Everybody knows the wine from Montalcino. It’s Brunello, pure Sangiovese, always grown in the authorized confines of this small village in Tuscany. Its earliest appearance was at the Tenuta Greppo, home of the Biondi Santi family. The house still stands in the outskirts of Montalcino and so do their wines.
You approach the village up a winding road, just off a two-lane “highway” and somewhat further from a real autostrada. As you approach Montalcino, you’ll see plenty of inviting villas where you can stop for a degustazione of that winery’s production. No one would blame you if you only travelled to Montalcino for wine tasting, but you’d be missing out on a very charming corner of Italy if you didn’t carry on into the town.
We have to admit that parking is a bit of a problem. If it’s a cold, rainy day in December you might find a place to park right by the town walls, but on a beautiful day at harvest time, you must park quite far down the hill and walk. It’s a pleasant stroll, albeit with a lot of climbing up and down the narrow streets of the village.
Among the major attractions of Montalcino, much as you might imagine, are the wine shops and restaurants. We had been advised to dine at Il Grapplo Blu and warned that it would be very difficult to find. Naturally enough, it was the first taverna we came upon and so were way too early for lunch. Il Grapplo Blu has no view over the valley, so we went looking for another place that did. Even in mid-September, the indoor temperatures were so hot that we passed these up and went back to where we had been recommended and had a memorable meal.
On another occasion, we chose to sit outside in one of the two main piazzas, this one right in front of the village’s major church. It was called Bacchus, understandably. A selection of local dried hams and sausages there is well worth a try. Of course, in both restaurants, we had to order a bottle of Brunello. This can be a mighty expensive wine, but most wine lists have relatively affordable bottles to choose from. Now, knowing the names of all those Brunellos is quite another matter, but we were quite satisfied with our choices.
All around Montalcino you’ll find wine stores offering tastings, usually for a fee and always from the producers that shop represents. We chose to save our tasting time for the wineries themselves but others we know have whiled away their afternoons on the piazza in front of the stores.
Like all destinations favored by tourists, Montalcino has its souvenir stores and gimcracks aplenty. But it also has many little boutiques with fashionable clothes and more exquisite (and expensive) handicrafts. They provide something to do other than eat, drink and mellow out under an umbrella in a piazza.
Perhaps Montalcino’s greatest treat (other than the Brunello) is the views you can have from around the exterior of the town. You’ll find your heart in your throat and your camera in your hand, for sure.