Tuscany wa
s our destination on Friday and specifically the glorious wine regions of Montalcino and Montepulciano as well as a diversion into the relatively unknown Cortona DOC.
We all made the early start and set off for Poggio San Polo – quite the most stunning winery set in the most extraordinary countryside overlooking the beautiful rolling hills around Montalcino.
San Polo is now owned by the famous Allegrini family of Valpolicella fame and they have invested heavily in a state of the art winery and new vineyards to go along the existing plantings. Giulia Gecchele was a superb host packing in loads of great information and giving a terrific insight into the estate
We tasted the Rubio – a wonderful easy drinking Sangiovese/Merlot/Cab Franc blend; the Rosso di Montalcino – 100% Sangiovese that requires less ageing than the flagship wine; and then the Brunello di Montalcino 2009 – utterly glorious, rich and ripe, superbly balanced with plenty of ageing left to come.
From Montalcino, we wended our way past Montepulciano to the Organic and Biodynamic estate Salcheto for lunch. An amazing winery with some serious state of the art kit and the most incredible natural lighting system I have ever seen.
Lunch was a light four, no I mean three courses – a welcome respite from the excess of Thursday! All their wines are organic and biodynamic and showed great balance and purity.
We finished off at Alfonso Baldet
ti – a pioneer of the Cortona DOC – where Syrah is the principal grape variety. This rounded off a great day as we tasted through their range of Grecchetto, Sangiovese and culminating in their superb Syrah and an amazing 2000 Vin Santo – accompanied by some home made apple strudel. Wonderful.