Day Eight: Monday, June 28 Montalcino

Day Eight: Monday, June 28 Montalcino

Dirt Roads and Brunello: A Tour Through the Hills of Montalcino
Up super early again but I used the time to get caught up on the blog. Whatever happens I will make it work. Who needs to sleep at normal times anyway?

I went back to sleep at 6:30 or so and it's nearly 9. Feeling better already. We got ready and made it down to breakfast by a little after 10. I love just letting things come together how ever they do. The breakfast was great. Many Tuscan pastries, meats and cheeses, great bread, juice, yogurt and granola. There were at least four different cakes. I had one with orange and another had cream of some kind in it.

First breakfast at Il Giglio





It seemed logical that this would be the day we would try to get to two or three Brunello producers and we eventually spoke with the father to help us come up with a plan. He first called Poggio Antico and set up a tour for 3:30 and we built our day around that. I suggest that we might try Mastrojanni who had made that Rossi di Montalcino that we liked so well yesterday at dinner. He called and finally they called back and we could go out there straight away. Where they were located meant we could head straight to Mastrojannni and then stop and St. Antimo before going to Poggio Antico.

We drove straight to the town where St. Antimo was called Castelnuovo Dell'abate, but made a wrong turn on the way to Mastrojanni and went way down the hill to Monte Amiata Scalo, another small town before we realized we had gone the wrong way. We back tracked and found the right road, a dirt road. Gary would love it. We drove for quite a while and finally found it. The guy in the office apparently was telling us to park down the hill but we finally realized that the production area was down the hill. A guy came down to hang with us who only spoke italian, so we got out if him as much info a we could until our tour guide Andrea arrived. The view across the vineyard was stunning. Our tour guide finally came down and he spoke very good English and gave us a great tour. We found out that several years ago the winery had been bought out by Illy the huge coffee conglomerate. But the current CEO was the cousin of the owner of Il Giglio. We got to do barrell tasting of some of the early version of what will become Brunellos. WE never actually tasted a finished and bottled version. We had a little communication problem, but we actually bought eight bottles I think. Some to drink while we are here and others to haul home.

One of the Mastrojanni vineyards on the very edge of the Brunello growing area.
















Gary we wanted you to be sure and see the dirt roads we traveled on today






Back to Antimo
We stopped at St. Antimo to hear the famous monks, but there would be no service until 2:45 and we decided that it didn't make any sense to wait.







After leaving St. Antimo we headed via the dirt road to Pogggia Antico and then decided to stop at for lunch in a tiny hill town, S. Angelo in Colle. We took a quick nap in the parking lot and then walked up the hill to explore the town and find Christine a little food. We found a restaurant called Trattoria Il Pozzo and had some amazing bruschetta and pinci with funghi. We later saw cards advertizing it at a shop in Montalcino

Bruschetta with garlic infused olive oil and salt


Handmade Pinci and Funghi inS. Angelo in Colle


Second Brunello Tour of the day at Poggio Antico We had an appointment for 3:30 and made it exactly on time. Our guide Stine Jensen was from Denmark with flawless English. Another couple was supposed to be arriving but never did in time for the tour. Poggio Antico is a medium size producer that is run by a family. Apparently at the moment tne family is off on vacation.









The woman who is pouring her got her green card and is moving to Santa Rosa. The downside to this tasting room is that you have to pay for tastes even if you purchased something.


We had fun tasting with David and Naomi from Campbell, California. He has some kind of a unique bunch of wine friends so he was taking detailed notes on all the tastings

David and Naomi from Campbell


Dinner Number Two at Il Giglio
The restraunt is closed on Tuesdays so we decided to get another reservatio for tonight. I asked this morning if we might have the "power table" at 7:30 and we got it. Gary I know you'd love that.





Affettatie e verdure sottt'olio. I think this was the verdure, an assortment of cured meats


An assortment of pickle veg, green beans, artichoke, caulliflower, in oil



Tortellini di cinta senese su crema di asparagi. The best tortellini I have ever had. Sl light and delicate with an asperagus creme sauce


Scottiglia di Chinghiale con polenta. More chinghiale prepared in a local style


Insalata Mista. We knew what this was.


