Chianti Wine Tour

We had decided to save our wine tour day until our last day in the villa. The Chianti region provides rich panoramas of miles of vineyards and olive groves, ancient walled villages and some of the most challenging roads you will ever drive.

Chianti wines are a minimum 80% Sangiovese and are sold under the Gallo Nero (Black Rooster) trademark. 

Our start of the tour was in the town of Grieve in Chianti. We parked in the town square and immediately noticed this fantastic butcher shop. 

It is owed by the Falorni family and dates back to 1729. Too bad we couldn't bring home some samples.

The same family also has opened a wine museum recently. 

We took the tour and it was interesting to see the tools and techniques from the older era when the outcome was left a bit more to chance than today.

From here we ventured to Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti. A wine tasting Center with more than 150 wines available for tasting.

Very modern operation with several dispensing stations where you could choose what you wanted to sample from automatic dispensing machines. You purchase a "wine card" and insert it in the station and voila, push a button and get your sample. Price varied from 0.60€ to 4.50€ per oz.

Given the roads we were driving, we limited our purchase to 10€. 

We said goodbye to the black rooster. 

Returning to the Panda, we were on to our next destination.

It was a short drive to Panzano in Chianti. After a brief walk through the old town, it was time for a late lunch at a beautiful restaurant adjacent to the church.

Replenished with food, we headed to the Castle of Volpia, an ancient walled town. The road was about 25 km of one lane, gravel and rock, 10 - 15% grade up and down with switchbacks. Luckily we only saw two other vehicles and never got higher than 2nd gear.

Cool town and great streetscapes.

The road to Radda in Chianti was much better and we parked and started walking the medieval streets.

We stumbled into a photography exhibit in the basement of the town hall. Curious, we wandered in and met the Austrian photographer who seemed more interested in us sampling some wine with her than selling her vineyard photos. Had a couple of samples then we had to beg off and get on the road as the weather was deteriorating to late day thunderstorms. 

We were back at the villa just as the lightening started. After an hour or so the storm passed and we were able to venture out for supper. We visited the Trattoria dell'Ignorante for another round of authentic Tuscan food. We are going to have to ask for the seat belt extenders when we board the plane to go home on Monday.