Montepulciano

A day of exploring ahead and the 10am departure because 10.30 … and then we were off, to Montepulciano. Larger groups, 7 adults and 2 kids do have some inertia.

Around 1.5 hours later we arrived and started the walk up the streets. Pretty obvious that food and wine is a big focus here, but we resisted while we explored, then eventually found a restaurant. Food was reasonable, but sadly didn’t have wine tasting as many of them do. So after lunch headed back to the tasting rooms … Wish we’d done the wine tour …

The region is known for its Vino Nobile and in 1966 was the first to be recognized as Denominazione di Origine Controllata (D.O.C.) “Vino Nobile di Montepulciano”. Then in 1980 the “Nobile” became the first Italian wine to display the neck-strip of the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (D.O.C.G.) which places it alongside the most prestigious wines in Italy and the world. DOCG means that the grapes is thinned, as opposed to DOC which allows a larger crop.

Bought several bottles of wine from a shop with a very helpful guy, who also new about NZ wines. The style here is drier and less fruity, but superb. Down to another shop which was a single producer, also with a wide variety of foods, including salamis and cheers. Lots of tasting and an amazing shop with many caves or grotos within. Superb!

Back to the car finally and off to , another famous town and known for its world heritage status and its proximity to the production of pecorino a very tasty and local sheeps cheese. Sadly, just as were walking to the village, the clouds burst and the torrential rain started. Hot chocolate break and 30 minutes later it was still going, so our family bailed, back to the car, home via a pizza pick up. Their pizza challenge is alive and well, 5 days and 5 pizzas!