Chianti, Tuscany

It’s been a month already since my visit in that little paradise of hills and wines that is the Chianti.
Tuscany is a land of intense colours and flavours with sweet and captivating landscapes that have been etched for a long time in memory; it is a land of people with great personality and that has a tremendous love and pride for the beauty and the prestigious of the fruits that this corner of the world gives.

The first stop was the famous Cantina Antinori located in Bargino, in the Chianti Classico area.
This recent structure completed in 2012 after about 7 years of intense work, strongly willed by the Antinori family, is a masterpiece of architecture and design that, despite the imposing dimension, is perfectlyintegrated in the midst of Sangiovese vines that surround it all round.
And this was precisely the intention: to give birth to a structure that, built with materials connected closely with the nature and the land of origin (glass, wood, terracotta), was merged with its habitat, in a certain sense.

​On the ground floor, entering the main entrance, you can book the guided tours in the cellar, buy a desired wine and you’re allowed to access to a library with texts on the theme wine, family Antinori and Sangiovese.
The visit begins with a stop in the auditorium watching a 10 minutes film telling the story and the various personalities of the members of the Antinori family.
Then the guide brings you in the underground spaces, a real small world of production, where many barriques rest in the fresh, where a part of the wine production is explained in a exhaustive and competent way by the Sommelier guide, Ais certificate.

​At the end of the visit in the cellar, you go back to the ground floor to taste three wines of the famous company.

​The first wine, a San Giovanni della Sala del 2017, a white wine with warm floral notes, reminiscent of ripe fruit, sapid but simultaneously soft with a final that stays on the palate.
 
The second, a Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Reserve of 2013, a red decided, intense ruby color, fragrant red fruits, blueberry and raspberry and with a strong tone on the palate, sweet tannins and smoking flavour that lasts long in time.
 
The third is the last wine, the Cortona bramasole DOC, another red, a 100% Syrah which expresses at most the territoriality in which it is produced, to the decidedly refined nose with notes of white plum and black pepper, full taste, enveloping and structured but soft, brings back hints of berries with tobacco and liquorice and a persistent and savoury ending.

​After the wine tasting at the end of the visit, you can go to the restaurant that is on the upper floor: it offers a splendid view of the valleys formed by endless vines rows, in early September still loaded with beautiful and colourful clusters of Sangiovese.
There is therefore a further opportunity to linger to sip and taste some wines from one of the most famous wineries in the world, perhaps accompanying the siding to some typical Tuscan cuisine; you can choose between a real lunch in the Restaurant or sit outside at the wine Bar where less elaborate dishes are offered rather to accompany the tasting (bruschetta and chopping of salami and cheeses).
My choice at the Bar has fallen on the Donzelle (fried bread dough) with stracchino and Tuscan olives.

​Then I relaxed and spent the night in a very charming place, the village of Vescine in Radda in Chianti.
This is a medieval village of the thirteenth century where the old dwellings of the village today have become charming rooms for guests wishing to continue to feel immersed in the nature.
The position that dominates from above the hills of Chianti allows you to have a breathtaking view over a large portion of land and a beautiful sky that at night, thanks to the distance from the towns, gives millions of bright stars.

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​There is also a restaurant inside the village.
The meat, the famous Fiorentina, makes merit to its fame, truly exquisite!
The atmosphere then, especially during dinner, is really very warm, cozy, almost homely, really relaxing.

​I dedicated the next day to the visit of Fonterutoli, in Castellina in Chianti, and its main and famous attraction: the Castello of Fonterutoli.
Arriving from Radda in Chianti you can already see the village as a tiny agglomerate of houses immersed in the greenery of the surrounding olive trees.

As for the winery of the Marchesi Antonori, the Cantina of Fonterutoli is a modern winery, the result of an innovative project with low environmental impact, where aesthetic taste and functionality are perfectly in harmony.
The cellar is equipped with an area located 15 meters deep where you can admire the presence of a rock wall where all natural flow of various water flaps and guarantee the right degree of humidification to the barrels present.

The tasting brought to attention three wines of the Cnatina Mazzei.
The Fonterutoli Chianti Classico of 2016, Sangiovese 90%, Malvasia nera and Merlot 10%, has an elegant and well proportioned body, aromas of berries and spices, intense and soft.

Then a famous and much appreciated, great red wine, the Siepi 2015, concentrated of Sangiovese and Merlot, with bright purple red colour, intense and elegant with clear scents of red fruit and aromatic herbs, hints of chocolate Fondant and toasted notes, with an extraordinarily long finish.
 
The last, Zisola Effe Emme 2012, 100% Petit Verdot, born from the property of the Mazzei family near Syracuse, in Sicily: it is a wine that after the vinification in red is left to mature in small oak barrels for 16 months; it has a ruby red colour, the nose is intense and elegant with scents of brushwood and refined tannins and that marries well with elaborate dishes such as those of Sicilian origin and with well-seasoned cheeses.
 

Also in this case, you can continue the Tuscan food and wine experience in the Osteria di Fonterutoli, a charming place, outdoor tables between the olive trees and in the middle of a well-tended meadow.
The Osteria offers only dishes prepared with local, fresh and seasonal ingerdienti.

It is impossible not to continue tasting local red wines along with cutting boards of salami and cheeses.
A very interesting dish I tried: creamed barley with saffron, almost a well-crested risotto where, however, the crispy barley is decidedly distinguished.