A Chianti Experience

On Saturday (March 1, 2008) I went to Castello di Verrazzano, Greve in Chianti, Tuscany for A Chianti Experience with Study Abroad Italy. Chianti is known as the wine-growing region. They offered this trip free to all SAI Students! I signed up as soon as I heard about it! They had 3 private buses for to take all of us there. Lindsay said there were about 140 students that signed up. Everyone wanted to take advantage of this free trip! It was about a 45 minute bus ride up to the winery. I don't like taking those large buses up the hills with the tiny, windy roads. Every time we went around the corner the bus driver honked to let anyone coming know we were going around the curve.

When we got off the bus there was a beautiful view of the Tuscan Countryside and vineyards. They split us up into three groups based on the buses we were on and we got a tour of the winery. Unfortunately, we had a hard time understanding what are tour guide was saying. Before going inside he showed us the wild boars they raise there (which we had for lunch). He showed us around inside and told us some techniques they use to have the best quality of wine. They continue to use wooden barrels instead of steal ones, even though it's more expensive, because they believe it has a better result. He also told us about the Chianti Classico wines and what they have to do to get the DOCG label.

After our tour, we went into the restaurant for the wine tasting and lunch (which was also free!) They told us how to truly taste the wine by evaluating the color, smell and taste. To evaluate the color you put your glass against something white such as your napkin or the table cloth and you can see the difference in colors in the different kinds of wine. The tasting was much different to ones I've seen in the US when we went with my parents (of course them my brother and I had to watch them taste all the wines). There they tried a lot more different kinds. At Castello di Verrazzano, each table got a bottle of the 3 types of wine we were tasting and a bottle of the dessert wine. There were 7 of us sitting at our table and we had an amazing view overlooking the countryside.

Our "light meal" included:

Primo: Pasta al pomodoro with fresh basil (pasta with tomato sauce)

Anitpasto: Salame, prosciutto, finocchiona (the boar?)

Vegetable course: Cannellini beans with Tuscan olive oil and salad

Cheese course: Pecorino and Parmigiano cheeses with Balsamic Vinegar

Dessert Cantucci with Vin Santo (brucheta with the dessert wine)

The meal was delicious and it seemed like they kept bringing out more and more courses.

My favorite wine was the Chianti Classico DOCG and the Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva.