Tuesday, 7th October - En route

We leave Rome this morning by coach for Tuscany a couple hours to the north of us.

Our winery stop of the day is at one of the flagship producers of Tuscany -Avignonesi Winery close to the Umbrian border.  A Belgian lady, Virginie Saverys took over the winery and began using biodynamic methods to produce their Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

They use two methods of compost - cow manure packed into cow horns and buried in the ground then soaked in rain water and later sprayed into the ground.  Secondly they crush quartz which they then pack into cow horns and rinse in rain water, but this time they spray it onto the leaves of the vines.

We visit the first room quickly entering so as not to let in fruit flies.  It is packed with white and red grapes laying out to dry  for five months on bamboo shelves - floor to ceiling.  The temperature is -3 below freezing.  Once dried the grapes will be transferred to Croatian oak barrels and aged for ten years.  Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes make up a most exotic Vin Santo.

Their super Tuscan wines are aged for three years.  In 1998 an experiment was carried out using a 50/50 mix of Merlot and Sangiovese grapes.  Each were aged separately for one year before being blended and aged for a further two years.

Avignonesi also produce their own olive oil which we savored on our bread, albeit Tuscan bread which is devoid of salt!

We lunched at one long table and tasted five different wines with five delicious courses of food - lunch, therefore, lasting quite a long time.  We presented our Winegeese book to the proprietor, and after purchases were made in the wine shop we were on our way.

One hours' sleep in the bus and we arrived in the borgo of San Felice and our Relais Chateaux home for the next few days.

A very important induction ceremony was held just before dinner on the terrace of our restaurant - that of John Fitzpatrick - the AIF board chair finally joined this prestigious Winegeese!

Dinner tonight was in La Terrazza restaurant in the borgo - a bit of a disappointment, however, after our lovely lunch!  But no matter - the company was great as always!