Yesterday we took and exciting trip out of Florence to visit the Frescobaldi estates Pomino and Nipozzano. They are on the outskirts of Florence high in the hills. It was a beautiful bus ride through the hills of Tuscany. Fall is in full swing! Even the leaves on the vines were bright yellow and orange.
When we arrived at Pomino we had a private tour around the estate from Diletta Frescobaldi, our professor and member of the family. We saw everything from tumbler that seperates the juices and the skinsto the grapes in a many month long hanging process for Vin Santo to a Italian sized pick up truck filled to the brim with black and green olives! The air smelled so delicious up there. Pomino is one of their smaller estates but it was extremely beautiful.
After a short visit to Pomino it was off to the estate that made Frescobaldi a household name- Nipozzano. We actually go to walk through a few of the vineyards which were on fire with yellow leaves, the smell was indescribeable. Very fresh and earthy- Fall. When we drove to the hill top castle where the wine ferments and the olives are crushed it was like a fairy tale. Diletta even took us into her family's private cellar where they keep their birthday bottles. Each time a new Frescobaldi is born 100 bottles(girls)/300 bottles(boys) of wine from that year are set aside and are available forever in this cellar for the recipient to do with as they wish. Diletta was missing ten bottles! Ha. They are used for special occasions normally. We walked throughout the estate, the house was enormous and beautiful! After walking through quite a few rooms and looking at tons of family portraits we entered one room that was more exciting than all the rest. It was an enourmous formal dining room, table set and all. We got to have a formal tasting.
We tried three different wines, one of which we had already tried in class. This tasting was one none of us will never forget. When else will you be able to say that you sat down in an estate with the God only knows what generation of a 700 year old family!? Diletta is so knowledgeable about her family's history and about all of their wine. It was great.
I am heading to Paris this afternoon after my museum work class(that starts in 20 minutes!!) so get ready to hear all about my weekend adventures in France next Monday :) Ciao
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