I keep thinking to myself it can't get anymore beautiful, then it does. Today we woke up then drove to Siena for the morning. We walked around the narrow (should-be-pedestrian-only) streets, salivated over the "cheap" prices of leather goods, and sampled Italy's finest coffee in the main square while people watching. We saw several Americans who could have either been preparing for a forty-day fly-fishing expedition (fisherman's hat, binoculars, fanny pack, vests with multiple pockets, etc.) or just really into looking like a tourist. Talk about a bulls-eye on your back for pickpockets.
We grabbed a generous slice of home-made pizza for 2 euros then headed back towards Fiano.
We saw a sign marked "wine tasting" and drove to the estate only to find it deserted. [Europe is different from the States when it comes to the wine industry as wine tasting is a new phenomenon here...it's rare that you find estates open for wine tastings as operations are on a much smaller scale and the wine is still made by a father or son]. We left disappointed and decided to explore a little since we couldn't find an "open" vineyard. We stumbled upon a small town (like a total of three homes and a church) where a grandfather was walking with his small grandson on his shoulders, and next to him an old sheepdog followed slowly but faithfully. We parked the car and Nathan walked towards the old man with one question in mind, where is the wine?
The old man spoke zero English, and as we began to realize our sign language wasn't effective and lose all hope entirely, he motioned us to wait and walked to his quaint home to call for his son. A young man came out of his home with tools on his belt and sawdust on his clothing. He was so friendly and after explaining our predicament, he said 'no problem' and called up his friend who just so happened to operate the vineyard we had stopped in previously that day.
A 1/2 hour later, we met Gianni. Gianni's vineyard was bought by his grandfather in the early 1900s for 20,000 euro. His dad manages the finances, and he and his brother make the wine. He gave us a private wine-tasting, a tour of his manufacturing facility, and a tour of his private villa. We left about two hours later feeling like we had sampled some of the best wines but also like we had made a new friend.
We ended the day with 2 pizzas made by Enrico (the cook from the restaurant below our B&B), a bottle of Chianti, outside while we watched the sun set below the hills and vineyards.
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