Lee's Tuscan Odyssey: 50. Greve Wine Festival

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo

So nearly a year after my first wine festival in the centre of Florence, we discover that Greve has its very own wine festival and it's held every September. So I must have just missed it last year as we didn't arrive until November. It is actually only the 12th edition, so it must have only started in 1990.

It's a weekend festival starting on the Friday evening and going on to the Sunday. There are lots of different activities planned and we come down to the square on the Friday evening, where they have set up two huge booths, with the bottles all numbered. We pick up 2 glasses, a ticket which allows us to have 8 tastes and a small booklet where all the wines are listed. I have no idea what I'm looking for! But with about 120 wines on show we're only going to get an idea of what's on offer.

To be honest they are all pretty impressive. I'm tending to go for the 'Riserva' wines as they are usually made from the estates best grapes, aged for 1 year to 18 months in huge Slavonic Oak barrels and then aged for an extra year in the bottle. The Riservas are a little fuller bodied than the basic Chianti Classicos, with some more interesting scents of violets and toasted vanilla. There are wines called 'Super Tuscans' here too, sometimes made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes instead of the usual 'Sangiovese' which is the local grape variety in Tuscany. I'm still getting my head around all this new information...

My top 7 wines at the festival are:

1. Chianti Classico Riserva 1998 - San Andrea
2. Chianti Classico Riserva 1998 - Carpineto
3. Chianti Classico Cetinale Riserva 1999 - Tracolle
4. Chianti Classico Riserva 1998 - Buonasera
5. Chianti Classico Riserva 1998 - Castello di Meleto
6. Chianti Classico Doccio a Matteo Riserva 1999 Carpasa
7. Farnito Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 - Carpineto

(For my tasting notes on these wines see my wine blog )

We have a few tastes left on our ticket and return on the Sunday only to find that they've almost run out! Thank goodness we came on Friday! However if this happens every year then it's a date that I will have to put in my diary!

(Original journal entry 13/9/02)

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

50. Greve Wine Festival

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