Highlights:
- Verrazzano Winery
- Learn more about Chianti Classico
- Tenuta di Nozzole
To continue our Tuscany adventure, we had planned a proper tour at Verrazzano Winery. It seemed like they had quite a few tourists around, and they have a large layout for tastings for large groups – but of course it was stunning!
Verrazzano is situated between 260-420 metres above sea level which provides a stony soil rich in limestone which provides great growing conditions. On the tour we got to visit the castle and the cellar. The Castle is illustrated above dates back the VII century and then Cappellini family took over at 1958 and restored it to its former glory. Below is the views from the Castle.
We then headed to the cellar which was awesome – dating back to the 16th century – and is a controlled temperature cellar that houses some wine. You can see the Slavonian oak barrels in a variety of different shapes and sizes, which is all part of perfecting the wine creation.
Also in the cellar has a selection of vintages since 1924. There are some personal storage also kept in the cellar – and you can tell below the dusty bottles that are locked away. Let me at the wine! I feel after almost 100 years, I should get access 😉.
After the tour they took us to a tasting area, where we got a few snacks and three tastings; two reds and one white. Their Chianti Classico was one of them. This was a beautiful location – and their bottle had the face of Verrazzano on many of them which was unique.
This remarkable spot spreads over 230 acres, which includes 52 hectares of vineyards. There they grow Sangiovese, but also Merlot, Canaiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and only a small percentage of white grapes. This is another winery that has accommodations on site – maybe we should have stayed at a vineyard instead of Siena… next time!
As promised I wanted to provide a little more about the Appalachian Chianti Classico that can only be grown in the Tuscany region between Siena and Florence. More specifically there are only 14 municipalities including Greve and Castellina which we visited vineyards in that area. This is a rich area with wine being produced in this region for over 2000 years and in 2016 Chianti Classico celebrated 300 years as a recognized wine region of Chianti in the Tuscany valley. The consortium to ensure that wine fraud is prevented started in 1924 and still to this day has a blind taste test to ensure its integrity is not lost!
Our last stop was the extraordinary Tenuta di Nozzole. This is located in the southern part of the Florence province, so this was our last stop before our Airbnb in the city. They grow in their ecosystem of Mediterranean scrubland of course Sangiovese but also Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and more.
The estate was amazing and dates back to 1300, and covers 385 hectares. They grow 15 hectares of olives on their property and it was acquired by the Folonari family in 1971. Their Chianti Classico is made with 100% which is different as most do 80% with mixed grapes for the other 20%.
This had one of the most stunning look off’s with the property riding from 150 to 300 metres above sea level. This also has a Villa you can rent and live on a vineyard for a night – so if you are planning to do busy Florence, maybe take a step away for a night or two and enjoy a the Villa Nozzole.
Tuscany was beautiful. We loved exploring Toscana – this 23,000 square kilometres with a population of about 3.8 million paradise is a must see. Those residents probably have no idea how lucky they are to live in this slice of heaven.
Well our wine day was perfect, with only a few sprinkles it was a perfect day for tasting. Now back to the city. Stay tuned for us exploring Firenze (Florence).
Dates Traveled: June 28, 2022
Up Next: Italy – Florence: Renaissance Architecture
Moira's Travel Blog 