Vineyard Fields in Tuscany
On the way home from our trip, Alan and I did a little math and figured out we drank at least a case of wine during our trip. We had a bottle with dinner each night, several wine tastings and a few lunches included a glass of Chianti. I did realize fairly soon into the vacation that if I wanted to enjoy the rest of the day and evening, opting for water was a better choice for me at lunchtime.
Wine tasting at Banfi
Most all of the wine we drank was absolutely delicious. Italians take their wine very seriously. They are happy to help you select a bottle and often, the wine list in a restaurant is literally a book. We learned a lot about the wine making processing visiting the Banfi winery, Casa Emma in Chianti and a wonderful winery called il Paradiso di Frassina in Montalcino. We brought wine home to enjoy from all three places. Though I scored a bottle of Casa Emma’s Vin Santo, rather than wine. Vin Santo and biscotti is my new favorite dessert. Dip the biscotti into the Vin Santo and enjoy!
Vin Santo & Biscotti from Casa Emma
Our wine tasting at Banfi ended with a nap. We must have tasted 20 wines. By the end of the tasting I realized I’m such a cheap date. I enjoyed their inexpensive Chianti better than the 2004 Brunello. We did find a wonderful Brunello at il Paradiso di Frassina to ship home, along with a wine he called 12 Grapes. Delicious.
Barrels of Brunello in the cellar at Castello Banfi
Wine barrels in the cellar at il Paradiso di Frassina
I made sure to photograph the bottles we loved most, so I could share them. We tasted a lot of great wines! I know the photos of the labels will serve as a helpful reference to search for the same wines here in the States. I could write a blurb for each one below to tell you it was smooth, easy to drink, etc. Just trust me, these were all delicious.
As I pulled together these wine photos, I realized that all the bottles below are Chianti Classico. I know that some of them are available here in the States. Though the first bottle was one of my favorites and is only available in Italy. We actually found the winery in Radda, an area in Chianti, but they were closed the day we were there. I would have shipped home a case. Sigh.
The bottle below was the only white wine we drank on the trip. We had it at Pierluigi in Rome, and it was a perfect match with our seafood dinner.
Here are a couple of dessert wines we enjoyed. I’m looking forward to opening the bottle of Vin Santo we brought home from Casa Emma. I just need to find some reasonably good biscotti.
4plates2table 