Day 21-Chianti Wine Tour-Best Night Ever

Wow...what a night! We started the day with a stroll through the neighborhood and our last Tuscan lunch at a restaurant that a local Italian called the "best restaurant in Florence" (caprese salad, spicy tomato spaghetti, and fried chicken with zucchini flowers...YUM!). Then we made our way to the other side of the river to meet our small group for the Tuscany twilight wine tour. The tour started with a wine tasting in the Florence shop with our guide Paulo, learning all about the different Italian wine designations, the different wine regions of Tuscany, and the proper ways to look at, smell, and taste wine. Then, we set off on a 45 minute ride through the Tuscan countryside to a beautiful winery. We met with the sommelier, Anthony, who was incredibly passionate about wine and everything about it - the soil, the hillside, the valleys, the fungi, the fruit trees, the grapes, the barrels, the acidity, the oxygen, and everything else that goes into a single glass of wine. We did a wine tasting in the basement of the winery, tasting several different levels of aged wine. Then we moved upstairs to a 3+ hour four course meal with bottle after bottle of wine. The first course was cheese with honey, onion quiche, salami, prosciutto, bruschetta, and great with white wine and rose wine. The second course was the best bolognese pasta we've had yet with several different red wine pairings. The third course was a shredded beef with tomato sauce and green beens, with more red wine. And the fourth course was a delicious brownie with powdered sugar. Throughout the entire meal, both Paulo and Anthony and Anthony's wife shared stories and facts about everything from the wine to the food to the history behind the different Tuscan dishes. We tasted wine that had been aged since the 1990s that had the darkest, brown color I have ever seen in wine. I learned more about the flavors of wine and process of wine making than I thought possible in a 6 hour tour (that lasted almost 8 hours). We also got to have a great time with three other couples throughout the journey - a couple from Chicago on their 40th anniversary trip, a couple from San Diego on their honeymoon, and a couple from Boston who had also just recently been married. That whole tour was amazing...probably the highlight of the trip so far. Goodnight! Tomorrow we go south.Read more