I'm not even sure where to begin, so I'm going to start with gratitude. I'm grateful that I live a…read morelife where I was able to take a tour of this picturesque winery tucked into a Tuscan hillside, followed by an absurdly delicious four hour lunch complete with ALL THE WINE.
Look, I've been wine tasting before. I'm cultured. I usually go to the bathroom in the bathroom. But I was completely unprepared for this lunch. Partially because my friends who booked it didn't tell us we were tasting wine at a Michelin starred restaurant (and partially because I was deeply hungover from all the wine I "tasted" the night before).
In any case, I was not at my best when I arrived. But the hospitality here is unmatched. They welcomed us in like we were guests in their home, offering espresso and anything else we needed before the informative and interesting tour of the monastery where they make and store the wine, including the 1000 year old rooms where they used to smoke meat, and store food.
The entire estate is absolutely gorgeous. We were here in May, and everything was blooming. They have an incredible garden in the back which I assume provides much of the produce for our meals, and you can taste the quality and the freshness in their "garden's fresh salad" which was one of the five courses on our menu (that in reality looked and tasted like no salad I've ever seen).
This menu underpromised, and the staff overdelivered. While there were five courses, there were also several bites, and tastes, and dips, and even mini-sandwiches of anchovy and butter and dehydrated chicken essence that blew my mind. By the time we finished the incredible cannelloni with roasted beef sauce, and started on the duck l'orange, we were bursting at the seams. I cursed my mother for instilling in me a need to finish everything that was put in front of me, but I was never not going to eat that airy focaccia paired with the silkiest olive dip you've ever seen.
One of my friends joked (I think), "If they bring us any more food I'm burning this place to the ground."
And of course, every bit of this food was paired with a fabulous wine from their estate. That monastery is filled with bottles of delicious chianti classico, tignanello, barolo, and more. It was amazing. It was excessive. I loved it all.
It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it.