Pecorino grigliato al miele. Grilled pecorino with honey. Now this was a revelation.

Day Seven: Sunday, June 27 Assisi to Montalcino

Day Seven: Sunday, June 27 Assisi to Montalcino

Morning Walk to Rocca Maggiore
Got up and going at around seven and decided to hike up to Rocca Maggiore before Christine got up. It was much easier to get to and find than I thought it would be. There was a stairway shortcut that had 164 stairs. I counted because Sonja told me ther were 76 stairs to get up to La Fortezza. The views were stunning and i even some some gorgeous papaveri.











Go figure. Hundreds of pieces of chewing gum placed on the wire of a fence.






Tiny shower. Not as difficult as Rome, but close.


We spoke at breakfast with a man and his wife who live in Tahoe City. She did property management and he is the pastor of the Lutheran church in Tahoe City! It was a great blessing. We were even able to have a brief prayer together as they headed out.

The final breakfast



Goodbye to Sonja. Safe journey.


We checked out and had to haul all our stuff back to where the car was parked at the top of the hill. At 58 Euro per night this was definitely the bargain of the trip. I was not thinking we were ging to need to return to Assisi, but now I am not so sure. We had an amaing time filled with unexpected surprises. Thank you Lord!

Heading up and out from La Fortezza.


On the road to Montalcino with a stop in Deruta.
I thought it would be fun to try and get to Deruta. It looked close on the map and easy to get to. But never forget that it may not be that easy. I did an amazingly bad job of navigating primarily because many of the signs point to unfamiliar destinations and there is never a marking whether the road is heading north or south or east or west. Se we actually got on two wrong roads going in the wrong direction before we got back on the right path.


It's amazing how easy it was once we found which way we need to go, toward Terni. WE drove up toward the city centro and got a great parking spot and walked up into the town. Since it was Sunday much was closed and it was also after 12 so I think even more shops were closed. It still was fun looking aroun. But it made it easier not to buy much.






We restrained ourselves and only bought a few gifts since we had already treated ourselves to a big treat.





Heading out of town


From Deruta to Montalcino I thought it should be fairly easy to get to Montalcino which it was but we did have a few dicey moments along the way.


We got back on the main road heading through Perusia and it's tunnels. In the middle of one there was a huge car pile up. Pretty scary really. Soon we saw Trasimeno. We thought about stopping at our previous hotel and have lunch with the great chef there, but we decided to push on. I thought it would be quite easy to get to Montalcino so I did not do a lot of pre planning on Via Michelin. We got onto the A1 and then the panic started started about how to get off of the A1. We stopped at an Autogrill and had a piece of Spizzco pizza and . Without question it was the worst lunch, no meal, of the entire trip. We pushed on and discovered that the next exit off the A1 would work perfectly on the way to Montipuciano and Montalcino


Lost in Montalcino. Well…Just for a Few Moments. I Did Know What I Was Doing!

I had a memory of where Il Giglio was as Gary had showed us last time we were her in 2007 but I did not take into account what it would be like to DRIVE to it. I new it was near the Fortezza and we headed that way but somehow missed it and wound up at the far end of town that in no way looked familiar. We drove down and found the hospital and almost got stuck driving down a dirt road outside the walls.
We got out of there and I finally realized where we were and how far away we were from where we needed to be. Christine pulled over and we regroup. Or at least it was her way not to kill me.

WE finally did get to the Fortezza and she parked and waited while I went now the hill from what I rememberd to find the hotel. I walked right to it and got a map the guide us how to drive to the hotel the proper way. We could never have done it without the map.

We got chcked in and this was the view from our room.


We decided to have dinner at the hote at 7:30. This is the power table but we did not get it.


We did have a great table and the dinner was stellar




Souffle 'di fromaggi e capocollo. A cheese souffle of some sort with a delicious assortment of pear, apple, raisins, cheese on endive.



Zucchine e fiori di zucca ripiena. Zucchini flowers stuffed and a ripening zuchinni stuffed.



Cannelloni de caprino al ragu' di piccione. A cannelloni filled with great stuff.



Risotto al brunello. Risotto cooked in Brunello.


Tortino al cioccolato fondente. A version of a chocolate lava cake. It was fabulous