Day 9 - The Chianti Experience

The Chianti Experience

June 30, 2023: Today we had a relaxed morning before heading out for a tour called “The Chianti Experience” hosted by Devour Tours. Our tour guide Lorenzo Marchi was full of energy, very knowledgeable and really wanted everyone to have a good time. You could tell how much he loves Italy. He was originally from Venice but moved to Florence after he married his wife 16 years ago.

The tour took us to two historic wineries. The first was “Castelvecchi” which is actually located in the remains of a castle. It is in the very heart of Tuscany between Florence and Siena. The wine barrels sit in what was the dungeon of the castle. The vaulted cellars of Premiata Fattoria di Castelvecchi are among the oldest and still active in Tuscany which date back from 1043! The winemaker, Fernando, was actually our host because this winery is actually fairly small. We had beautiful wine complimented by some amazing cheese and salami.

Next, we'll head to the beautiful town of Castellina in Chianti. We strolled through its charming streets and took in the views of the surrounding countryside.

Finally, we headed to our second winery owned by the family Cecchi. It is a much larger and more modern winery. We enjoyed our final tasting of three wines paired with bruschette, brochette, and pecorino. I didn’t like the wines as much but they had the best balsamic vinegar (I bought a bottle) and a spread that was so delicious I asked if I could take some with me. Our host was Elena and she took us through a very detailed training on wine tasting. The property was beautiful.

On our way back to Florence, Lorenzo suggested a restaurant owned by some friends of his called “Trattoria La Casalinga”. He called and make reservations for us in his name. We were able to walk right in even though there was a long line and had some delicious pasta. The dolce (dessert) was only so so. I wish I had waited and grabbed some gelato on the way home. It was the first day I didn’t get my gelato 😢

Jimm’s rating for today: ***1/2 (too much time in the car driving to the wineries and not enough wine at each tasting. 👎 … Jimm has high standards 😂) Although, our dinner almost pushed him to 4 stars.