Frescobaldi- Castle Giocondo
Finally I write about the other wine tastig which I promised quite a while ago....this time at one of the Frescobaldi wine farms....specifically the Castle Gioconda which also boarders on their other one, Luce.
Why there....might be your first question....Frescobaldi's wine...Remolea nd Lucente is sold on Kim's ship...and hence he was interested in seeing the vineyard. The Remole cannot be visited for tastings and it is north of Florence while the Castle Giocondo is in the Montalcino region...in other words a mere 30 minutes from us....and as mentioned earlier it boarders on the Luce winefarm which produces the Lucente.
Altogether...Frescobaldi has seven wines farms...all but one are in the Tuscany. We decided to have a vineyard visit and afterwards a light lunch (salumi and cheese and brushetta) with three wines.....we were all very excited.
Here is some history....the Frescobaldi family has been in the business since 1318....so almost 700 years....The history of the Frescobaldi family starts over a thousand years ago and is closely connected with the history of Tuscany. At the high point of medieval Florence, the Frescobaldi's spread their influence as bankers, earning the title of treasures to the English crown. A little later, with the flowering of the Renaissance, they became patrons of major works in Florence, such as the construction of the Santa Trinita bridge and the Basilica of Santo Spirito.
Of course while Teresa was taking around to see the wine cellar and explaining the history of the Frescobaldi vineyards, Kim was also very interested in the Luce....and here is some history...
Luce is the result of a project launched in the early 1990s, the fruit of a dream of two leaders in the history of wine, Vittorio Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi. Their common goal was to unite together their individual passionate commitments and their own personal traditions, in order to offer the world a truly exceptional, utterly different wine, grown in the heart of Montalcino. Their sons, Lamberto and Tim, at that time both young winemakers, were the ones who brought into reality their fathers’ vision, uniting together in a magisterial blend, Sangiovese and Merlot, a wine that was given the name Luce, as tribute to an element essential for the flourishing of every new being.
The first two vintages, 1993 and 1994, were released together, in 1997, and aroused enormous interest, fascinated by the innovative character that was the hallmark of this project. Year after year, Luce succeeded in crafting an expression that was uniquely individual to each growing season. Beginning with the 2004 vintage, the direction of Luce was entrusted solely to Lamberto Frescobaldi.
They also said that the Luce and the Castle Giocondo were in the same cellar at the moment...but the new cellar is being built and from next year Luce and Castle Giocondo would both have their own cellars.
Teresa was very knowledgable, explaining the fermentation, how long the wines are in the large barrels which are form eastern Europe to how long the wines are in the smaller barrels, which are from France. Before a Brunello can be sold it has to age for at least 5 years with a minimum of 2 years on wood and a minimum of 4 months in the bottle. The Riserva variant has to age for 6 years before it can be sold with a minimum of 2 years on wood and a minimum of 6 months in the bottle. So the difference is small except that the Riserva needs to be stored for one more year. The wine is usually good to drink after about 10 years.
I think it is time for me to share some pics....
Why there....might be your first question....Frescobaldi's wine...Remolea nd Lucente is sold on Kim's ship...and hence he was interested in seeing the vineyard. The Remole cannot be visited for tastings and it is north of Florence while the Castle Giocondo is in the Montalcino region...in other words a mere 30 minutes from us....and as mentioned earlier it boarders on the Luce winefarm which produces the Lucente.
Altogether...Frescobaldi has seven wines farms...all but one are in the Tuscany. We decided to have a vineyard visit and afterwards a light lunch (salumi and cheese and brushetta) with three wines.....we were all very excited.
Here is some history....the Frescobaldi family has been in the business since 1318....so almost 700 years....The history of the Frescobaldi family starts over a thousand years ago and is closely connected with the history of Tuscany. At the high point of medieval Florence, the Frescobaldi's spread their influence as bankers, earning the title of treasures to the English crown. A little later, with the flowering of the Renaissance, they became patrons of major works in Florence, such as the construction of the Santa Trinita bridge and the Basilica of Santo Spirito.
