Food, Wine and Romance

Our first stop today was at a sheep farm near Pienza in Tuscany, where they make fabulous Pecorino cheese. Antonietta did a wonderful job of explaining her family’s cheese making operation to us. We got to tour the facility, see the cheese in the aging room, and then (best of all….) taste it! 

She had set a beautiful table for us, in a lovely cottage, with four kinds of Pecorino cheese, delicious yogurt, honey and jam, bruschetta w/olive oil, and house made wine. It was all so delicious, and the group made many purchases before heading to our next stop.

Stop number two was in the lovely town of Montalcino. The group met up with local relatives, and had a fun time at lunch together. 



I, in the meantime, let them have some private, family time and headed off with the group’s translator to explore a new restaurant. What a find…..a future tour stop for sure! These beans were sooooo delicious, the view stupendous, and the wine…..sigh.

Now, comes the Romance part! One of the gentlemen on the trip had wanted to renew his wedding vows for their 30th wedding anniversary. It was to be a surprise for the wife. Everyone in the group was “in on it”, except her! Arrangements were made to have the event at a beautiful medieval abbey in the countryside outside Montalcino. It was a simple, heartfelt wedding vow renewal. We all cried….then drank Prosecco!

And speaking of drinking…..after the abbey, our next stop was a wonderful winery in the Tuscan countryside.  Two very exciting things happened here, which were new experiences for everyone in the group….including me. One; I got to barrel taste Brunello! I had never experienced barrel tasting before. The cellar master, Agnes, used her special equipment to extract aging Brunello for us to taste. What a treat! And Two; we got to see where corks come from! I knew corks came from the natural bark of a cork tree, but I had never really envisioned how that actually happened. Most corks come from Sardegna or Portugal, and we got to see a sample of where they come from. Maybe I should organize a trip to Sardegna to see an actual cork production facility…..what do you think?

Uccelliera Winery is owned and operated by Andrea Cortonesi and his family, pictured to the left. On the right side of the photo, you see Agnes the cellarmaster who was so helpful during the surprise wedding vow renewal and then again as she gave us a fabulous tour of the winery.

As I said, today was all about Food, Wine and Romance. What a great day! What’s in store for tomorrow? Food, Wine and Birthdays! This group loves a party!