UNCORKED WINE TRAVELS

Musings Along The Wine Trails

Panzanello Winery Is Panzano In Chianti’s Brightest Shining Star

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11pz5jpgHaving just returned from a whirlwind trip to Tuscany and looking through my 800+ photos, undoubtedly,  Panzano In Chianti is absolutely one of the most beautiful  places in Italy.  With a population of less than 1,200 people, the charming hilltop village of Panzano lies mid-way between Siena and Florence, right in the heart of Chianti Classico wine country.

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Anthony Bourdain, Rick Steeves and other travel writers often boast about Panzano’s famous resident butcher, Dario Cecchini  (read about Dario Cecchini on my blog)  But for Sangiovese lovers, Panzano is more about the legendary Chianti Classico wines.

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A scenic winding road outside the city center of Panzano leads to Panzanello Winery. Time seems to stand still as you pass the shimmering silver-green olive groves and the fruit-laden vineyards as you slowly turn down the long driveway to Panzanello Winery.

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Jordan Winery’s Wine & Food Pairing Is Alexander Valley’s Crown Jewel

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For one of the most memorable wine tasting experiences in Sonoma Wine Country, visit Jordan Winery in the stoic Alexander Valley.  Founded in 1972, Tom and Sally Jordan had a vision to produce great “approachable” Bordeaux-style California Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Inspired and fashioned after a French château, the Jordan Winery is at the top of the A-list for winery tours.  No detail is too small, nor overlooked. Guests meet in the stately lobby for a guided walking tour of the grounds and production area, followed by a first-class private seated wine and food pairing in the château.

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“Unique amongst Healdsburg wineries, more than three-quarters of the scenic estate has been preserved as natural habitat—an oasis where craggy oak trees pepper the landscape, geese and ducks swim the lakes, and rabbits and turkeys roam the hills. The property includes 112 acres of grapevines, 18 acres of olive trees, a one-acre garden, two lakes and several grazing pastures. The diversity of ecosystems on the estate encourages beneficial insects and other predators that support our sustainable farming practices”.                   

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Sonoma’s Buena Vista Winery Attracts Ghost Hunters

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IMG_8371Buena Vista Winery is considered California’s oldest premium winery and was founded in 1857 by the self-proclaimed “Count of Buena Vista”, Agoston Haraszthy.  Situated in the Los Carneros AVA (also known as Carneros AVA), the Buena Vista Winery vineyards are poised atop the hills overlooking San Pablo Bay.

IMG_8355The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate cooler and more moderate than the wine regions further north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, allowing for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are also used for sparkling wine production.

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Rarely does one think of ghost hunting when wine tasting, however, Sonoma’s Buena Vista Winery has a ghostly past and an eerie presence.  In 1862, legend has it that 20 Chinese migrant workers were busy bottling, corking and wiring Champagne magnums in the deep wine caves when a minor earthquake triggered a cave-in.  Racism attitudes at the time, left the men to be buried alive amidst cases of fine champagne.  [Read more…]

Villa Dievole ~ Chianti’s Most Heavenly Retreat

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l'aria...in questo luogo e magica
l’aria…in questo luogo e magica

It was love at first sight! I had found the perfect sanctuary– Villa Dievole, a wine resort!  Could there be anything more sublime?

From the minute you approach the resort, you feel that you are in a most special place in the world.   And you are…

Show me the way... to Vaglagli per favore
All signs point to Vagliagli

Villa Dievole was nestled among rolling fields of vineyards as far as the eye could see, and bordered by the Tuscan wooded hills off of one of the “white roads” near Chianti’s main wine road,  the SR222.

The long road to Vagliagli was a solitary drive, meandering six kilometers  through the woods on a secondary unpaved road.  

The "white road" to Vagliagli
The “white road” to Vagliagli

My eyes were peeled for wild boar and deer, but the only “wildlife” I encountered were a few cars madly passing me on the narrow road leaving me in a cloud of dust. [Read more…]

Candlelight Wine Cellar Tour With Dario Castagno

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Dario Castagno ~ Reknown Author and Chianti Wine Guide
Dario Castagno ~ Reknown Author and Chianti Wine Guide

My quest to meet author and wine enthusiast Dario Castagno actually began a few months before my second trip to Tuscany.

I had read one of Dario’s books, A Day in Tuscany – More Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide, an entertaining collection of short stories about Dario’s mischievous “formative” years in Tuscany sprinkled with colorful folklore. The stories were both amusing and cleverly written with tidbits of historical facts thrown in the mix. Touted by many as a keen observer, Dario artfully embraces the anima (spirit) of the characters in each book, bringing the stories to life with wit and ease.

Besides being a great storyteller, apparently Dario was also a bit of a free spirit in his younger years! He had formed a wine tour company called the Rooster Tours, aptly named after Chianti’s Gallo Nero (Black Rooster) signature wine consortium symbol. His zany adventures toting American tourists around the Chianti countryside for more than a decade was the catalyst for several other books, Too Much Tuscan Sun – Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide, Too Much Tuscan Wine and An Osteria in Chianti. Light, fun reads!

 

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From the start, I was enthralled with Dario’s stories of Tuscany and wanted to meet this man who shared my passion of writing and great love of wine! Up to this point, I really had no preconceived ideas of who Dario Castagno was or even if he was still in the wine tour business. However, It didn’t take long to find Dario! Yes, he is still in the wine tour business, very much so as a matter of fact, and has a great website showcasing his books and tours www.dariocastagno.com

Fattoria Tregole ~ Restored 16th century Agriturismo & Winery
Fattoria Tregole ~ B & B with Boutique Winery in  Tregole,  situated in the heart of Chianti

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