My venture

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 ...

Another one...this time...from the 29th October until the 1st November....5 days...full program...in fact quite exciting program.  In fact the first day we wanted to go to a parmiggiano and wine tasting....we arrived 30 minutes prior to the starting time....and....it was fully booked...we did not even know that we had to make a reservation. Of course we were a little bit upset...but oh well...one makes the best, so we explored the festival in the town...all the stands. I must say....i was very impressed...so many stalls...so much atmosphere...from olive oil, to wine, to clothes, to christmas present ideas, to pecorino etc etc...the best was....the roasted chestnuts...this I have only seen in Switzerland and Austria. How lucky...we found one in this tiny village....hahaha...and wow...the whole family really enjoyed it...it was so yummie....let me share a pic... Roasted chestnuts Some of the stalls just had amazing decoration....have a look at this... Terracotta Mon...

Wow....let me start by saying...its hard work...IF you do it ALL by HAND....and yes...that is what our ENTIRE family did.....in the morning...it started with putting the net around the olive tree, not too close to the bark....but not too far out....not too easy...some speculating of where the olives would fall when we shook the tree with the rake....first tree net done...shaking can begin. Some of us hand-picked the olives...others used the small rake to "brush the olive trees "hair"" and one of the family members was using the long rake to "brush the hair".....hard work...and you definitely need patience....let me share some pics..... Laying the net The net laid Kim using the long rake Sofia and I picking by hand Mutti picking by hand Dad using the small rake Sofia using the small rake After raking and hand-picking...it was time to use the baskets to collect all the olives from the nets. This included the gree...