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Wine, wine, wine and more wine!

June 6th, 2016 vmoret18

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Since the beginning of our trip, wine has been by our side. The group has had the opportunity to do multiple wine tasting from small estates like Le Fonti and Le Cinciole (where I am currently staying) to more medium size vineyards like Nitardi and also the famous architectural and larger estate, Petra. The tasting have varied tremendously, but the act of tasting and judging wine has showed me how difficult it is to describe and how limited my vocabulary is. Through the different tastings I have learned various terms that could describe wine – bitter, sweet, dry, acidic, nervous, bouncy, tobacco etc., as well as have improved my knowledge on which wines I prefer.

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The experience in Le Fonti and Le Cinciole were different than, per say, Petra, because of the size and quantity of production. Le Fonti and Le Cinciole are smaller vineyards, yet they provide a wide range of authenticity. During the tour, they described the process of picking the grapes, taking them through the various machines and double-checking to make sure everything is flawless. Who would have known that so much work, thought and creativity went into creating a wine? I always imagined it was must have been difficult, but never imagined that creating wines were so complex – from the strenuous amount of work that goes into an organic farm to the fermentation of the grapes in distinct barrels and then bottling. Timing is everything when it comes to wine, from picking the perfect grapes to fermenting them once, twice and up to three times! The complexity of making wine only begins here and can go on forever.

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To keep it short, I have discovered that I genuinely do like red wine, but prefer Rossè, which tends to me is more smooth, sweet and refreshing. Personally, I also learned that I like the Chianti Classico, red wine, specifically from Le Cinciole. Chianti Classico have various regulations and restrictions one being a minimum of 80% sangiovese grapes. The one I like from Le Cinciole is particularly medium-dry, slightly sweet with a short after taste, which is perfect for my palette. I almost forgot to mention, but we went to a wine festival in Radda and it was amazing, with over 15 wine producers from which I learned and took notes of all the great wines I like from the various distributors. As per usual, I like to leave the reader with something to ponder on and today that is, what is your experience with wine and what are some of your favorite wines?

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