Full day in the countryside! We left Pienza and had a short visit in Montalcino. Today they had a festival! From what we gathered, each neighborhood quarter had its own set of food stalls. We greatly enjoyed the dancing, and I especially loved seeing the huge, white oxen. I am not sure I’ve ever been so close to oxen, and if so, they were in a larger space than a narrow, medieval street. Oxen are linked in my mind to the novel Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr, which also has a pair of medieval oxen.
The longest activity of the day was a visit to Podere Le Ripi, a biodynamic winery just outside of Montalcino. Naturally, the setting of the vineyard is beautiful:
Biodynamic is a form of naturally produced wine that seeks to use aspects of the plant’s natural biology to produce and manipulate the flavor of the wine. One example is that they only use the yeast that naturally occurs on the grape. If you’ve ever polished the white cast from a grape, you’ve encountered this yeast. Another, interesting method, is that they grow the grapes at a very high density– perhaps the highest in the world. This places a little stress on the plant so that it produces less fruit, but with more of the concentration of the flavor the vinter is aiming for.
Great thought was given to the cellar. It is built in a spiral going down into the earth. At the end is a dome, like a duomo might have. The propotions of the spiral are according to Fibonacci number sequences, thought to help the wine ferment and age! The investment is a lot to contemplate. This winery produces Brunello, which has to age for at least five years. Although they have some ‘young’ wines, the Brunellos are the main business. It’s was a huge investment before the first vintage could be sold.
As on the pecorino farm,our lunch at the winery featured their homemade or homegrown produce. We also tasted seven wines. Pecorino with their honey was my favorite flavor of the meal, and then ravioli with filled with ricotta and spinach and dressed with sage butter. As for the wines: I have to confess, I don’t favor Brunello because of its tannins. This wine is aged in French oak, and for my palate, tastes like a French or heavy California cabernet. I like the smoother Italian wines. If I had to pick my favorite though, it would be the Bonsai Reserve. Aged six years, it is called Bonsai as a nod to the density of the vineyard planting, and that this wine is aged so slowly. It was the smoothest of those we sampled. One bottle commands the price of 300 Euros. Definitely glad I “don’t” like Brunella– leaves room in the budget for other souvenirs!
Fortunately, we had a bus ride after lunch– time for a nap! We emerged again, into the small hamlet of Volpaia; pop.29 in winter. Almost all (or even perhaps all) of the buildings are privately owned and comprise a few restaurants, some rooms for rent, a “manor house,” and most importantly, a winery. The town was a wedding gift to Giovannella, fifty years ago, from her father. The newlyweds restored the town and began to produce Chianti. Everything was done to preserve the medieval town, including removing the roof of the structure to be used as a wine cellar, so that the vats could be dropped in from above. This was the least disruptive way to accomplish the task. When new casks are needed, they are assembled in situ, in a very tight space, because they are too big to be brought in through the doors.
I was most fascinated by the grape bunches hanging to produce vin santo. Vin santo is a delicious dessert wine. To produce the sweetness, thee grapes dry for months before they are pressed. This winery uses a mix of two. The grapes dessicate to different levels but the juice is more concentrated. Of course the volumn produced is less, so vin santo is more expensive– but then again you drink less of it. A great Italian dessert is to dip cantucci into the wind. Americans call cantucci “biscotti,” but this is the general term for “cookie,” not a specific type. Also, Italian cantucci are much smaller than the jumbo biscotti Americans favor.
No more big events for the day. We bused back to Florence and had gelato for dinner while listening to a violin busker in a piazza.
Posted 10/31/24 about events 10/27/24.
One Response
Ah, we visited Le Ripi in December 2018! It’s absolutely lovely (and I confess I was quite taken by their Brunello, and brought a couple of bottles home to enjoy the following Thanksgiving). I’m so glad you had a chance to visit!