovese offerings, two Sangiovese blends, and one 100% Merlot. Then came time for the Vin Santo. 

The white Vin Santo looked a carmel color when it came out. It was thick like syrup and sweet, but not cloyingly so. It tasted a little like port, and a little like alcoholic raisin juice. (That sounds undesirable, I know, but it really wasn't bad.) The red Vin Santo is called Occhio di Pernice (Eye of the Partridge) due to the color matching the color of the eye of the partridge. I found this funny because the color was literally identical between the red and the white. It poured with the same viscosity, but the flavor was entirely different. It tasted of toffee and coffee and maybe a little dark chocolate. It too was sweet, but not overly so. I kept imagining it poured over vanilla ice cream. 

The whole meal was a feast for the senses. We abandoned our second stop to head home. Bill had made dough and we had pizza plans. A word about Bill's dough. It was so beautiful, I didn't want to disturb the perfect little yeast nuggets. But Bill's expert hand gently coaxed them to room temperature, spread them thin, and we went to town making pizza. Seriously, some of the best pizza I ever had and in my home with happy memories of the day. Crispy crust, beautiful little air pockets -- dough perfection!

What types of toppings, you ask? I am so glad you asked... We had a margarita- San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand, baked with something called "pizza mozzarella" (wetter than the dry mozzarella we get in the plastic packaging at home, but less wet than a fresh mozzarella). When it was melted and perfectly picturesque, we tore some basil on top and hit it with some olive oil. Round one was amazing. Next up, prosciutto and arugula. We went sauceless, just olive oil and cheese, when melted, Bill topped it with prosciutto and put it in the oven for one minute, then pulled it out and topped the whole thing with arugula and parmesan. We took a breather, nibbled at salad, chatted, sipped wine, then went in for round three. I had made sauce that Antonieta had taught us to make (garlic and red pepper with tomato) and we put that on the dough with some sautéed local sausage and red onions, and, of course, pizza mozzarella. Bill's stroke of genius was a little thinly sliced raw red onion on top so they would get a little crispy when it baked. We hit it with a little dried oregano and the finished pizza with some parm. When it came out, it was the bite heard round the world. It also pushed us to a level of full that was uncomfortable, but it was definitely worth a little discomfort. 

We went to sleep satiated and blissful.