Spend as little as half a day in Tuscany to experience a wine tour! Bianca Valerio is your tour guide at Castello Di Verrazzano & Querceto Di Castellina wineries and serves the verdict on which winery ‘served’ best.
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Videos used:
Castello di Verrazzano
Taub Family Selections
Tour of Castello di Verrazzano by Luigi Cappellini
Taub Family Selections
Welcome to Verrazzano! With Luigi Cappellini
Taub Family Selections
Querceto di Castellina: Where Tuscan charm begins & great moments never end
QuercetodiCastellina
Vendemmia 2019
QuercetodiCastellina
[Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning everyone and welcome to Florence we’re here in Castello de Verano where this is actually uh we’re going a wine tour we had gone around like to the seller all basically the the lovely lady was explaining to us the different processes of creating their wine their uh kanteti which is uh famous in this region uh the wine is usually produced between Sienna and Florence and that is where we are today you know when you think of Tuscany it is such a romantic uh setting when you see all these Vineyards you even see the movies and it’s so nice to actually be here to get to see The Vineyards all laid across see they’re like in different elevations there was one room where they had like all these um how would you say very um collector’s items of the family who actually lives here the Castel veranos I believe the grandma is like 98 years old so I’m apart from residence it’s like a part Museum Part restaurant part experiential um type of place very nice [Music] so we’re now going through the tour and all these barrels that you see here they’re really for Museum purposes now like um they uh nowadays they have like machines pressing machines to store them and basically from start to finish it’s just that you know for hygienic purposes and honestly because they’re not as romantic of a site as these ones we’re not going to be showing you or they’re not going to be showing us that part now we are headed to see the private collection of the owner so castella valano the owners actually still live here this is still a resident [Music] [Applause] [Music] so right behind me is the private collection of the family um they’re just for display purposes now because they’re so old that you can’t really drink them anymore so they’re really collector’s item really to collect and not to drink see that all that dust over there and then these bottles over here are basically showing the different types of soil from humidity to the driest cuz it really depends where you are the elevation the type of soil you have to determine what kind of quality or the blend of wine that you’re going to produce this is most humid to driest to [Music] okay I literally don’t really know anything about wines um I’m not even going to try and pretend but I think the whole point of this is for people like you and me who don’t know much about wines together so this is the first um wine that was served to us and although Kean is really a red wine at least from what I learned and um this um this Vineyard or this Winery is known for its red wine because it’s summer and because I think for any person who’s getting into wine you want to start with something really light hence the white wine so apparently this is best like with on a great summer day with um you appetizers um with anything light um with fish and all that and yeah this is something that I’m used to right it’s actually not dry which I like it’s not a very dry wine but it’s also not very sweet I actually think it’s quite perfect they served us a plate of um bread with olive oil we’re not really sure why but I think they also make olive oil here and basam vinegar but here’s a tip for you if you’re going to be drinking especially like us it’s so early in the morning we are running on an empty stomach oil is actually very very good for you and the bread to like soak up that alcohol so um oils actually slow down the processing of sugar in your stomach it actually slows down the the drunken process okay this is the second one that um they’ve served this is the kti classical okay so this one if you notice the glass is a little bit bigger um you can paare this like with Meats again with fish with pastas it’s almost like if the if if the white one was something for a little bit lighter this one you can go with um with a little bit more uh more heavy foods but I personally for me um whichever is uh more comfortable for you because what if it’s too strong for you too dry for you too sweet for you t wow that is really that is really delicious it is such a perfect balance it’s not too dry it’s not too sweet wow that’s amazing it’s actually not very heavy you know when I think of like more low when I think of all these red wines where it gets like really really heavy and speaking of really heavy let me just try to cleanse my palette right here for this one this is what you do when you’re Italian at 10 a.m. have three glasses of wine on an empty stomach have some peino cheese Bal and some Balsam vinegar I’m so sorry guys I’m like coughing cuz um okay so we’re going to put a little bit of that vinegar on that cheese and I asked my sister is that what they told you to do she’s like no but you know what I’m going to do it anyway you know because I still have that flavor of the wine in my mouth it actually accentuates the flavor that punch of that balsamic vinegar and then it’s like that sweetness of that is like Balan or thrown off by the saltiness of the cheese it’s um it’s like a play of flavors in your mouth that’s that that’s actually surprisingly really good very nice [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] oh wow so if you don’t have