Thursday 26^th September, 2013

Next morning, the whole group was bussed to Montalcino to visit Poggio di  Sotto Winery

Bart’s two children having fun

Whilst Mummy Louise looks on!

Then into the grape stalk removing area!

We drive past Montalcino, a UNESCO world heritage site.  The landscapes are breathtaking, early mornings as the mist swirls around the vineyards. The hill has been settled since Etruscan times

Dropping the Sangiovese grosso grapes into the shaker for the girls to remove the tiny remnants of stems the other side of that wall!

Our group enjoying the view from the top of the hill

Walking down for a tour of the cellars, where the wine is fed into the maturation casks by gravity.

Brunello di Montalcino – gorgeous colour and wine!

Where’s my glass?

Careful pouring of this expensive wine by the P.R. lady who gave us a great tour

The Brunello wine is actually a rare, precious and somehow difficult wine resulting from the perfect harmony among innumerable elements.  Sangiovese clones are utized to constitute the foundation of vineyards here established in the late 1980s.   The quality comes from the vineyards which are well situated on the south to reach balanced maturation, obtained with the help of drastic prunings and strict selections of the grapes during the harvest time.

Our bus driver is still with us (or Susan should I say)

To take us off to lunch to the hilltop castle in the distance of that first photo above.