3 Days Wine Tasting in Tuscany: Italy Road Trip to Montalcino and Montepulciano (Part 1)

We are taking our first Italian road trip ever. The most famous Italian region for wine here in Tuscany. We are driving two and a half hours from Bologna down to Val d'Orcia, where the region that we're going to go wine tasting in. We'll uncork the secret of this world-renowned wine region, beats in history and wine traditions. We're going to take you to two towns in this region, Molto Cino and Molto Puccino, to explore some great wineries, as well as try some local Tuscan cuisine. Let's get tipsy, y'all. We just got to the airport, and now we're going to go try to find the rental car spot. We ended up looking through discovercars.com. It's basically like an aggregate for all different types of rental cars. It's speedy after cars. Yeah. The reason we picked the airport is it was almost $100 cheaper to come to the airport to rent the car than to get it from the train station, which is super close to the house. So we have a little bit of time and we're just waiting for them to open so we can grab the car and hit the road. Rental car, where are you? Here she is. Before you leave with your rental car, you always take a video around the outside of it just for evidence in case they try to stick something on you. It's just more of an insurance policy. I haven't driven in like six months. Very strange to be back in a car like this. This is also our first road trip since we sold the RV. Chris will be the sole driver for this. He had his driver's license translated to Italian, which is required. Or you can go through AAA in the States to get an international permit. You are required to do this in Italy. You can't just rent a car without either of these. So you can either have your driver's license translated and sworn or you can go ahead and go through AAA. When you think of Molto Poggiano as a red wine, the one that we're usually more accustomed to in the States is Molto Poggiano Abruzzo. And Abruzzo is actually the region in Italy that Molto Poggiano comes from. This particular Molto Poggiano received the DOC and the DOCG designation when it first came out. It is called Vino Nobile di Molto Poggiano. The other major town in this little area that we're going to is Molto Cino, and they're known for their Brunella, which is also one of the original wines to receive that designation of DOC and DOCG. If you're interested in learning more about the Italian classifications of wine, we have a whole guide on our blog. I'll go ahead and link it in the description below. We just got our first look at Pienza and one of the hilltop towns. It is stunning. The pictures and the videos are never going to do this place justice. I can't even begin to describe how crazy all of these towns are just on the hilltops here. Your destination is on the right. For this trip, we have chosen to stay at an agritourism place. When you think of Tuscany and the beautiful villas, it's essentially that. So it's a private bed and breakfast. It's usually tucked away, not in a major town. We actually have to work half day today, and they were super nice to let us use the kitchen breakfast area so that we can work for a few hours before our room is ready. So we will be here for a few hours. Then we'll move to the room. We'll show you guys around. And then we're going to head out for some wine tasting and dinner tonight. Our accommodations came with a pool, which really had the most epic view of Pienza. While it was way too cold to go swimming, we were able to check into our room. We had a shared kitchen living room area with a room next door. But our room was a great double bed, which had a private en suite bath. We are off of work and we are actually headed to our first tasting. We kind of went off the beaten path this go around. We kind of booked this somewhat last minute. A lot of the wineries were reserved, not a lot of bookings already. We found some unique places that just because they're not the most popular doesn't make them not awesome. Our first stop is actually going to be wine, beer and some food. So we went ahead and did the self-guided tasting. And shockingly enough, on our wine weekend, our first drink is going to be a beer. But here this is an organic farm winery brewery. There are no pesticides or any sort of additives to the actual wine. There could be some sediments in the wines here. We also have a cheese plate and bread. They also have their own olive oil. So this self-guided tasting was 20 euros per person. And we are happy to dig in for our dinner. First up, we have the table beer. So super light and just about three and a half percent, according to the tasting notes here. But it does have some spices and aromas. Kind of gives that Hefeweizen notes to it. Really good starter, though. We just parked the car and now we're going to walk around Pienza. We have dinner reservations at eight. We're going to go see what the town has to offer. So the city of Pienza was actually founded in the eighth century B.C., but it really started coming into its own in the fourteen hundreds. Like most Italian cities, it's got its central square, the Piazza Pio Due, named for Pope Pius II. And then from there, it's got a lot of noble homes and noble buildings surrounding that central square. And the architecture here is really, really