Most amazing hotel breakfast ever, worth the 10 euro per person. We are talking fresh gourmet meats and cheeses, fruits, pastries, brilliant. We hit a little bit of traffic on our way out of Siena, must be people on their way to work. Lots of things I like to call "motorcycles with hats".
Montalcino is a ghost town today, it seems very ancient and hidden away from the world. I wonder what it is like crawling with tourists. A prim and proper server at the Fortezza looks quite odd vaulting up the stairs with his long legs, like John Cleese ministry of funny walks. We turns on some Italian dvd in the "museum" tour that comes with our tasting ticket. Its just silly posters and cut outs hanging from the ceilings. We circle around the top of the fortress. The overcast sky hides the tall mountains.
The server is very knowledgeable, tells us about the different regions that Brunello is grown. The north brings acidity, the south brings warm fruit, and the west brings elegance. It is typical for wineries to use a little from all grapes to achieve balance, but a Cru wine will only have grapes from one vineyard. He has us try three wines in order of excellence.
Castiligione del Bosco 2001 is elegant, straight forward, with some complexity of dry pepper on the finish. It is from the north so you definitely get a light acidity. La Fuga Reserva Le Due Sorelle 2001 smells like a barnyard. It is aged in barrel and it is much drier, almost a little chemical on the nose. It is richer than Burgundy but is similar. Well balanced, smooth and road on the tongue with a nice finish. Cerretalto Casanova di Neri Cru 2000 is rated 100 points. Thick syrup legs on the glass and a rich berry smell. It is inky, thick and dark with loads of fruit. There is cinnamon on the nose and pepper on the finish, great spice.
We have to decide between the signs and the Garmin (really the fault of Google Maps) on our way to Banfi. I vote signs, and I was right. The drive reminds Tom of Cape Cod with the smooth rolling hills. It is unusually warm today despite the lack of sun.
The pours are big at Banfi, but none of the wines are very good. Rosso di Montalcino is cedar nose with a young acidic raspberry flavor. It is made from Brunello left overs and aged for 1 year. The Castello ages it in barrels although it isn't required to be. There are lots of tannins and we don't like it very much.
Brunello di Montalcino has many more rules, regulated DOCG. It has to be aged 50 months, 2 years in oak. The wine smells of wood. 2002 was not their best vintage, but at least it is better and richer than the Rosso. ExcelsuS 2000, the Super Tuscan, smells a bit rustic, chemicals and spice. The French oak adds a bit of vanilla.
The stories from our server are more interesting that the wine. She is form England, lived in Italy the past 22 years after she fell in love. She tells us about Italian vs American Thanksgiving, about the Piedmont region, and how we should have chocolate mousse with our Rosa Regale. We learn about the rules of Brunello, how it is fashionable now to age wines less. We learned the difference between big barrels of Slovenian oak (longer to age) and small French oak barrels. From choosing trees, seasoning wood, toasting it, grape mutations, heritage, clones, biodynamics, planning flavors, etc... wine making is a hugely complicated art form.
We walk into their balsameria and it smells like a delicious salad. It makes my mouth water, liquid gold they call it at 40 euros for 150 mL. We continue our Cape Cod drive to the hidden road of Poggio Antico. This is the most fancy restaurant of our trip, we had no idea what we were in for but it was the only place I recognized from my research that we could find in the countryside.
We get to Poggio early, but they decide to open just for us. Old man reading magazines in the front turns out to be our chef. The hipster in the hoodie who opened the door turns out later to be our host, he comes back dressed in a full out suit. He suggests a table with a view, then hands Tom a menu with prices and me a menu without. I am about to write a lot about this restaurant, a fancy magical place where we were the only customers, but it was really an experience for both culinary enjoyment and cultural study.
We are served a free amuse bouche and glasses of Tenuta Vitereta Trebbiano. I would call this wine liquid gold. It is uniquely made from a mix of dried grapes and fresh grapes picked a little late in the season, which gives it almost a desert wine quality while still remaining crisp. It has loads of honey and more flavor than any white wine I've ever had, breakfast cereal, flowers... I could write passages about this wine, and I should have bought it that second, but I was naïve in thinking this was what all Trebbianos tasted like. Tragedy.
They bring us breads of all different flavors and colors, arugula, rosemary, tomato, truffle. Amuse bouche of chewy delicious swordfish with grapefruit, served cold. So tender, so paprika-y. I choose a wine called "Madre", a Super Tuscan. It is powerful, with rich barrel flavor, a typical Super Tuscan. I see the waiter coat our glasses with the wine so the smell explodes in our mouth with ever sip. The waiter isn't too keen on me writing notes, he wants me to relax.
The bread soup is perfect with a thick tomato flavor. The waiter apologizes for serving Tom on the wrong side, but he is "lazy today". There are different hierarchies of waiters with different outfits. They intimidate us, when we are supposed to intimidate them. I savor my last sips of Trebbiano before they take it away. Mmm... golden grahams, "e troppo bello".