barrels and usually we know that uh wine is age them barrels you can also age them in concrete it is something I’ve never heard before so the reason why they did this in back in the olden times or I would say olden times but in the past they used to do this as well but it wasn’t really hygienic but now of course with the help of modern technology they’re able to find a way to use Concrete in a more hygienic structured way and the reason why they do this is because the what I think without affecting the tannins and all that it actually makes for a much lighter wine and they call it the entry level wine um I hate to compare but it’s kind of like the wine that perhaps that we had earlier in the other Winery or any wine for that matter that isn’t too heavy earlier we had just come from that room where there were batter and that’s how I know that mine is um uh usually aged and then even very small barrels which weren’t able to see so just imagine the barrels that we saw there even much smaller that’s where Mero is actually age so Mero if you’ve ever had Mero it’s really strong it’s got a real punch to it and so because it’s um only Mero is actually aged in those barrels small so it’s really concentrated concentrated in flavor concentrated in that punch so these steel tanks right here they’re for fermentation and then for red wine which takes a little it takes a little bit longer uh because you also have the Skins um and for the all that magic scientific process okay so right before we have lunch you can see these trees right behind me they’re olive trees although they don’t press their Olive lives here they do it elsewhere because it’s a very small young Winery um it’s only 25 it’s about to only turn 25 years old and then I’m learning that these grapes over here are the local grape I keep forgetting the name santaa damn and then Mero and I’m also just learning that Mero is actually a grape I actually kind of like Mero cuz it it reminds me of a dark beer so um it’s a it’s pretty hard core I I am a fan of the Mero so now that I’m learning it is a grape our tour guide um Aldo was saying that when you drink a glass of wine you know you see all these fancy people are at least trying to be fancy they do that movement they smell and then they taste they let the air in through the glass and all that through your nose and then all that and you know what they say right um we eat and drink um and it triggers memories and and this case when we take that sip of wine and we savor it you see these people like they pause and and they Savor that moment it’s supposed to give you like a backtrack of like I can see the color of this wine is like a a deep let’s say burgundy or Violet so it kind of tells you what grape it is and then when they do that thing and then you see how many waves there are are around the glass it’s supposed to tell you how high the alcohol content is and um it can also probably tell you if it’s a sweeter wine if it’s a drier wine that means the type of soil that uh it was grown in so you understand the history or how it was made through every sip lovely [Music] okay so we are now about to start our beautiful lunch you can see that there are other people who are about to have their lunch tour as well I actually absolutely love oh my God look at this dogs that dog over here is from here he makes friends with everybody okay maybe not everybody but this dog over here yeah they’re making friends super super cute okay so right now we’re just waiting for our lunch to have a better appreciation so you know those things where you have wine with food wine pairing and and um for some people they may not understand whyne you might not be a wine person well that’s the whole point of having um a meal or having um wine with your food like for example in the tour that we had earlier the uh kianti Reserva apparently that wine um is not typically drunk um drank on its own because it’s um maybe for some people it’s quite strong or it’s a certain flavor or a c I don’t know that that people don’t necessarily uh prefer however when it’s paired with the peer your cheese or perhaps with a little bit of the balsamic vinegret it brings out that flavor okay I know this is supposed to be a gastronomic experience but also it’s an educational experience for me handing it down to you okay so we have here our rosé wine this is their entry level wine now of course if you’re wine maker I think if you’re a creator of any sort even as I’m creating right now to share with you we as much as we’re having fun we take our jobs our passions so seriously so here the wine makers here at ketto De castellina they take their wine quite seriously their kanteti wine their red wine so the name of this wine is fil which means sneaky and the reason why they’re saying that is because other than the wines that they take very seriously as much as they take this seriously this is like an ngg that’s a little bit playful a little bit light just to you know EAS in and um ease in that wine experience here we go [Music] Ros it is for me like um a mix of a bit dry a bit sweet a bit floral a bit citrusy and just the color itself it’s absolutely absolutely lovely and it’s so refreshing especially now where we are and the scenery that we have here is absolutely amazing and then it’s actually being served right now with some Ragu lasagna that um Franchesca was actually saying should be paired is can be paired with the white wi with a rosé and our first yeah I know there’s meat so I’m only taking out the top part where there’s cheese M first of all lasagna is already good this is your kanteti classical so it’s earthier to me it’s not really fru it has a deeper flavor perhaps enhanced by the the saltiness of the cheese um this is the wine that’s actually