Chianti

So yesterday we all went on a wine tasting tour to Chianti. We stopped at an old castle that had once belonged to an extremely old and rich family in Florence. That family's name is the same word as the Italian name for crazy. Well, they were crazy because they tried to kill the Medici family and they failed. So then the Medicis killed almost everyone in the family, and then took their castle. The castle was owned by the church for a little bit and then it went to this family after world war 2. This family turned it into a winery and lived in the castle. It was really cool. We took a tour of the castle/ winery and learned a lot about the storage of wine. The view from outside the castle: 

Inside the castle with seal of the crazy family still over top of the door:

More castle:

The storage of it all: 

So much wine:

Wine that's been here for over 60 years so it's a little dusty on the bottle:

I think everyone had a good time at the castle: 

After viewing the winery the only other logical thing you can do now is drink the wine like a normal person. We sampled one white wine, two red wines and the olive oil. They were all pretty good. While sampling our tour guide told us about the wines: how they were different,  what foods they go with, etc. it was very informational and I learned a lot: 

And of couse the castle had a killer view of these beautiful Tuscan hills: 

Then we went off to lunch. They started with something that was like a bread/ pizza dough but we ate it like bread and it was really good. Then they gave us thus crazy stuff that was like the fourth stomach of a cow, chicken liver/ heart and other weird stuff: 

I'm not going to lie, I ate it all and it was pretty good. Except for the stomach, because that was a little to chewy for me.  Then they brought out two things of pasta, that were oh so good. Then we got dessert which I don't even know how to describe but it was pretty good: 

Lastly I finished off the meal like most Italians do: with a quick shot of espresso. After lunch we were on our way to the next vineyard. This winery was actually kind of a villa that had one been owned by a rich bishop but was now owned by a family that had been making wine here for 7 generations. We took a quick tour of the vineyard where we saw olive trees and grape vines everywhere. It was awesome. Tuscany is very beautiful (for those of you that don't know Tuscany is the region that Florence and Chianti are in). The grape vines: 

Me by the grape vines: 

Me pretending to pick an olive: 

I learned so much this trip. For instance you can't actually pick the olives off the trees and eat them because they are toxic (well actually Morgan told me that before but the fact was confirmed here). Also olive trees live a long time and won't produce olives unless they have really desirable conditions. Grapes on the other hand are a vine and will almost always produce fruit but the less fruit, the better it is, so you get better wine on worse conditions. Better olive oil on good conditions. So that's why vineyards have both olive trees and grape vines.

I'm not going to lie, it was sad how little I knew about grapes. I had heard the expression from the grapevine, but I never actually realized grapes grew on vines until I got there. Yes, that is embarrassing, especially when you ask "what are those stick things in the ground?" Then people look at you like you're mentally handicapped and tell you that those are grapevines and apparently every one else has seen a vineyard and I'm in the minority...

But I wasn't too worried about it, and on we moved to the winery where we were able to spectate the process of the wine making. This first place was where the fermentation occurred, it took about 7 months for it to become drinkable: 

They hang grapes that are already picked like this out so they dry a little bit and the wine is a little bit sweeter. I'm pretty they were there since July of last year. The whole room is full of them: 

They we discovered the barrel room where the wine is aged and it gets a nice oak taste. In order for the taste to be there the inside of the barrel is burned so it crystalizes and the wine is sired there. Since the barrels are only good for four years, they can only use the barrels twice essentially. Each barrel cost around $800 :( and the whole room is packed with them: 

Then we got to try three different wines and a special dessert wine which costs 27 euros a bottle (around $35). I thought the wines were good but the dessert wine I thought was a little too sweet. It was like pure sugar. But we didn't get a look inside the villa which was amazing. I also learned how to hold wine and taste it properly. After the dessert wine we tasted olive oil again. What's weird about it this time is that we actually drank it from a cup. Straight olive oil from a cup. It was unbelievable. It didn't even taste like olive oil. It was just good. Smooth and peppery. I wish they had anything like it back in the states. È squisito. But nothing beats the beauty of the Tuscan hills: 

After the tasting we headed back to Florence by bus. While there we headed to get gelato from this place that was apparently really good. It was so good. Homemade gelato! What beats it? They made it fresh that day and I got striatchitella again (my favorite). It was very good: 

Then I dropped off some stuff, and headed for the pizzeria to get some Pizza! I got some pizza with Prosciutto on it and as usual: it was really good. We are it while watching the Olympics. Then I headed back to my apartment to clean, skype and sleep. Definitely a day that I will remember for a long time.