The waiter hears me say "non che problema" and says I'm turning Italian. It is weird to be thanked by people serving me. We can't figure out the method to the madness of our appearing and disappearing silverware. The meals are timed perfectly for once. The ravioli di cingiale is the best boar we've had all trip, but the waiter won't let me thank the chef, he says it will go straight to his ego. Later the chef does come out and I spew out my practiced line about the best boar we've eaten all trip.
La peposa is a very peppery veal and polenta that loose like cheese. My lepre ragu is exquisite, hare is more earthy and gamey than rabbit, more like beef. Cheese plate is hit or miss, only one is good, the other are gritty and served with weird spicy mint jam. The sorbet is not the dessert, but a palate cleanser. This meal is never ending. We are served desert art, but we can't figure out what anything is... torte, pistachio ice cream. Stop questioning, just eat.
The southern Tuscan hills are light green from grass and dug up earth. They are wavy just like my desktop photo. We play games on the way to Orvieto to keep us awake after the wine. We are sick of getting stuck behind slow trucks, but it is too scary to pass them.
Orvieto is a cliff town with tons of holes cut into the hillside castle walls. The church looks like Beetlejuice with its white and black stripes. In a poor excuse for an arcade, we don't find gelato, but we do find a cup that has my name on it. We wait for our tour in the town square nearby a couple arguing in Italian. We are greeted on our tour my an army family from Texas who lives in Napoli and an funny animated older Italian couple.
The town has such amazing history carved into its soft earth. They needed space, they needed water, so they dug. We see an ancient oil press, Etruscan ruins, and tons of pigeon coups, they must love to eat pigeon. We wonder how the city supports itself with so much dug up underneath.
The logo for Aguip, a gas station, looks like a six legged dog breathing fire. Does that have anything to do with the weird mythological history of Rome and the kids raised by wolves? Crazy Italian drivers whip around us at ridiculous speeds. Toll prices are a little more reasonable here in Italy at least. Is that a prostitute? Now that is definitely a prostitute there. She's not even wearing pants, that one there. We watch as gangs of vespas ride in the middle of the roads, obeying no traffic signals. The closer we get into Rome, the harder the driving. Get us out of this car!!
Check into hotel, then off for some dinner. We take the wrong route and end up walking on the side of a highway with bikers instead of through the garden underpass. We find our way, follow the crowds to the top of the Spanish Steps. Out of quaint countryside and into crawling tourist mecca. There are flower sellers everywhere and a fat lady that looks like The Penguin tries to get her picture standing in the fountain (I won't be drinking from there thanks). And why oh why did they put a giant H&M billboard ungodly mess at the top of the steps?
The police look more military here in Rome. We walk towards dinner and watch as tourists take pictures of light up window displays, like moths to the flame. Nothing but expensive stores on this strip. Recafé is disappointing. They only have one wine by the glass, and the waiter acts weird when I speak Italian. Condividiamo!! I don't want to eat a whole pizza by myself, although I see plenty of other people doing so. Tom longs for fountain pop, but get a room temperature bottle the same price as my wine. Our calzone is kinda cold in the middle. Bleh.
There is a McDonalds at every tourist hot spot, Trevi, Pantheon. They serve gelato and croissants, wonder if they serve wine. While France had pitchers of water, there is no getting around paying for bottles here in Italy, despite what the guidebooks tell you. Acqua potabile = meaningless phrase. It is nice to see so many women on vespas. We walk to a famous gelateria past street performers going through every song on Dark Side of the Moon, finally some entertainment worth contributing for.
Della Roma is amazing, 100 flavors of gelato and weird stuff like asian fig and liquorice. Not sure what an Asian fig is, but I'm sure it tastes just like this. Tom's combo of chocolate amaretto and raspberry is blowing my mind. They won't even let you get just one flavor, lowest serving is due gusti, but it is so so cheap, who cares.
We love the ancient city against the modern, it looks so fascinatingly out of place. I am careful not to slip on all the smooth black stones. Man, the flower sellers are pushy, "you have a beautiful girl". I tell them sonno allergico. More uninteresting expensive bags and perfumes, why do I not love this stuff?
We walk back to our hotel, along Via Veneto which is lined with restaurants in glass boxes. I'd love to dine in a glass box, but the menus seem unauthentic and overpriced. So cool though, some have outdoor lounges under heat lamps. I wonder what a cocktail costs here. I watch as a lady in black gloves smokes a cigarette and fancy girls navigate the cobblestones in their high heels. Hmm... even if we were rich enough to eat here, I wonder if we ever would, probably not.
I laugh at the fancy buildings and stores decorated in sparkly lights that change colors. Tourists like moths. I'm becoming slightly too wise to the ways and need to avoid the cynicism. Tomorrow, we'll explore what makes Rome really great (hopefully), the ancient.