like aged in the concrete the the concrete barrels well they’re not barrels but those concrete containers and the bigger barrels as um bigger barrels as well so yeah this is pretty much like the main product that they have here in this region using the sanesa grape so while we are waiting for the rest of our food well ideally you should finish um this first qu which is the lasagna why don’t I share so earlier in our first um in our first Distillery they served it with bread so here’s a little fun fact that Tuscan bread is actually unsalted now as we know that salt is an antiseptic it’s a preservative it’s um used for flavoring it’s very very strong I mean the fact that you could go to the Dead Sea and start floating because of how um I I I wouldn’t know what the word is inside that and it’s all because of salt so salt truly has a chemical reaction has a very strong chemical composition and so when you mix that with bread and then mix it with wine it totally Alters The Taste and the experience right especially if you are a Bonafide like somaler of sorts so the reason why they serve that bread with us um together with the olive oil is because even if there’s bread it doesn’t actually alter the taste of the wine that we are having now you know Tusk and bread unsalted okay now for those of you let’s say oh I don’t really drink so much wine I’m so scared I’m going to get drunk well Rose’s lighter wines are always just by color alone the lither wines are the ones that are probably for you however I did ask for people like me who care about calories and I’m sure if you’re reading this and you care about calories you would care about this too well first of all uh wine doesn’t have fat although it has alcohol and alcohol turns to Sugar so if you want to know in terms of sugar you are going to find that in the back of the bottle where it’s going to share with you how high the alcohol content is the higher the alcohol the higher the sugar the higher the sugar the more calories so it doesn’t matter what color Rosé white red super red Mero it doesn’t matter what you’re looking for is the alcohol content okay so after the lasagna we are now going to have oh a beautiful shakery board I mean come on holy bananas I mean holy grapes holy grapes wow that is beautiful wow you have two different furino cheese then you have crostini with fresh tomatoes with creamy cheese and zucchini and then you have small bitana onions they are really tasty I love it then you have ham salami and Mortadella with truffles enjoy it so guys so I’m learning right now in this beautiful shuie board the bread with a tomato is your breta BR breta brusketa is the one with a tomato but these ones over here the ones with the cheese and the zucchini that’s not a Brisa this is a cotini so let’s give it a try that cheese is so sweet holy banana that is so good and now we’re having it with the um uh Pian Grand sele this this is a notch above the piante the zerva oh wow it has a sweetness that like is lingering in your tongue even in the back of your throat it’s just like slowly going down that flavor that warm and then you feel like this very cool like Summer Breeze wow that’s amazing very good and then of of course you have your brusketta that I’m learning is usually with your tomato and brusketa you know even the Philippines we have this right let’s have it with a different wine so this is the kianti Classico it’s a little bit bitter for me I admit I find that the kianti Classico is more it’s a little bit more on the dry side right it’s a little bit more on the dry side if that’s your thing so let’s have it now with a pearon cheese could you pour some balsamic vinegar so for me I have a very sour palette I am all about that sour life so just just a dropping of balsamic vinegar well that’s not a dropping but for me that is and and I’m going to have some of that Mero the fio fio is their Mero grape I never really understood when people say full bodied I get it now and now so we learned that when you have a wine glass like this that has you know it’s quite wide you kind of want to swirl it around because you want the air to come in and when you have want the air to come in is because you know like wine that has been just aged in Oak that’s in an enclosed container for quite a while it’s kind of like coming out of water when you’ve been holding your breath for so long it’s it’s refreshing and it makes you feel alive it invigorates you and so it does with the flavor of the wine as well so you do a little bit of this you smell cuz you do want to taste with all your senses amazing so good if I’m going to be super honest between the other one the other Winery and this one I mean the other Winery you know they’ve had a lot of experience they’ve been doing this for a very very long time and sometimes when you do some things for a long time you can do things in your sleep so with that kind of treatment you know it’s it it’s it’s it’s a little bit more you know default just automatic right as opposed to this place over here it’s a new winery I mean 25 years that’s that’s very very young and it felt more homely it felt more warm it felt less intimidating especially for people like me our group where we don’t really you you know we’re no Somali or we’re not like wine Fanatics or know anything about wine um all we can say is oh it’s delicious oh it’s a little bit dry oh it’s sweet but that’s all it is and um this this this this felt more inviting more accommodating not to say that that wasn’t but it was just a very different vibe of between like a bigger company and a smaller I wouldn’t say Mom and Pop shop but like a a younger company that’s fresh and that’s new and is you know trying to pave their way and it’s taking a long for the ride yeah [Music]