Good Food, Good Wine, Good People

On Friday we took a class trip to Assisi. A religious landmark—Assisi is the location of the Basilica of St. Francis, a place that serves as a close second to the Vatican to members of the Catholic faith. The city held a wealth of history, both catholic and not. Not only is this the burial ground for St. Francis and St. Chiara, but also it was a hiding place for Jews during the Second World War. Beautiful in its architecture and art, the basilica was a beautiful site.

Saturday some of us went on a wine tasting in Chianti. Nestled in the hills of the Tuscan countryside, Chianti is the top location for red wine vineyards, and its specially is obviously… Chianti wine! With the aid of our tour guide, Federico, we did an easy two hours walk around the vineyard and oil tree groves. We learned what qualities to look for when establishing a vineyard, and the maintenance required for a good harvest.

We then had a wine sampling at the Sassolini Family Villa. Lorenzo, the owner of the Sassolini vineyard was a rough Italian version of Johnny Depp from Chocolat. He invited us into his villa, which his family has lived in for the past 900 years. He and his wife, Federica, made us lunch to be paired with our wine. We began with a Chianti Classico.

In order to be considered an authentic Chianti wine, it must be sampled and approved by all the wineries in the Chianti guild, and they determine if it is worthy to take on the villages’ name. There is a special pink label wrapped around the neck of the bottle with the Black Rooster (symbol of Chianti) displaying this fulfillment. We learned how to swirl the wine and what to look for—taste, smell, color, and consistency. With the Chianti, we ate Tuscan salami, prosciutto, and bread with fresh, homemade olive oil. Delicioso! We then drank a heavier red wine, Terre di Panzano, which is made from three different types of grapes. Along with the Panzano we ate pasta with Pesto sauce, and pasta in a tomato cream sauce. For dessert we had biscotti and a vinsanto, a Tuscan dessert wine. And finally, to finish off the filling mean, we did a shot of grappa, an after dinner digestive. Everything was great (except the Grappa). Good conversation, good people, good atmosphere. Satiated, we walked around the Sassolini estate, admiring the breath taking view.

Lorenzo joked of his need for young people to come pick grapes in the fall. If I could afford to come back, I wouldn’t mind helping out. It was so picturesque. Another beautiful weekend in Tuscany!

Ciao

Ladini