When I think about wine, I cannot help but reminisce about my time spent in Siena, the most extraordinarily beautiful hill town in Tuscany. From it's orange colored tile roofs and it's maze like medieval streets to the ever so charming trattoria's and it's angelic church bells resonating throughout the city, the place will simply win over anyone's heart. In addition to it's charm and elegance, this Tuscan hill town is blessed by it's advantageous locale. It is positioned between the Chianti region to it's north and the home of the legendary Brunello to it's south. If you are a wine connoisseur or a novice who just enjoys a nice glass of full bodied red, than you will be in heaven. The trattorias and wine bars throughout Siena offer an incredible array of choices of this ruby red elixir. From the ultra pricey Brunello di Montalcino, a glass of this impeccable wine could be one of the most spectacular and life altering experiences out there, to table wines that would make many French and California wineries green with envy, a bottle will typically set you back about five dollars U.S. One thing that you will quickly notice when you select a bottle of wine in Italy is that the names are different than in the states. In the states, we label a bottle by it's grape, ie. Merlot, Chardonnay, Zinfandel. In Italy, wine is categorized by the region it comes from. So if you see a bottle of Chianti, then you know exactly where it came from, the grapes or at least the percentage of the different grapes in the bottle may vary, but you will essentially know what you are getting. The one exception to this is the Super Tuscans, which are a mixture of grapes that are found throughout Tuscany. These wines are more dynamic, using the best grapes from Chianti, and the areas around Montalcino and are simply divine.
One great aspect of Siena's location is how easily it is to take a day trip throughout this picturesque country side and taste some of these extraordinary wine at any number of these enchanting enteches or wineries. This will provide an opportunity to see the wine making process first hand and give you a better understanding the amount of work it takes to craft these impeccable wines. Be careful when trying these mesmerizing flavors, because they have a tendency to captivate your heart and enthral your taste buds to the point that you may never want to leave this gorgeous countryside. So the next time you visit Siena, the epicenter of Italian wine, indulge in la dolce vita, the good life, and taste these incredible and diverse wines. Cin Cin!
These are a few of the impeccable wineries in this amazing region:
www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it
www.dievole.it
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