Winery Tour & Tasting in Montalcino

"Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world

and one of the most natural things in the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection,

and it offers a greater range for appreciation and enjoyment than,

possibly, any other purely sensory thing."

Ernest Hemingway 

Vineyards of Podere Le Ripi Winery, Montalcino

All 13 of our Week 1 friends are heading to the vineyards near Montalcino this morning to tour the Podere Le Ripi winery.   Parts of the hilly route are challenging & our GPS's don't seem to know EXACTLY where Le Ripi is located so there's a good bit of back-tracking, U-turning and minor confusion.  However, we all made it there safely and just a few minutes past our 10 am scheduled time!

The Pantheon wine cellar,
Podere Le Ripi

A delightful young woman, Martina, gave us a very interesting tour of the winery, including the special bonsai vineyard, the built-by-hand brick and mortar wine cellar called "The Pantheon," very impressive with its wooden casks, cement vaults and countless bottles of wine created from 100% Sangiovese grapes.  The inner sanctum of the cellar even had classical music softly playing, part of a study by the University of Florence to see if the music would hasten the aging process of the Le Ripi wines.  Martina then invited us to gather around a long table overlooking the vineyards, with 4 glasses set at each place - 3 for different varieties of wine, the 4th for water.  We sipped and tasted and compared the wines as Martina explained the wine making process and answered our many

questions.  She also told us the story of Francesco
Illy, heir to the Illy coffee empire, who purchased this land in Montalcino from a shepherd just 20 years ago.  

At the conclusion of the wine tour, we visited the close-by 12th century Abbey of Sant'Antimo, sitting alone
amongst the grape vines and olive trees of a beautiful, peaceful valley.  The French monks whose Gregorian chanting we heard when we visited in 2015 are no longer there, but Mass is still said on the weekends and the sound of soft (recorded) chanting filled the air.  We wandered through this amazing church, trying to understand how something so massive and so imposing could have been
constructed so many centuries ago.

Delicious lunch at Drogheria Franci, Montalcino

Next up ... you guessed it ... lunch!  Martina at Le Ripi had recommended Drogheria Franci, adjacent to the Montalcino fortress at the top of the town. We had a delightful & feisty Argentinian waitress, Laura, who spoke perfect Spanish to Jesus & Gladys ... and perfect English to the rest of us.  After a delicious lunch, we explored the town of Montalcino which seemed to be in the midst of planning a huge bicycle race ... many
colorful cycling jerseys were hanging high above the main piazza!

Back at Chiarentana, we stopped by the one-bedroom apartment, Bersagliere, to visit Maryanne & Bob Randolph who will be heading to Florence tomorrow.  Lovely apartment with beautiful views and huge rooms,   We invited the Randolphs to join us for wine and hors d'oeuvres at the Sassaia pool.  Out Happy Hour there was very fun, until the forceful and very WET sprinklers surprised us and forced us to scurry inside and regroup in the Summer Living Room downstairs!