Searching for Wine in Tuscany

I awoke a bit before Jeanette, but let her sleep because she had such a hard time the night before. She didn't sleep too much longer, but even an extra 15 minutes would help. We got up and out of the crappy Hotel Duomo pretty quickly. The aroma of dishonesty goes a long way toward getting me moving. Fortunately, we had no trouble at the front desk and checked out with no fuss.

We walked the bags to the car and then decided to poke around a little for breakfast and a hotel, hopefully combining it into a little Siena sightseeing so as not to waste too much time. We walked by the Taverna di San Guisseppe (check spelling), which is immediately outside the Il Campo Parking, and two doorways down found a quaint looking entrance to a hotel, Residence Il Casato, that we had missed the night before. Jeanette decided to go in and we met an Italian girl who allowed us to view a room on the 3rd floor (we were on zero). We walked up the flights of stairs because there was no lift, but spotted a beautiful terrace and many replica works of art on the way. The floor outside our room (number 4, I believe) was inlaid with a variety of marbles and the ceilings had simple painted designs in the Italian style. The room turned out to be pretty, with a replica of a Venus painting by C?. We opened the shutters and had a gorgeous view of part of the city. For (e)75 instead of the (e)100 the night before, we took it.

Instead of immediately getting our bags, we decided to walk the city a bit. We strolled around for a while, taking photos and watching people, until we found a small coffee shop and had some sandwiches and coffee. I will say that they need more mustard in the country. Three coffees, two sandwiches, and a pastry cost about (e)7. Can't complain about that.

We bought some stamps from a variety store and then headed out to get the bags so that we could go exploring for the afternoon. I had J carry my backpack upstairs while I hefted the large bags one-at-a-time up the stairs. In between bags, I chatted with Mariana, the girl at the desk, and found out that she was from Sardinia, had come for school in Siena, but after finishing the year before felt a bit stuck in the town because she had a job there. She said that she far preferred Sardinia and after her description, I'd like to check it out some day.

J and I found that the 3rd floor back door also emptied onto a street. You won't find that in Denver.

We headed out in the car to try to find wine country using the AAA book. The map in the book is OK, but needs better starting directions to find the wine road. We circled Siena once, then generally found our way in the right direction. Chianti country is gorgeous in March. Rolling fields, muted browns and greens, row after row of both grape vines and olive trees. Misty hillsides. We loved the views and stopped a few times to take photos. Unfortunately, in the dead of winter/spring, we were not able to find any open wineries, though after our Napa/Sonoma/Santa Fe experiences, we weren't too worried about it.

About 1:00 we began to look for food and stopped at one prix fixe place ([e]25] per plate) before finding the Enotecha ____ where they had a great selection of local-style dishes and enough wine to satisfy. We tried a salad, Jeanette had spaghetti with pesto (yum!), I had pasta with a non-saucy ground duck topping (good), and I ordered a soup of the day which turned out to be a Tuscan bean soup (excellent). We matched the dishes with some local Merlot and Chianti and enjoyed every bite and sip.

We decided to try to drive to another part of the wine trail, but gave up after some VERY CONFUSING road signs led us in a loop around the highway. As it was getting late anyway, about 4:00, we decided to call it quits and head the 20 or so miles back to Siena. On the way back we stopped in a PennySaver grocery and found it to be like the Big Lots of Italian food. We bought some small things, but headed back to town.

Back in Siena, we stopped by the room, then headed out to stroll the town. We took a bunch of photos of doorways and vistas and even tried some small cream filled pastries from a bakery. Delicious... chocolate and custard cream. Mmmmm. We found a wineshop where J discovered the stopper devices that the bars used for sealing opened sparkling wine. We bought a couple and then headed out to find a glass of sparkling wine for ourselves.

After walking to the church near the fortress (fortezza), we walked around a bit more and enjoyed the sunset lighting and views of the Duomo. We had planned to walk to the Enoteca Italia recommended in one of the guide books, but decided to stop at a smaller bar recommended by the owner of the wine shop. It was just a quiet bar with a quiet proprietress, but she opened a fresh bottle of prosecco for us and we had two drinks. She charged us 0.8 euros a glass. How can you beat that?

We returned to the hotel so that I could take some meds and get a little spruced up for dinner. That night, I honestly didn't do much... I think I had a sweater and jeans on. Jeanette dressed up a bit more for her last night in Tuscany, sporting her new leather coat.

We headed out to find the Antica Osteria Da Divo, another cave-like, hidden restaurant that was mentioned in Rick Steve's as being a good place for fresh Tuscan cuisine. We had seen the place several times during our wanderings around the town (even last night when we were tired and trying to find the Hotel Duomo). We wandered in and were accepted without a reservation. There was a Japanese family and an older American couple already seated. The staff was attentive and nice, presenting the restaurant well, but I couldn't help but feel that they might have a bit of guide-book-itis after looking at the menu and seeing that the prices were 2-4 euros more than the Taverna of last night, while the offerings were similar. For this meal, we chose to imbibe by the glass, with J having a sparkling white and me trying one of the cheaper Chiantis. I liked my wine a ton -- it had a somewhat more refined flavor than the Chianti of the afternoon -- but Jeanette was definitely satisfied with her sparkling.

When we were seated, we were served four small 'bocadillos,' two vegetable and two little wanton-like things. The small pork won tons were the best. We decided to try a Tuscan salami plate which was very good. Subtle flavors, not too fatty or salty. Not tough. Jeanette's choice for the evening was a butterfly pasta with artichoke presented in a Parmesan cheese form. The dish was served with the pasta very hot and poured literally into a hollow cheese. As the server stirs the pasta, the cheese melts right into it. Yum. My choice was a lasagnetta with boar meat and olives. Very tasty, though I find that my Americanized taste likes more sauce. I'm still not convinced that the olives were a perfect match for the meat and red sauce, but it was good.

We finished up with the Cantuccini con Vinsanto... and were pleasantly surprised to find that the homemade biscotti were excellent. Chocolate, vanilla and one other flavor that escapes me at the moment. The Vinsanto was also a smooth variety that was possibly a bit better than that we had tried in Florence. We were also served an assortment of small desserts: a small lemon tart, a small cream tart, a sugar coated confection of some type, and a lovely crusty sugar cookie that I'll probably seek to replicate some day. It was one of the best flavor/texture combinations of the meal. The meal cost around 55 euros.

We finished up and went for a stroll. There were plenty of people around and we recognized a couple of them, including a somewhat lonely or dour Italian gentleman who ate dinner alone across from us.

Finally, we wrapped up our evening and returned to the hotel to pack up and get ready to leave early in the morning.