influenced by the Renaissance because that was the period in which this city was founded. It actually was recognized in 1996 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for that sole reason. While Pienza itself doesn't actually have a big wine region here like its neighbors, it does actually have a lot of wine bars here that all showcase the grapes of the region. Behind me is the most amazing view of Val d'Orcia. Can't you guys tell when you come here during non daylight savings time or daylight savings time? I'm not sure which one it is. We continue to stroll around until it was time for our dinner at Sette di Vino. Try not to be rude, but be respectful. We're in a very crowded room for dinner. So I'm not going to say much, but we'll show you guys what we get. That was great. In short, there was maybe 12 tables. Handwritten menu. Also, not your typical Italian restaurant either. So no pasta, no pizza. Very, very good. Yeah. And it was cheap. It was like 32 bucks for all of that. No wine tonight. Big wine weekend ahead of us. On that note, we are getting up bright and early tomorrow to go to a magical healing hot spring. And then we're off for a day of wine tasting. Good night. Good morning. It is early. For someone that's on vacation, it's early. We're going to go to hot springs. Whoo. I need coffee so bad. Do you want to try talking? Y'all, we're not even there yet. And the smell of the bass, that like sulfur, rotten egg smell is infiltrating the car. It's cold out. So I'm really hoping these hot springs are actually hot because I'm very cold. I read online that these were actually hot. There are some that are actually closer to where we were staying that were not hot, which is why we drove an extra 20 minutes to get down here. I see lots of steam coming off of it, which is a good sign. We are going to the White Whale. I will tell you more once we get there. It's roughly an eight minute walk from where you park, so it's not super far. Well, it's cold. Like the water is hot right here, but it's cold in general. It's pretty cold out this morning. It was in the 40s. So I feel a little insane. The water is very nice, though, once you're in it and you find a spot to sit. But it is very, very cold. We found a little hot tub area. It's about, I don't know, what, two feet deep? Three feet deep here? It is unbelievable. These hot springs have been known since the ancient times. Archaeological evidence actually shows the Etruscans using these baths for their healing properties. And later, the Romans. During the Middle Ages, a nearby abbey actually used this area for wellness and spirituality, and the monks were known to visit it as well. So my top half is very cold. Bottom half feels great. I do feel very healed. Apparently, the higher you climb, it does get a little bit warmer. We don't really have the footwear. I'm really not up for a muddy climb this morning. We're enjoying it right here, though. A couple of tips, if you're going to do this on your Tuscany trip. One, bring a change of clothes if it is in the fall like it is for us. Being in a wet bathing suit was miserable. We literally just changed in the woods here. Number two, definitely need some sort of footwear. The baths themselves had lots of little pebbles and some slate chips. It was just in general not great to walk on, let alone sit on for a long time. Definitely get here early. We got here at 730. Just a handful of cars. It is now 815, and there are a good bit of people here. We're heading back to the place that we're staying. We're going to get cleaned up. We have a day of wine tastings that we're going to go do in Moltuccino. Founded in 1964, Paradiso di Caccucci sits just outside of Moltuccino. This winery prides themselves on the biodynamic practices with minimal intervention. No herbicides, pesticides. Once they harvest, they even hand pick out the grapes to know which ones are going into the bottles. We just got here for our 1030 tasting, which includes a cellar tour. We are currently tasting two different granellos side by side. This is a vertical tasting. We're tasting the same wine from the same vineyard, but two different years. This one in the sand is a 2017, and this one is a 2015. It was made the exact same way, but because the climate is not part of the controls, it's not the constant, they vary drastically. So even though the winemaker makes the wine identically, they're so different. So with the 15, I'm getting some jam. Yeah, I'm getting like fake jam. And with the 17, I don't know, I get more like a dark berry of some sort, more tart. Both of them are fantastic. And we're going to have a really tough decision to make. Which bottle we're going to get. I thought we'd get both. We are just leaving. It was so good. The wines were great. Our tasting was 25 euros a person. It was actually three wines with snacks, but they gave us tastings of five wines. And one of the wines that we tasted was their Rosso, which is kind of like a little brother to the Brunello. It doesn't have all the crazy standards that the Brunello has, but it still has a lot of the same qualities and grapes. It was a bit cheaper in our price range at around 40 euros for this bottle, with Brunello's coming in a bit higher between the 60 and 100 dollar range, depending on the vintage that you chose to buy. We are heading. Oh, we're