I woke up quite early for a trip sponsored by JCU that
included wine-tasting, a winery tour, and a visit to Montalcino, a hilltown in
Tuscany. We sat on a (very nice) bus for over three hours to get to the winery,
Caparzo. When we got off the bus we had the most picturesque view of Tuscany I
could imagine: rolling hills, skinny trees, flowerpots, etc. We had a tour of
the winery which included going into the cellar where wine aged in different
barrels. I had no idea of the significance of the wood of the barrel! Different
wines are in different types of wood from different areas, different sizes and
different periods of time. I guess I was just ignorant! Our wine tasting was
with a light lunch of cheese, honey, bread, and meat. The meat items were a
little adventurous for my taste. I did try each one, but almost regretted it.
The cheese we had dipped in honey was amazing! And we got to have four glasses
of four different wines, each interesting and good in its own way. We then had
plenty of time to walk around the winery, go to the shop, etc.
We got back on the bus to Montalcino, a beautiful hilltown
where we had a guided tour. It is a lovely village where they sell an abundance
of wine and honey, mostly to tourists. The end of our tour was at a medieval
fortress that is used for various events. On this day, they were setting up for
a festival called Jazz and Wine. Sounds like my kind of festival! Francesca and
I went up in the fortress and walked around its ramparts to get some amazing
views! It felt like being in a castle and at times was even a little scary in
terms of heights! We browsed a couple of shops and got back on the bus home. It
was a lovely, relaxing, pleasant day. Though we had gotten a lot of sleep on
the bus, we were exhausted when arriving home and had another early morning!
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