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Italian Wine:
My 5 winery recommendations in Tuscany
If you have ever been to Italy you will understand how many wineries there are and places to taste wine and olive oil. It can be overwhelming which one to stop in at. I was invited by Robert Dwyer of the Wellesley Wine Press to write this blog as he will be visiting this region soon Today I'm going to cover 5 of the wineries that I have visited that I would recommend stopping in and tasting the wines in the region of Tuscany.
Their average vines are about 15-30 years old. In exploring their cellar they had bottles dating back to the 1870's thIn exploring their cellar they had bottles dating back to the 1870's that were tucked away under dim red lights, but the Fattoria dei Barbi estate opened their doors in the 1950's. This estate has a long history and many firsts in the industry, including the first Super Tuscan. They are valued for their quality throughout the world. In fact, I'm still sitting on my bottle I brought back, 2000 Brunello di
Montalcino.
Poggio Antico
Poggio Antico started off in the late 1970's. I visited them back in 2004 before I developed my strong sense of love for italian wines, but you know quality when you taste it. Poggio Antico has about 80 acres of vineyards planted here with the great majority planted to sangiovese and the rest cabernet sauvignon. Their fermentation room had 26 vats full of brunello di montalcino, rosso di montalcino and their super tuscan, called madre, made of 50% sangiovese and 50% cabernet with the first vintage in 2001. They hand select their grapes and produce very low yields so that they can ensure the best quality is displayed through their wines. Poggio Antico produces about 95,000 bottles a year.
Montalcino
Fattoria dei Barbi
I visited the Fattoria dei Barbi estate in 2007 in the town of Montalcino. The Colombini family thatowns and manages the estate started making the famous Brunello with Biondi Santi in the 1780's. I toured their facility where they produce 800,000 bottles a year with 200,000 of those being Brunello.