heading. Heading. My country was going. We are going up into Montalcino for lunch and maybe another wine tasting. We don't have anything else until two o'clock today. It's right around eleven thirty. The thing about these hilltop towns is there's not a lot of parking. So we've had to walk up this hill. We're still climbing so that we can just get to where the parking meter is. We can pay and then go up even further into town. The ticket machines, the top of the hill, and it requires you to put the ticket in the dash at the bottom of the hill. OK, you go enjoy the city. I'm going to be here the rest of the day. The first documented mention of Montalcino dates back to the eight hundreds. The town began to actually take shape during the Middle Ages. Now, in the 14th century, the same monks that we were talking about in the hot springs had the first recorded documentation of Brunello, which is the wine we just had. Now, as time evolved, it actually started to take shape as a civilization and a settlement here with the help of the grapes. We have limited time here since our tastings at two, and we just found this hole in the wall little pizza place. Nobody was in there. This fresh margarita pizza just came out of the oven and we grabbed four slices. And now we're sitting outside in the piazza. It's a beautiful day about to enjoy some pizza. San Polo was actually founded in 1994 in the original Brunello production zone and is one of the highest wineries in the region at around 1400 feet in elevation. This winery estate spans over 50 acres, with 20 of them dedicated to the DOCG Brunello grapes. Like many of the wineries in the area, they do try to not use as many herbicides and pesticides that it is very environmentally sound and safe and more organic and biodimetric. What is the word? Dynamics. Biodynamic. San Polo was purchased in 2007, and it's actually a team of sisters that are running the winery today. We have a tasting scheduled at this beautiful location, and we are very eager to see what their wine tastes like. Now, if you're interested in where we've been exactly on this Tuscan wine weekend, we have a full blog on our website, and we will leave the link to that in the description below. We had a private tasting with one of the owners, so we didn't really have to tell you guys much about it. We had four different types of wine. We had a Rosso. We had two Brunellos. Table wine. So we had four in total. The cheese plate we had was phenomenal. And this view is incredible. We have vines to my left and this view to the right. And more vines. So, yeah, just vines everywhere. We did buy a bottle here. We got the Rosso. I think I just ate a bug. It's been a day. We are going to try to get to one more place before the sun goes down. We don't have a reservation. We actually know a sommelier in Bologna who recommended it. So we're going to head there next. This place that we're going to, again, completely unplanned. I have no idea if we're going to be able to get in. I texted our friend, who is a Somme, and he said to pick up any bottle of Brunello. He does not care which one it is, but he wants one. So if he wants one at that recommendation, I'm going to say it must be really good. We're totally not supposed to be here. One of the owners came over and was like, can we help you? And I was like, can we just buy some bottles? And they said yes. Apparently, they're only by appointment only. A few moments later. Y'all, they were not open. She was so sweet. Her name's Athena. She came out. She did a tasting with us, and then we got a lot of bottles. One of the most unique things about this winery is they actually age the wine for you. Their philosophy is that you shouldn't buy the bottle of wine, that you have to age it. And it is just mind blowing to me because I've never thought about it that way. We literally got a 2008, a 2006, and I think the other one is an 07. They're doing it out of their house, down into the cellar to do the drink, to do the drinking, to do the drinking, to do the tasting. We did do the drinking in the cellar. I'm not wrong. This wine was so, so, so, so good. It has been such an eventful day. We have dinner now. We have reservations at 730. They didn't have many options for seating, so it was 730. That was amazing. I got the beef tartare, and then I got the tomato soup, which we've had before. It's soup and bread, and it's just really good. And then I got a pasta that had tomato and garlic for the sauce. Oh, my God, it was so good. I got the pappardelle pasta with Tuscan ragu. I think it was tringale, which is wild boar ribs with honey and paprika. So very different than your U.S. ribs, but delicious. It was fantastic, y'all. I mean, highly, highly, highly recommend it. And we're going home. We're going to go to sleep. We had a really big day. We got up super early to go to the springs this morning, the hot springs. And we have a big day tomorrow with some tastings up in Montepulciano. See you tomorrow. In part two, we drive to the medieval town of Montepulciano as we sample the infamous vino nobile de Montepulciano wine. More wineries, cellar tours and wine tastings ahead. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss part two of this video. It's a big adventure with a surprise drink ending. Thanks so much for watching, y'all. See you in the next video.