What better way to kick off your weekend then a trip to a local vineyard! My Italian Style Cooking course took a field trip this Friday to a local vineyard called Fattoria San Donato in San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a Tuscan town famous for wine and only an hour or so from Florence.
This vineyard is a small village from the 1100s. Not only do they produce their own wine and olive oil, but visitors can even stay in gorgeous apartments on the premises.
Here's a picture of one of the apartments visitors have the options of staying in. The place itself was stunning, it was honestly from a movie. Everywhere you looked you could see over the rolling hills of Tuscany and endless rows of purple grapes.
I was expecting a long tour of the vineyard and the wine making process similar to the one I had last weekend in Verona, but this was a much different kind of field trip. On this field trip we were greeted by a member of the Fenzi family who owns the vineyard. He explained that all of the wines they produced are named after his family members including his wife, three daughters and parents. Adorable right? If there's one thing I've really learned about the Italian culture is their love for family and tradition.
He took us into one of the buildings where we drank the vineyards white wine and Chianti and ate everything. Our teacher told us we'd be having a small bite to eat. If you can't tell by the amount of the food on the table, the Italian idea of a small bite to eat is much different then our own.
And those stunning view of the rolling hills of Tuscany I was talking about?
I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the grounds of the vineyard and welcoming Fall the Italian way. Few pumpkins and no scarecrows, but the views totally make up for it!
Nothing quite like spending Friday under the Tuscan sun!
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