Some of the highlights of our Tuscany trip was the wine tasting tours at a few of the wineries in the Montalcino region. One of our favorites was the one at Podere Il Coco Winery. Even though Darren and I live only 36 miles (58 km) from the Napa/Sonoma wine region here in the Bay Area, the wine tasting experience in Italy is so different.
Once we arrived at Il Coco, we were greeted by one of the Bindi brothers/owners of the winery. He brought us into the tasting room and started telling us the history of his family and how they started producing wine since the grandfather’s generation. Now the winery is run by the 4 brothers – Giacomo, Ettore, Domitilla, and Stefano.
After that, we had the opportunity to taste some of their top producing wines: the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Rosso di Montalcino DOC, the Sangiovese, and Rose. I am usually a pinot grigio or rose drinker and not really into reds, but I fell in love with their Brunello and ended up buying 2 bottles and shipping them home!
When you look at the wine bottles of Italian wines, they have a special seal on the neck of the bottle. Those are designations of the wine and its origin which assures the quality of the wine. There are three levels of labels: DO — Denominazione di Origine (designation of origin, seldom used), DOC — Denominazione di Origine Controllata (controlled designation of origin), and DOCG — Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita is the highest classification for Italian wines. It denotes controlled (controllata) production methods and guaranteed (garantita) wine quality.
Hmmm… shaved chocolates go so well with wine:
The bottling and labeling are all done in-house…
We also got a chance to go outside and look at the vineyard and the grapes:
And we ended the tour with a very delicious Tuscan lunch — cured meat, roasted artichoke hearts, homemade pasta and lemon cake. It was such a nice experience and we would totally do it all over again!
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