Siena two hour Tuscan wine course

So....this was a pamphlet which I had picked up quite some time ago while walking in Siena and somehow while cleaning...I found it again....I then booked for mom, Mutti and dad as a Christmas present and they LOVED it. They said they had a Finnish lady who was the teacher, named Riikka Sofia and she was brilliant, passionate and knowledgable....so guess what...Kim and I decided we need to also attend this....but again...time was running out before Kim went to the ship...but we managed to squeeze it in....and here is my verdict....

We arrived in the small shop with a few tables at the back...and everything was beautifully prepared....the place matts with the information, the Powerpoint was up and running....bread sprinkled with magic salt and olive oil...and three glasses for tasting (we would be tasting 5 wines).....and a small platter with a few pieces of cheese....I was so excited....let me share some pics of the set up...

Original  Set-up

Set-up without serviette

Riikka Sofia started....giving us some history about Tuscan wines...what I find very interesting was the labelling...VDT (vino di tavolo- table wine), IGT (Indication of a Geographical Typicity), DOC (Denomination of Controlled Origin) and DOCG (Denomination of Controlled Origin and Guarantee)....it is NOT a price indicator and it is not an indicator of quality....rather of production and strictness....the higher up you go on the pyramid, the stricter is the production. DOC and DOCG first came in 1963....and then it was realised the gap between the table wine and DOC was too large and that is when the IGT was introduced in 1992. The map on the pic above shows all the various regions where one can find the IGT, DOC and DOCG areas. 

Some more facts:
  • There are 11 DOCG areas and 42 DOC areas
  • 83% red wine compared to 17% white wine (San Gimignano Vernaccia)
  • Sangiovese grape, the most used in Tuscany comes from Sanguis Giovis which means Jupiter's blood
All in all...there was a lot of facts...where the Chianti region is...why Chianti Classico vs Chianti...where is the Vino Nobile, what is the composition of Brunello etc etc...but I am not going to go into this all.  What I loved was that at the end we actually received the Powerpoint slides by mail...which means I can go and read about it again...love it. 

We first tried the white Vernaccia (San Gimignano), then a Chianti Classico, then a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and then a Brunello (Monalcino)....last but not least a Vin Santo. Of course we did tasting notes for each (also Sofia always changes the wines she serves because she says otherwise she would get bored).....whilst doing all the tasting she also explained about the olive oil and the harvesting as well as the magic salt (magic because no one other than the producer really knows what herbs he added to the mixture). 

Furthermore, the cheese was paired with the wines, of course pecorino....i just loved the course and I would recommend it to absolutely everyone...well, everyone that is a bit interested in wine. It took two hours and was so worth it. Sofia took about 2.5hrs with Kim and me....so definitely no time rush and very knowledgable.

That is it from me....goodnight...let's see what I write about next...maybe the White truffle festival. Cheers.




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