Food, Wine and Birthdays!

With only ten people traveling together (7 clients, one translator, one driver, and ME), it's hard to believe two of those people would share a birthday. But they did! So this next day of our trip was filled with food, wine and birthday celebrations!

But to start off, I wanted to show you a photo of the area my clients stayed in during this portion of the trip. The Val D'Orcia is one of my favorite parts of Tuscany; rolling hills, beautiful greenery, and fantastic, food and wine.

Our first stop today was one of my favorite tiny towns in the area famous for its cheese and honey. Everyone had a little free time here this morning; time to stroll the streets, take in the views, and have lunch on their own. (And as you can see by the photo on the left....it's a great town to shop in.)

Now on to the very vertical town of Montepulciano for a really great wine tasting experience!











Talosa is always great fun to visit. It's a winning combination of delicious wines, a beautiful subterranean cavern, and Cristian's great personality.

Me, standing next to a barrel to give you an idea of how gigantic they are!

We descended so low.......

Client Peter on the left with Cristian from Talosa Winery.

....that we could see fossils and seashells buried in the ancient cavern walls.

All that climbing up and down has made us thirsty. Time to start tasting these delicious wines!

After all the tasting, oohing and aahing, lots of purchases are made. Arrangements are made to ship cases to the U.S., and everyone leaves happy, knowing their wine purchases will be arriving before too long.

After all our trekking about today, we move on to an agriturismo for the next two nights. It is at this agriturismo called Fontanaro where I have made arrangements for the birthday celebrations to take place.

We arrive with time for everyone to settle into their villa accommodations before having dinner with Alina and her mother Lucia. They fix us a fabulous meal. We start with cheeses, honey, and cured meats. 

We follow that with two different homemade pastas. Those are fresh truffles Alina is shaving onto the first pasta. The second has a simple, but oh-s0-delicious fresh tomato sauce on it.

And what would a birthday celebration be without cake?! Or in this case, a gorgeous fruit tart. Happy Birthday Evelyn and Holly!

It's been another fun-filled day. What's on tap for tomorrow? Pizza making lessons!! Stay tuned.