Of course while Teresa was taking around to see the wine cellar and explaining the history of the Frescobaldi vineyards, Kim was also very interested in the Luce....and here is some history...
Luce is the result of a project launched in the early 1990s, the fruit of a dream of two leaders in the history of wine, Vittorio Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi. Their common goal was to unite together their individual passionate commitments and their own personal traditions, in order to offer the world a truly exceptional, utterly different wine, grown in the heart of Montalcino. Their sons, Lamberto and Tim, at that time both young winemakers, were the ones who brought into reality their fathers’ vision, uniting together in a magisterial blend, Sangiovese and Merlot, a wine that was given the name Luce, as tribute to an element essential for the flourishing of every new being.
The first two vintages, 1993 and 1994, were released together, in 1997, and aroused enormous interest, fascinated by the innovative character that was the hallmark of this project. Year after year, Luce succeeded in crafting an expression that was uniquely individual to each growing season. Beginning with the 2004 vintage, the direction of Luce was entrusted solely to Lamberto Frescobaldi.
They also said that the Luce and the Castle Giocondo were in the same cellar at the moment...but the new cellar is being built and from next year Luce and Castle Giocondo would both have their own cellars.
Teresa was very knowledgable, explaining the fermentation, how long the wines are in the large barrels which are form eastern Europe to how long the wines are in the smaller barrels, which are from France. Before a Brunello can be sold it has to age for at least 5 years with a minimum of 2 years on wood and a minimum of 4 months in the bottle. The Riserva variant has to age for 6 years before it can be sold with a minimum of 2 years on wood and a minimum of 6 months in the bottle. So the difference is small except that the Riserva needs to be stored for one more year. The wine is usually good to drink after about 10 years.
I think it is time for me to share some pics....
Pressing of the grapes
Fermentation
Large Eastern European barrels
Cellar
Wine storage
Kim checking the height of the barrel
Sofia exploring the cellar with her backpack
At let me share one last amazing picture...the Luce cellar...which in fact was locked and has a wine from each of the vintages since they had made the winefarm....quite impressive...have a look....
Luce wine cellar
It was very interesting...we all thoroughly enjoyed it...it all was about an hour...afterwards we made our way to the castle where the wine tasting would take place....let me share some pics of the landscape...I mean what a beautiful vineyard...beautifully manicured...and the castle...stunning.
Views
Views
Castle
Once we arrived at the tasting...my breath was taken away...it was honestly very beautifully presented...5 places were set...with three wine glasses each..beautiful salumi platter, pecorino platter and brushetta....they also had a bottle of their olive oil (what a beautiful bottle); freshly pressed from this year....so very green....with fresh bread....the whole setting was just stunning...let me share some pics...
Tasting
Tasting
Our three wines
Frescobaldi Olive Oil
They gave us three wines, one white and two red...it was a pity cause the white wine was not from this farm and it was in fact very nice and they did not even have it available for sale....I thought that was not very clever, they should have wines which they have for sale....so yes, i would have serve three red wines in this case...anyway....the three wines were poured, then Teresa explained them and then the left us alone for bout 30 minutes to enjoy the food, taste the wines...afterwards f coures if we had questions we could go ahead.....we enjoyed the food...wine and the fire.....They were very generous with the wine...in fact they gave us three entire full bottles...this I thought was very good.....let me share another pic of the beautiful fire...
Fire
After our tasting and food, we made our way to the office where we could do the payment (55 Euros) and where we could also purchase any wines if we desired. This was from both the Castle Giocondo and the Luce farm...also wither normal bottles or Magnums...and yes...we did buy some wines...because the wine is very nice...let me share some pictures from the buying area (rather beautifully presented)....
Luce
Luce
Luce
Lucente
So...all in all this was an amazing experience and I would most definitely recommend it....we definitely want to visit some of the other Frescobaldi vineyards....but for now....time to stop...Kim is soon returning to the ship...let's enjoy the last few days here before he departs....but for now...goodnight.
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