Italy Trip 2016 - day three (Casato Prime Donne, Buonconvento and Siena)

ready for more?  this one will be a little long, since there are three locales... :)


Day Three:  Casato Prime Donne, Buonconvento and Siena)

In my endless research before the trip, I had read a guidebook that mentioned the winery Casato Prime Donne, the only winery owned and operated by women.  Of course, with my interest in gender parity, I knew I wanted to go there, if my travel pals were on board. Thankfully, they were!  Antonella, a rep at the winery, was always available to answer my emails, and I scheduled our tour of the winery for the Monday morning of our trip.  It was a bit rough to have another two-hour drive early in the morning, but, of course, the views were so gloriously spectacular, that we were fine with it.  We even had time to stop at a couple of particularly lovely vistas to take photos during the ride.

Between the car’s excellent GPS and the directions Antonella sent me, we easily found Casato Prime Donne, a lovely spot far off the road, where you have to bump along a muddy road to finally arrive, but it just added to the charm.  When we pulled into the winery’s driveway, we were immediately struck by the gorgeous vistas and the equally gorgeous art installations around the grounds.  We got out of the car, stretched our legs, and ran into Antonella as we were looking for the main office.  She wasn’t quite ready for us, so we took the opportunity to use the restroom and look around a little bit.  After a few minutes, we wandered into the lovely tasting room to start our tour.  Of course, Antonella told us so many fascinating things about the winery and its owner, and I have forgotten most of it.  If you'll indulge me, I'm going to take some text from their website, because I think what they are doing is pretty remarkable (the website is translated from Italian, so please excuse any odd syntax things):

"Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino is a Brunello winery. The property is of 40 hectares of which 16 hectares are taken up by Sangiovese vineyards and the winery for the production and ageing of the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino wines... The vintners are all women, as is the winemaker, a unique situation in Italy, a flagship for women in the wine business...

"Casato Prime Donne is the only winery in Italy with an all-female staff. It has received awards and prizes for its wines and for having contributed to women’s’ presence in the world of wine...

"Cantina Casato Prime Donne has an entirely female staff including the enologist, a veritable flagship for equal opportunity in the wine world...

"Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne, the first red wine with long aging, made by women, selected by a panel of four female super-tasters that choose it and decide when and for how long to age it in barrels. They are Rosemary George, British Master of Wine; Astrid Schwarz, wine shop owner and expert in German Wines; Daniela Scrobogna, sommelier and Italian teacher; and Marina Thompson, Italo-American PR...

"They also sponsor the Premio Casato Prime Donne international journalism and photography competition that crowns the “Prima donna,” a female figure who is either an

example or a help to the female world."

photo credit: Gregg Moore

So, learning all of that, along with touring the facilities to see how they actually make the wine, was fascinating.  We got to taste four wines, from a very young Chianti to a very mature Brunello.  They were all, of course, delicious, as was the bread and cheese that was served alongside.  Antonella was a wonderful tour guide, very charming and quick to laugh.  She not only taught us about the wine, but also about the history of Montalcino (the nearby town) and the philosophy behind everything the owner, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, stands for.  Antonella enjoyed answering our questions, I think, and was simply delightful.  One of her quotes was so especially wonderful, I had to write it down immediately:  "Montalcino passes down three things: tradition, recipes and grudges."  My kind of quote!

After the tour was over, we went back to the tasting room and immediately purchased a case of wine amongst the six of us to ship back home.  I can't wait to drink that wine again.  I may give a bottle away as a Christmas gift, but then again, I may not.  Antonella was a little disappointed we wouldn't be touring Montalcino, but she very kindly gave us the idea to have lunch in the closest village, Buonconvento.  We happily made an unplanned stop there - walled towns are so gorgeous, it was nice to find a tiny one where we had no agenda.  We just wandered around for a bit until we found a restaurant that was open for lunch - Ristorante Roma da Riccardo.  I have to say we had a bit of a hard time with the whole lunch break/late dinner thing.  We kept wanting to eat or shop when places were closed, but I think we got better at it as our trip continued.  Anyway, Ristorante Roma was very unassuming, almost diner-like, but this could've been the best meal of the trip.  I only got bruschetta, since we were going to be driving back to Siena (and it was about an hour away), but it was amazing, as was everyone else's lunch (thanks to pals for letting a gal taste away!).  I think the restaurant was ready to close for their break, but the owner let us take our time and we never felt rushed to leave.  After lunch, we wandered a little more, peeked inside yet another beautiful tiny church, and just enjoyed the sunshine.  Finally, we got back into the car to head to Siena.

We found a good parking spot just outside of the no-parking zone and took a roundabout walk into town.  When you are walking along tiny little side streets and enjoying the quaint smallness of a town, it's quite a beautiful shock to suddenly happen onto Il Campo. What an enormous, spectacular square!  It's where the Palio is run every year, which is hard to wrap my brain around, but it's just 360 degrees of gorgeousness.  Since we only had basically half a day to tour the town, we mainly wandered around and soaked up more Tuscan loveliness.  We did walk up the zillion steps to the incomparable Duomo.  My guidebook had said the basilica itself would be free, but we did have to get a inexpensive ticket before walking in.  

The Duomo is a glorious 13th century church, filled with important paintings and sculptures.  Everywhere you turned, there was something awe-inspiring to look at. Ceilings, floors, walls - the basilica is almost beyond description.  I will admit that at one point, I did think that, 'gee, all the money spent on this church would feed a lot of poor people,' but I quickly drove that thought out of my head.  :)

We spent quite a bit of time in the basilica; afterwards, we did much shopping.  Again, there were so many stores with beautiful handmade products, we could barely stop ourselves from getting a little bit from each store.  I did succumb to the amazing chocolate shop and picked up a few things there.  We stopped at a cafe for some dessert and cafe/cocktail - while we were there, the waiter brought us an antipasti platter, which was tasty.  I was a bit peeved that there wasn't any gelato, but I did enjoy my cioccolata calda (hot chocolate).  On our way out of Siena, we stopped first at a pasticceria to pick up some snacks for later that night and for breakfast in the a.m., then at a small grocery store for other sundries we could use at the villa.  All in all, our afternoon/evening in Siena was a big success, and again, I want to go back and spend more time there.  But it was time for a another twisty-turny drive back to the villa to get ready for our next day (which turned out to be a total improvisation!)...