Staff Trip to Tuscany: Is that a Church or a Winery?

On our third day in Tuscany our group split up: Jarrod went with our chefs and their partners to visit a famous butcher and I went with our front of house team to visit the winery and medieval town of Castello di Volpaia.

I’ve tasted Volpaia wines, which have been featured on our menu at PRIMI, and I remember riding my bike past the hilltop village during the L’Eroica bicycle race, but I had no idea that inside the stone buildings hide an extremely advanced, state of the art wine making operation.

Our tour guide Francesco first led us up a quiet cobblestone street lined with stone buildings and big, wooden doors. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and opened a little wooden door low to the ground on the side of one building. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Behind this little door revealed pipes that pump wine from one building to the next under the cobblestone street where we were standing. Because the town is on an incline, gravity helps the wine move from what looked like an apartment down to the…church?

“The church is not a church” is explained Francesco. “That house is not a house”. Although the beautiful medieval buildings are perfectly intact from the outside, behind the closed doors are big stainless steel blending tanks and wine barrels. “The church holds barriques where the wine is aged for multiple years”. Then he showed us the key (there is only one) that unlocks the door to the facility. The original key is a another detail of history that has been preserved in the meticulous process of disguising a winery within the stone walls.

He explained that the Volpaia winery owns 80% of the town. “What about the other 20%?” we asked.

“There are still a few private residences, a restaurant and café (refereed to as a “bar” in Italy).” This is what adds to the charm and makes it feel like it’s still a real town. People can stop by the bar for a coffee and panino and you might spot laundry hanging on the line between buildings.

Impressively, everything from grape crushing, fermentation , blending and aging happens inside the village. There is even a bottling room. He explained that in order to preserve the facade of each building they removed the roof to lift giant tanks and barrels into the buildings. This painstaking labor of love has ensured that every restoration respects the original 11th century artistic characteristics. Everything is calculated, down to the size of the oak barrels which are custom made to maximize the space inside.

I should mention that surrounding this hilltop village are rows upon rows of grape vines, all owned by Volpaia. Sitting at 400 meters above sea level, the 45 hectares of vineyards are relatively high in elevation and create a microclimate for the vines that produce elegant and long-lasting reds.

“We have reached our max capacity within these walls. We cannot make more wine, even if there is the demand”. The family is happy to keep it this way and stay true to their dream of this unique design. It would have been much easier to build a big modern winemaking facility in the valley but this was their vision and they don’t anticipate expanding.

At the end of the tour (before tasting a lineup of incredible wines) we were quietly led to a beautiful terrace behind a house that blends in with the rest of the stone buildings. “This is the owner’s house, the Mascheroni Stanti family”. I was impressed that they live right there among all the action and not off on their own hillside, with more privacy. They must really love what they are doing here.

Isn’t that the ultimate dream? To love what you have created so much that you choose to live and breathe your life’s work? Over and over again I am in awe of the passion that so many Italians have for their craft.

Tasting Notes: The visit to Volpaia inspired me to feature their Chianti Classico for our PRIMI Wine Club! See below for my tasting notes and food pairing suggestions:

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico DOCG:

This is a beautiful representation of Chianti Classico and the aromas bring me back to Tuscany. Aromas of bright cherries, dried herbs and sweet tobacco with layers of espresso and rich balsamic. The mouthfeel is bright and acidic with medium body and medium tannins to round out and balance the acid. 

FOOD PAIRING:

The savory flavors, tannins and acidity of this wine make it an excellent wine to pair with food, especially Italian! The acidity in the wine will compliment the acidity in tomato-based sauces and will also contrast rich and fatty meats and cheeses.  Pair this wine with pizza and pasta with red sauce, parmesan cheese, Italian sausage, portabella mushrooms and eggplant parmigiana. 

PRIMI FOOD PAIRING:

Pasta pomodoro with italian sausage or simply the combination board with a variety of Italian meats and cheeses and a focaccia basket with pomodoro sauce.

Cheers! Cin Cin!

Read more about our Staff Trip to Tuscany in previous posts!