Little town of Montalcino

In case anyone is wondering why it always seems to be me, and not Stacey writing, the answer is simple: I type these entries up while she sleeps…

Montalcino didn’t start off great. We thought this little town would be like Barolo; instead, we followed a giant tour bus full of American tourists into town. But, the Hotel Bellaria is awesome, and the staff are friendly and accommodating. I asked the receptionist at the hotel to recommend a nice, quiet, family owned restaurant for us to eat at last night. He suggested a place called Albergo Giardino. It turned out to be a fine dining establishment, which we didn’t realize until we got there. The place had nice décor, good wine, and the owner/chef seemed very nice. The problem was that the service was the worst we had all trip. The waitress was slow, and useless. It took her 30 minutes in an almost empty (at the time) restaurant to get our bottle of wine. The appetizers came out before the wine did. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I did finish a 40 ounce t-bone steak which was delicious!

Today has been great though. We caught some much needed sleep, and made our way into town for a delicious lunch. Montalcino has lots of charm, and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around. We obtained a map of all the Brunello producers around here, and hit the road. We decided to avoid the bigger wineries, we did that in Napa. Plus we wanted to pick up a couple of bottles that we hadn’t heard of.

Our first stop was a little place called Scopetino. We arrived there literally seconds before the couple who owns the place pulled in. Patricia and Roberto invited us into their barrel room, and we got to sample the 2000 vintage. It was very good. I like wine…

We bought 4 bottles from them, and then got to watch them de-stem the Sangiovese grapes right in front of us. Neat procedure, to say the least. Their home and winery was on the side of this hill surrounded by vineyards and the view was breath taking!

We then went to another small place, called Le Gode. The only ones to greet us were the chicken and the dog. Nobody was home, but we could see people in the vineyard picking the grapes. We opted to leave them alone and move on.

The next place was called Prima Donna. They had a little cantina, which was a good sign. The other places were literally the farms where these people lived. So, we park the car and walk into the cantina. We could see into the production facility, and there was a small tour of about 8 people going through. Stacey and I figured we could hang out in the tasting room for a minute, and somebody would eventually come out to see us. Wrong!

We waited for a good ten minutes, and still nobody came out. So, we reached into the bar and helped ourselves to a sample. It was quite nice, but without a salesperson it was tough to try and buy any. We gave up and left, laughing as we went to the car. We went 1 for 3 in the afternoon, but the 1 was great, so we considered the whole winery tour a success. Plus, the view when you’re in the countryside is fantastic.

Dinner was at a hole in the wall joint, run by a nice family. At the end of our dinner, the owner sat next to us, and cheerfully told us all about his restaurant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t understand a word he was saying! He spoke no English at all. This was our favourite dinner of the trip so far.

Happy, and drunk we made our way back the hotel, where we watched a soccer match with the Italian Santa Claus and his passed out wife in the hotel lobby. Somebody won, 1-0. We’re not exactly sure who was even playing…

Tomorrow, we stop real quick in Montepulciano, then it’s off to Rome, where we will be staying with Simone, who has graciously invited us to spend our time there in his apartment.
Thanks everyone for your comments. We love reading them. We will reply to all questions when we get home.