A very Tuscan weekend 29th ottobre 2012

A very Tuscan weekend 29th ottobre 2012

And what a weekend that was. On Saturday a friend had organised for us to ride some Vespas. The weather during the week had been good - cold and foggy in the morning, not so great for cycling in, but warm and dry in the afternoons, reaching around 23C in the sun. However, the clouds were looming with Friday and Saturday predicted heavy rain.



We hired from Gaiole from Tuscany Scooter Rental owned by a friend of a friend. There were a row of beautiful red classic Vespas, after no instruction, we were given the keys and off we set. A couple of laps of the quiet roads, and then to the café for a cheeky and warming capuccino prior to setting off into the rain.
http://www.tuscanyscooterrental.com/

After the coffee we set off. It was raining sporadically, but I dug out the ski gear which kept us really dry. 

Gaiole is most well known for the retro bike race L'Eroica. At the minute it has some strange statues in it's tiny square - not least of which is the giant cock - or the gallo nero which represents the chianti wine region.

We drove around, first going to Radda for another coffee and a shelter from the rains. 8 people on 4 scooters, cause a little scene - especially as the "repeat until funny" bone was being well used with the horns on the scooters.

We were booked into Beretta winery for a tour and tasting. They make, of course Chianti but we learnt a lot.
http://www.beretta.com








DOC (enominazione di origine controllata) Chianti classico is aged two years, in Slovakian oak, DOCG (denominazione di origine controllata e garantita) Chianti classico riserva for longer in french oak, and of course as is now cool they make an IGT (Indicazione geografica tipica ) "Super Tuscan" - this one from merlot. Actually I'm not a fan of chianti, which is a shame living in chianti region, but this stuff was great, and you could really feel the difference from the chianti, to the riserva and into the super tuscan.

 

It's amazing how many bottles of wine you can fit into the udnerseat of a Vespa!

After this we went up to Panzano to eat at Dario's. Dario Cecchini is a world famous butcher and cook. I have been there many times and the food is just tremendous. The meat is super fresh, well cooked and really great fun at a rock bottom price. The weekend it is called McDario's and they go for the hamburger which is truly incredible, and alongside his beer and wine, just amazing.

 After this we went back, and I was vey sad to be off the scooter. I can see myself getting one in the future if we stay here past winter. In the evening I used my Siena AC season ticket for the first time. Siena played Palermo and it was typical tuscan football. Boring, and a 0-0 draw. It has been an interesting year for AC Siena - after doing well last season, staying up after coming up, but finishing mid-table. The manager went to palermo but was sacked already, the young striker is at Juve but doesn't get picked, one player went on a hunger strike to protest a ban due to match fixing and Siena started with minus 6 points, due to match fixing. It could be a long long season!

Sunday it rained again and we did some shopping. In the evening the polish who run the villa in which we lived called us into the building opposite us. We had never been in before and we went into the belly of the building and found the wine making place! No longer used, the grapes are picked and then taken to a local winemaker for pressing and making. However, the polish keep the used grape skins, ferment them and make grappa. They were just doing the first pass of grappa from the fermemted grapes, and suddenly it was 4 hours later and heads were destroyed. Typically tuscan.

A domani!