| Castello di Monsanto |
All along the gravel path up the steep hill on the way to
Monsanto, there are small wineries with vineyards on
the valley floor. The more esteemed winery estates
were perched high upon the hills with vineyards that
ran down the hillsides as opposed to the bottom of the
valley floor. These must have been the ideal locations
for growing the grapes and you can base that fact,
albeit rather shallowly, by the fact that the hilltop
estates were by far the more grand in scale and
appearance. And one other fact that I learned through
the course of our day was that these hilltop estates
always had the most spectacular panoramic views of
the Tuscan hills. Aye, I never wanted to leave!
Since I knew which two wineries we would be visiting
well before we left for this trip, I did what any good
‘cork dork’ would do and researched the wineries to see
if I could find out about their history, their people and
of course their wines. Upon visiting Castello di
Monsanto’s website, it becomes very clear real quick
that they are a very important winery in Tuscany and
that Laura Bianchi, the owner’s daughter, has become
very involved with the Tuscan wine scene. I was really
glad I did my research ahead of time because it paid
dividends later.
After we were all herded off the buses, a plain dressed
woman with dusty jeans and a big white dog came out
to welcome us. She was very soft spoken and
proceeded to fill us in on a little history of their winery
as well as informing us of what we would be seeing on
the tour. This tour by the way was a wham bam thank
you maam tour! I think we spent a total of just 1 ½
hours there and that included the time on and off the
bus and in the tasting room. I began focusing hard on
our guide, who everyone else assumed was a winery
employee, and realized that it was none-other than
Laura Bianchi herself. I had to run up and tell her
once I had a chance that I knew who she was. I don’t
think she was very impressed and judging from the
picture that Leslie took of her and I, she was less than
impressed with my wine credentials.
At any rate, we got to try three or four of their wines.
Two Chianti’s, one riserva and one regular, a
Chardonnay that was very good and a Cabernet blend
that I did not much care for. Of course both Chianti’s
were excellent, especially the riserva. Unfortunately, we
had about twenty minutes at the end of the tour to
taste them all so I wound up guzzling them more than
contemplating them.
Besides the beautiful grounds and surroundings of
Monsanto, probably the coolest thing about the visit
was their cellar. Talk about gothic! Very dark and
poorly lit. They have a tradition which we all found to
be really interesting. Each time a child is born into the
family, extended not just immediate, they set aside two
thousand bottles of Chianti Riserva from their birth
year vintage and put their picture on the label. These
wines are set up in an alcove in the cellar with a gate
that has their name on it. I have some pictures of a
couple of these. They also had many rooms that
housed older vintages as well. I wish we had more time
to spend there but we were on a time crunch and had to
leave. The buses almost left without me because I was
busy getting pictures of their budding grapevines.
Monsanto, there are small wineries with vineyards on
the valley floor. The more esteemed winery estates
were perched high upon the hills with vineyards that
ran down the hillsides as opposed to the bottom of the
valley floor. These must have been the ideal locations
for growing the grapes and you can base that fact,
albeit rather shallowly, by the fact that the hilltop
estates were by far the more grand in scale and
appearance. And one other fact that I learned through
the course of our day was that these hilltop estates
always had the most spectacular panoramic views of
the Tuscan hills. Aye, I never wanted to leave!
Since I knew which two wineries we would be visiting
well before we left for this trip, I did what any good
‘cork dork’ would do and researched the wineries to see
if I could find out about their history, their people and
of course their wines. Upon visiting Castello di
Monsanto’s website, it becomes very clear real quick
that they are a very important winery in Tuscany and
that Laura Bianchi, the owner’s daughter, has become
very involved with the Tuscan wine scene. I was really
glad I did my research ahead of time because it paid
dividends later.
After we were all herded off the buses, a plain dressed
woman with dusty jeans and a big white dog came out
to welcome us. She was very soft spoken and
proceeded to fill us in on a little history of their winery
as well as informing us of what we would be seeing on
the tour. This tour by the way was a wham bam thank
you maam tour! I think we spent a total of just 1 ½
hours there and that included the time on and off the
bus and in the tasting room. I began focusing hard on
our guide, who everyone else assumed was a winery
employee, and realized that it was none-other than
Laura Bianchi herself. I had to run up and tell her
once I had a chance that I knew who she was. I don’t
think she was very impressed and judging from the
picture that Leslie took of her and I, she was less than
impressed with my wine credentials.
At any rate, we got to try three or four of their wines.
Two Chianti’s, one riserva and one regular, a
Chardonnay that was very good and a Cabernet blend
that I did not much care for. Of course both Chianti’s
were excellent, especially the riserva. Unfortunately, we
had about twenty minutes at the end of the tour to
taste them all so I wound up guzzling them more than
contemplating them.
Besides the beautiful grounds and surroundings of
Monsanto, probably the coolest thing about the visit
was their cellar. Talk about gothic! Very dark and
poorly lit. They have a tradition which we all found to
be really interesting. Each time a child is born into the
family, extended not just immediate, they set aside two
thousand bottles of Chianti Riserva from their birth
year vintage and put their picture on the label. These
wines are set up in an alcove in the cellar with a gate
that has their name on it. I have some pictures of a
couple of these. They also had many rooms that
housed older vintages as well. I wish we had more time
to spend there but we were on a time crunch and had to
leave. The buses almost left without me because I was
busy getting pictures of their budding grapevines.
| Laura Bianchi |
