This first stop of the day was Col d'Orcia. The tasting room here was a bit tricky to find. I think I ended up parking in the employee parking lot. Then we seemed to have walked into an industrial bottling/packing area. Finally, we walked down a super long driveway and found the office and a startled looking young lady who ended up touring us. The wines here were fine, but nothing to write home about.
From Col d'Orcia we took a short detour to check out an artichoke garden nearby. Artichokes are actually a member of the thistle family, which becomes extremely evident when you see them growing. Kris hopped out of the car to grab this pic.
 |
| Kris' Tuscan artichoke pic |
Next on the list for the day was Siro Pacenti. Now, Kris had used the Visa Sapphire concierge to book appointments at these wineries. Unfortunately, Siro Pacenti apparently didn't get that memo as they had no record of talking to Visa Signature concierge or of us having an appointment. They were more than gracious, however, and took us on a brief tour and full tasting. We even got to meet the winemaker! This is a very modern facility and the winemaker has a bit of a rebel approach to brunello that has really paid off. We loved these wines and are bringing a couple home with us.
From here we had a bit of time to kill and we needed lunch so we headed to Montalcino (being careful to not actually drive thru the city center this time!) We ended up parking in a camper parking area a bit outside of town on an extremely steep hill (Mt. Adams ain't got nothing on this hill) and hiking into town. We grabbed a slice of pizza each and then started the vertical climb, I mean hike back to the car. I would highly recommend finding a parking spot closer to town if you decide to stop by. The slice was okay, but I think we passed a Sherpa on the way back.
Once we stopped sweating like farm animals from our exertions, we headed back down the mountain via car to Tenuta La Potazzine. We arrived just as it started to spit rain but couldn't find anyone in the office. We wandered around for a bit until the tour manger arrived. He provided us with an excellent overview of the winery and both Kris and I learned a couple of things here along the way. The wine here was fantastic! Some more wine comes with us...
Our last stop of the day was a tiny little place listed as #1 on the wineries of Montalcino map, Baricci. It turns out that this is still a family run winery and the grandfather of the two brothers doing much of the day to day was the first to sign the consolidated laws or rules of Brunello, hence they are listed as #1. This is a tiny little place doing some amazing wines at very popular prices. We were really impressed with what they're doing here.
We've been fortunate to go to California on several wine trips now, and one of the things we've learned there is when you find a winery doing things you like, as them who they like or who they'd drink. This has led us to some of our favorite 'off the beaten path' places and some amazing wine. So we reapplied this principal here. One of the wineries was kind enough to supply us with recos. Now, this list probably only makes sense if your tastes are similar to ours, but it's a starting point to the 250 Brunello producers, so there's that!
- Barbi - We visted here the first day and thought it was really good.
- Castiglion del Bosco - Also visited the first day. Owned by a son of Ferragamo. Really nice wines, I was surprised to say!
- Fattoi
- Pietroso
- Sanlorenzo - We drove past this place and were super interested, but they seemed to be appointment only and we couldn't fit them in. Next time!
If you have been to any of this places (Or go to any of them based on seeing them here,) let me know what you think! We're already planning, or perhaps scheming our next trip here so we'd love additional input on what's good!
No comments:
Post a Comment