We spent our time in Tuscany in the town of Montepulciano staying at an agriturismo. An agriturismo is a particular type of Italian holiday home which is usually a former farm house or ‘agriculturual’ home which has been converted for the purpose of tourism and accommodation. In our case, we stayed at Agriturismo San Gallo, one of the estates of the vineyards of the Le Bertille winery, located at the base of the hill town of Montepulciano. Calm, secluded, and relaxing, this Tuscan getaway was particularly appealing to enjoy breakfasts on the terrace and moonlit glasses of wine, looking up towards the beautiful city of Montepulciano and enjoying the tranquility (and occasional rooster crow in the morning) all around us.

After settling in to a home cooked meal on the first night (with a kitchen it was nice to enjoy some food on our own that wasn’t a restaurant or ‘grocery store’ dinner – i.e meat cheese crackers and olives), we spent our first day visiting the Avignonesi winery – one of the larger and better known wineries of the Montepulciano region. The winery is actually comprised of 9 estates – 8 in Montepulciano where Sangiovese grape grows and one in nearby Cortona where the international grapes are grown. The Sangiovese is the dominate grape of the Montepulciano region which is required to comprise at least 70 percent of the two primary wines – the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is aged for 24 months, at least one year of which is in oak barrels, and the Rosso di Montepulciano which is sometimes referred to as the ‘little brother’ as it is only a minimum of 6 months aged. During the tour we learned all about this grape, the methodology behind how the vines are planted, as well as the impacts the soil and the climate have on the various vintages. We also learned about the Vin Santo, a common Italian sweet wine, but this winery produces one that is especially unique in that it is at least 14-15 years aged compared to the typical 3-5 year aged versions. A highlight of the tour was seeing the room where rows and rows of recently picked grapes would sit drying on reeds for the next five months before being put in barrels to be aged for the next 14+years. As it takes many more grapes to make the Vin Santo (~25x) compared to a normal bottle of wine (due to the drying and long period of aging resulting in evaporation) there is an extremely limited production of this wine. Although we are both typically not usually fans of sweet wine, we decided this unique wine was worth a try at the end of the tour and shared a small taste of the 2001 vintage made from the white grapes….which you can normally purchase at the low price of €50 for 100 ml (1/7th the size of a normal bottle of wine). We found the unique taste of an almost caramel and honey blend to be a nice finish to the day.

The tour and tastings at Avignonesi are highly recommended and gave us an informative introduction to the modern organic/biodynamic winemaking techniques and an even greater appreciation of the wines we would taste over the next days.

After the Avignonesi wine tour, we spent four relaxing, tranquil days in Montepulciano, walking up from our agiturismo to the main square (more hills!) exploring the small windy streets of the town, visiting other wineries (such as De’Ricci with its ‘wine cathedral’ cellar with high ceilings and enormous barrels stores in a cellar built into the walls beneath the city and small enotecas like the one with the self service ‘put the card in for each tasting you want and pay at the end’ system, but which came with a beautiful view over the Tuscan hills), and sitting on our terrace watching the sunsets and looking out at the country side. The family of our agiturismo also gave us a tasting of their wines and a tour of the property showcasing the vines, fruit filled trees, olive groves, and finished with a gift of freshly roasted chestnuts. We cooked, we relaxed, we ate, we drank, we walked, we saw, we did it all: beautiful hills, fresh food, abundant agriculture, great wine, and breathtaking views. Tuscany had a mix of it all and we already can’t wait to be back for another visit one day.