{"id":657,"date":"2017-07-29T19:46:01","date_gmt":"2017-07-29T19:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=657"},"modified":"2017-07-29T19:46:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-29T19:46:01","slug":"volpaia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=657","title":{"rendered":"Volpaia"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you buy a bottle of Volpaia Chianti (http:\/\/www.volpaia.com\/<\/a>), either the Classico or the Classico Reserva, not only will you get a bottle of rather nice wine (it seems to be our house red these days) but you will also receive a nice little sketch on the label, shown below.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t mind taking a long drive up a steep hill to visit the only winery around for miles, you can see the sketch come to life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The sketch on a bottle of Volpaia Chianti Classico<\/em><\/p>\n

The nearest large town to Volpaia (pronounced vole-PIE-ya) is Radda, definitely worth a visit in itself if you are visiting the Chianti region of Tuscany.\u00a0 It is in the heart of the Classico region where all the best Chiantis come from.\u00a0 (It\u2019s called Classico because it\u2019s from this region, a brilliant marketing ploy on the part of the local wine makers.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing any more classic about it than Sangiovese from other areas of Tuscany, but you do get the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita or “controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin”) label and the other marketing inspiration, the Gallo Nero or black cockerel.<\/p>\n

According to Google Maps, it\u2019s only 7.4 km or 12 minutes from Radda to Volpaia.\u00a0 Evidently Mr. Google looked at the road from a satellite and never drove it.\u00a0 The road is full of hairpin turns and it\u2019s straight up.\u00a0 There are some beautiful views to be had along the way, but the driver (Lucie was driving) won\u2019t be able to look at them and the passenger (Steve \u00a0was), who will, will be more terrified by the drop than thrilled by the beauty.\u00a0 But never fear, they lose very few tourists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the road up to Volpaia<\/em><\/p>\n

And then you get to the village and you understand why you made the voyage up the mountain.\u00a0 It looks exactly like you expect a tiny Italian village to look.\u00a0 There are the villas, the osteria, the cistern and the castello\u2026and that\u2019s about it.\u00a0 It seems that all of this is owned and operated by one family, the Mascheronis.\u00a0 It attracts tourists all right, but it\u2019s no tourist attraction\u2026it\u2019s the rarest find a tourist can make; it\u2019s the real thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Castello de Volpaia<\/em><\/p>\n

And, oh yes, you can taste wine.\u00a0 In a way, it\u2019s a typical wine tasting setup: a bar, some bottles, a young man pouring you some wine and explaining what you\u2019re drinking.\u00a0 But it\u2019s in an 11th<\/sup> century castle!\u00a0 There\u2019s more to taste than Chianti, although the Reserva has been getting good numbers from the rating magazines.\u00a0 There\u2019s a Cabernet Sauvignon that has also been well received, a few whites and a Vin Santo dessert wine worth contending with.<\/p>\n

Walk into the room next to the bar and you\u2019ll get a sense of the centrality of wine (and olive oil) making in this village.\u00a0 The bottles gathering dust are yet another reason why you\u2019ll think you\u2019re in a post card.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wine history, Italian style<\/em><\/p>\n

So now you have to drive down.\u00a0 \u00a0Steve tasted the wines, Lucie being the driver, she had just a sip of the Chianti and said: it tastes like hard cherry candy<\/em> !\u00a0 The young man said, you\u2019re right, that\u2019s what our Chianti should taste !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you buy a bottle of Volpaia Chianti (http:\/\/www.volpaia.com\/), either the Classico or the Classico Reserva, not only will you get a bottle of rather nice wine (it seems to be our house red these days) but you will also receive a nice little sketch on the label, shown below.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t mind taking … Continue reading Volpaia<\/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":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}