The wineries
- tinygynie
- Jul 24, 2023
- 4 min read
This trip I did something I don't do usually...not plan a lot. I wanted to be able to randomly discover things this time. That's incredibly hard for me because I love my adventures and know there is never enough time. Alas, my husband is not a planner, so I've learned to try not to have a big schedule as much as I can.
On our first free day, a bit of a weather bummer, we decided to take the car through the rolling hills of figline and surrounds to find wine, farms, and funky places on the atlas Obscura app. Lucky for us, there was a Sonoma-esque road just outside our villa that goes all the way to Siena the long way if you so chose.
Farm, petting zoo, horses, wine: palagino is a very interesting spot because it focuses on not just organically grown wine, but also horseback riding, hiking, and a full farm complete with a koi pond.
They not only make wines and grappa, but also olive spreads, oils, and accessories. And, they have their own gin, so if you like the herbal gins, this is your jam.
To note, you will think you aren't in right place given the warehouse that leads to the shop. There are a few signs but we doubted ourselves until we saw the tasting room.
Rescconi vineyard
Heading west away from Avilla. There is a road that is a dorred with small wineries which have some published information online and some not. Rusconi was one of those places with a little bit of information online. They have a relatively small tasting room, but with a very nice outdoor area surrounded by vines. They allow you to do both tastings and wine by the glass and have a fairly varied wine selection in comparison to some of the other places that we have been. They also have a small food good area where you can get anything from truffle salt to spreads. I would recommend the piccolo Verde.
Greve
Grave is not a winery, but rather a lovely town on the way west to other wineries. It is a quintessentially cute town with a Main Piazza that includes kitchen, stores, butcher stores, several restaurants, wine, stores, and tasting, and a couple of clothing options. If you venture off of the main course, which we did not really do due to weather conditions that day you can also find things like old, bookstores boutique shops. And much more.
We had lunch in the Piazza which at first we were a bit worried about because the staff didn't really seem to be interested in our being there. The very simple menu of Tuscan classics, however ended up being a perfect lunchtime break on a winery tour day.
There is also a really lovely butcher shop in the Square that not only has every vacuum packed meat. You could possibly think of, but fresh cuts and custom-made cutlery, as well as a large cheese section. Tim and I have been talking about getting sufficient steak knives for quite some time and we were able to find the perfect sit here.
Podere rubino
following lunch we found a extremely small winery on the top of a rather steep dirt hill. It is owned by a wife and husband team, where the wife is actually an infectious disease doctor in Florence and the husband tends to the farm and the grapes.
They are very new at the trade however, they did have quite an interesting variety of white roses and chiantis and Chianti reserves. The owner was very hospitable and very generous with the wine sample pours.
Castello di querceto:
Is there anyone out there that really doesn't want to try wine inside a castle? This place not only has its vineyard selection, but also a castle with several different suites throughout the property. There is a large English style garden with a Koi pond. Additionally, parts of the area overlook the mountain side.
The most interesting thing about this menu is the fact that they have several super Tuscan style wines. There is one that's called quercolaia, that I thought was the best once we have tried so far. And I ordered a case of course. Again, the staff appeared to be a bit standoffish, but that may be because we were the only and we also were there not long before they were planning on closing. We went back the next day with a group of friends in order to further explore the property. Make sure you keep an eye out for the peacock family that rooms around the property as well especially in the parking lot as they have been seen walking out. there a bit.
Castle albola: this place we almost stumbled upon. It has started to rain and we saw the sign and figured it was worth a look. Turns out this beautiful castle winery and hotel wait a good start. They have wine tastings of those for current vintages and also some rare ones if you want to get some thing different. I also have a wine club which of course I had to join. Their Chianti Classico riserva was outstanding
Links:
Greve
Castle albola: Albola Castle
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