{"id":1331,"date":"2019-07-30T21:03:19","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T21:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2019-07-30T21:03:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T21:03:19","slug":"brolio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1331","title":{"rendered":"Brolio"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is going to get a little complicated.\u00a0 In the heart of Tuscany\u2019s Chianti Classico region there is a castle named Brolio (https:\/\/ricasoli.com\/en\/<\/a>).\u00a0 It is owned by the noble Ricasoli family and they make wine there.\u00a0 Some of their wines are named Brolio and others are called Ricasoli and some say both, hence the complication.\u00a0 If you want to visit, go to the town of Gaiole and look for signs pointing to either name.<\/p>\n

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The Brolio Castle.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Ricasoli.<\/em><\/p>\n

Power Tasting<\/em> is all about going wine tasting and we\u2019ll get to that in a bit.\u00a0 But we can\u2019t overlook the fact that the tasting room is at the foot of a hill and on top of that hill is a castle.\u00a0 It is a major tourist attraction in the region.\u00a0 It is rather grand, with beautiful gardens, and it is available for tours.\u00a0 There is even a restaurant there where you can dine in some splendor.\u00a0 If your wine tasting schedule allows the time, you really ought to see it.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Chianti.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Brolio\/Ricasoli makes a lot of wines, some of which are available on store shelves in the United States.\u00a0 The best known, naturally, is their Chianti Classico.\u00a0 [A few words about Chianti, since we\u2019re getting a little complicated. Lots of areas in Tuscany make Chianti but only those in a specified region around the villages of Radda, Greve and Gaiole make the Classico, known for the black rooster (gallo nero<\/em>) on the label. A Chianti Classico must be at least 75% Sangiovese and up to 10% Canaiolo, with the rest usually filled in with international varietals. Is the Classico any better than any other?\u00a0 Who\u2019s to say? (Well, Lucie thinks so.) \u00a0\u00a0But it is marketed way better.]<\/p>\n

Brolio\u2019s top wine is the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, which is rarely available for tasting. \u00a0However, the Riserva is there and is definitely worth trying.\u00a0 To our tastes, the best part of a tasting at Brolio are the wines generally less associated with their name(s). \u00a0Among these are their 100% Sangiovese wines, which can\u2019t be called Brunello because they\u2019re not from Montalcino but are made the same way.\u00a0 We particularly liked their Vin Santo dessert wine.<\/p>\n

An unusual attraction of wine tasting at Brolio is the stemware used in the tasting room.\u00a0 They are light and beautifully shaped and add an unexpected pleasure to a wine tasting visit.\u00a0 We thought of buying some and bring them home, but they are so thin and fragile, we changed our mind.<\/p>\n

Overall, a visit to Brolio\/Ricasoli is an event<\/em>.\u00a0 If there were nothing more than the tasting room and the wines alone, it would be very satisfying.\u00a0 There are the castle, the vineyards, the restaurant, the tours which taken altogether can be a bit overwhelming.\u00a0 We\u2019re not trying to discourage anyone from visiting Brolio \u2013 far from it.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that if you want to take full advantage of everything that Brolio has to offer, plan on spending some serious time there.<\/p>\n

One thing that Brolio offers is a sunset tour.\u00a0 We have never done it, but the idea of watching the sun go down over the Tuscan countryside is an attraction we might take up on another occasion, and spend the night in the village instead of driving back to wherever we stayed in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is going to get a little complicated.\u00a0 In the heart of Tuscany\u2019s Chianti Classico region there is a castle named Brolio (https:\/\/ricasoli.com\/en\/).\u00a0 It is owned by the noble Ricasoli family and they make wine there.\u00a0 Some of their wines are named Brolio and others are called Ricasoli and some say both, hence the complication.\u00a0 … Continue reading Brolio<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1334,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}