Bright and early... well at 7:30 a.m., which for a college student is like the middle of the night, we met near school for our first trip organized by AUR, which we had signed up for on our first day of classes. A Tuscan Day Trip, which consisted of wine tasting, a lesson on making fresh pasta (I'm basically a champ at this point) and consuming more food than I ever thought was possible to fit into my body. No, but really, if you know me you'd be amazed at the amount I consumed.
We spent the day at Fattoria del Colle di Trequanda, which is about 40 km from Sienna and lies in the Chianti region. Our guide of the property explained as we looked at the view pictured above, that certain types of wines can only be produced in certain regions or else it is not truly that type of wine and cannot be named that type. The owners of the vineyard also had a property in the Brunello region, so the property was allowed to sell Brunello wine, as long as it had been grown to packaged in it's specific region. The vineyard was also interesting because it was run by all women. While I may not always be the most "Girl Power" type of girl, I think it's pretty amazing that they have made a name for themselves in an industry where there are only male winemakers and the original reason that they made it all women was because there were no men in the wine-making school that had not already been drafted more or less by other vineyards.
After a tour of the property and a background of history we sat down to taste two types of wine, before noon might I add, then headed on a tutorial more or less on how to make pasta. It was interesting because he didn't use a machine at all like the past two classes I'd taken on pasta making, but I was a little tired so I didn't participate in rolling the pasta.
Then it was off to the traditional Tuscan feast. And yes, feasted is what we did. The first course consisted of a plate of meats, cheeses and really good bruschetta. Next was a thick, flat noodled pasta with chunks of steak like meat in a light meat sauce. They kept bringing around platters of it and offering us more, to the point where they filled my plate three times. For the last time they were like "More?" and I was like no thank you (knowing we had 2 more courses coming) and she was like "You will have more" and filled my plate again. It was delicious don't get me wrong, but my stomach is only so large. Next was chicken. Probably some of the best chicken I've ever had. I don't know exactly what was on it, but my guess was that it was cooked with some stalk and definitely had rosemary. It was served with some potatoes, which may be some of the only potatoes to rival mine and Gabby's mashed potatoes that we make for snacks a lot.
The final course was dessert. It was sort of a pie/tart kinda thing. Not sure exactly what fruit, but a shortbread crust and that was delicious as well. Not my favorite of the courses, but I was so full nothing probably would have tasted good. This whole meal lasted a solid 3 hours and included trying two different types of wines. One was called their Cinderella wine, which was probably my favorite of the day, but after the meal I was ready to get back on the bus and pass out for a nap. The bus ride was only about 2 1/2 hours each way, but I slept for at least 2 of the hours each way, which was nice so that we can get ready to go out in a few hours. Although, the food coma is still in full effect for sure. I probably won't want to eat for a few days at least. I know I always say it, but this time I mean it.
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