YAY!! Wine!

Wed 10/4

A lazy day. We got some packing up done, took our stale bread out to feed the ducks... and also several dogs, and the turtles and minnows in the pond. There is also a resident great blue heron that lives at the pond but flew up into a tree when we came.
Our big event was driving to Montalcino where we walked around town a bit before going to Mate' winery.

Montalcino fort

Random Montalcino street

Local wildlife

View from Montalcino

We had read the book, "A Vineyard in Tuscany" by Ferenc Mate' and really wanted to see the place described in the book.

Their home

The author's son gave us a tour of the fabulous property from which you can see the entire coast range of mountains and the island of Elba.

Then we tasted 6 different wines accompanied by lots of snacks....cheeses, prosciutto, a couple types of salami, olives and bread.

Before all the snacks arrived

The wines were absolutely wonderful. And so enjoyable that we bought a case to be sent home. We also asked to see the kitchen because there had been great discussion about it in the book. It was a wonderful homey kitchen with a fireplace for cooking in addition to the more modern stove. We met Candace, the author's wife who also was in the kitchen preparing our great snacks. I didn't get a photo of the kitchen because I was a bit embarrassed at invading personal space.
We drove home to see a gorgeous harvest moon over the agriturismo.

We were greeted by the owner's sister visiting from Venice and had a nice chat before coming in to a small dinner of salad.