Wine tasting in Paris, London, & leave a review for Tuscany Wine Events

If you are reading this blog, there's a probability that you might be a little bit like me...

Where ever I travel I try to weave in a couple of wine related experiences - just to get a flavor for the place that I'm visiting.
Lately, I had the opportunity to revisit Paris and London, and I'll tell you about my best experiences (and worst), and finally I would like to encourage any one of you to help me create a

- Tuscany wine FORUM -

for travelers who are headed to one of Italy's most accredited wine regions. So if you have any experiences to share, or a review of a hotel, an event, a tour or anything else, please take a few minutes out of your day to share it with others on the forum "WINEINTUSCANY" http://wineintuscany.forumattivo.com/forum.htm

Paris
Since I started to do wine tours in 2004, I have followed fellow initiater Olivier Magny's start-up in Paris through his excellent web-site and blogs. Finally, a few months ago, I had the opportunity to try one of the classes offered, the "Tour de France". The class takes place in a historical cellar underneath the busy Paris streets, in a very central location and is very easy to find (once you locate the right door within the courtyard).
We sit down in a medieval cave, scarcely lit, at class tables already set up with glasses, spittoons and crunchy French bread. About 20 people from different nations show up for the tasting, and the class begins on time. With just a map as a reference, our wine professor, a fluent English speaking French Canadian wine maker, starts explaining the regions of France, and the educational entertainment carries on for about 2 and a half hrs. Each region is demonstrated with a tasting of a typical wine of the area, starting with Champagne and covering both the East, the West and the South of France. The class was interactive with comments and questions always welcomed by our "wine professor".
All in all, I can highly recommend the experience. Here's the link to the class we did: http://www.o-chateau.com/select-your-tasting.php#TDF

Sorry, I forgot to take photos of this event...

London
Ok, so you might be bewildered by the fact that I wanted to do a wine event in London... The UK is not really famous for wine making - at least not yet! But the Brits are big wine affacinados, so the culture of wine has been present in their own culture for hundreds of years.

In going to London, I had heard of Vinopolis, a huge exposition building on the South bank, close to the renowned Tate museum. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but in retrospect I thought it would be a series of halls of quite interactive and informational activities and tastings related to the World of wines and wines of the World. In fact, I was hoping to have fun and learn something - perhaps by having an expert of the museum show us around or something like that. But, on the contrary, the experience was quite the opposit of expected. The base ticket was around 20 pounds per person, to include a 20 minute tasting session (of 1 obviously sponsored wine) with a lady who sounded more like a tape than a person (!), a free tasting of 5 wines to choose from either Old World or New World to be done at tasting tables served by personnel who didn't have a clue of what the wines were (no kidding!), and a general walk through (not accompanied) the halls, each dedicated to a different wine producing area of the World, but with very scarce information if any.

I kept thinking all the way through, "had I known nothing about wine when I had entered, I would probably have exited even more confused!", so how insignificant and confusing the whole experience would have been. Perhaps I'm penalized by not being very easily impressed, but the whole setup seemed to me much more commercial and only beneficient to the few commercial producers actually publicizing their products there - than actually a true educational experience for the visitor. At the end of the visit (we stayed no more than an hour, because it was agonizing), it was obligatory to pass through the wine shop which I'm sure is placed to tempt the unaware visitor with the wines for tasting in the museum part - providing that the visitor might comprehend what he or she has been tasting...

So, my question is, what is the London Vinopolis really about??? I thought that nowadays the matter of wine was to be demystified with endless information to the consumer in an educative way, not just made more fashionable through cool images and so forth...

I suspect that Vinopolis is about something else...

And so, in disappointment of having spent a few hrs of the holidays, we went to a recommended wine bar, Gordons.

This time around I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of wines by the glass, no explanations here either, but at least you don't expect it to be more than what it is. We did a flight of whites and reds by the glass, had a sit down and talk about them in a great location, and ended up getting a fabulous buffet lunch at a quite reasonable price inclusive of a British cheese plate (very intriguing to me - and ended up being one of my favourite dishes during the trip) http://www.gordonswinebar.com/

Definitely recommend this wine bar in London.

Happy travels, fellow winos!

Launch of new project: The TUSCAN WINE SCHOOL!

It's, of course, with huge joy that I announce the birth of a new project for 2010, the Tuscan Wine School (http://www.tuscanwineschool.com).
In fact, this idea is a result of a growing desire to launch a complimentary activity to the wine tours, and the moment has finally arrived!
Not to worry, I will still be giving wine tours even if I'll be reducing the amount...
I'll still make sure to be your Tuscan host, so when you'll need advice on anything you can still count on me and email me for information. In addition to this, my network of wine tour guides has enlarged and has proved itself to be the best Tucany has to offer so by now I'm surrounded by increadible professionists that I can highly recommend! So let me know, and I'll give you the name of the perfect host for you!
So, I hope to see you the next time you come to Italy, and make sure to tell your friends who might be coming to make sure to come see me and experience this phenomenal new wine event in Tuscany!
I wish you all a happy Holiday Season!

The Italians and their bidet

So this is what cracks up most Western visitors when they visit Italy for the first time. The bidet. It’s not an uncommon question that I get during the tours, as it reflects a cultural difference and the curiosity of understanding its usage is given by the frequent exposure to these objects when in Italy. In fact, bidets can be found in all Italian accommodations, both private and public.

Other European countries, just North of the Alps, don’t commonly have this phenomenon of bidets in water closets. This apparently useless device wouldn't logically have any right to take up space in the Northern countries’ often space-deprived bathrooms. As other Europeans, Italians also suffer from space restrictions. But as it is, the Italians would by no means question the importance of the bidet. In fact, they are terrified when travelling abroad to find no such thing as the bidet and most oftenly conclude that the rest of the World must be living in a deprived state of hygienic primitivity.

So this posting comes from the fact that I often get the question of, “so what’s that extra object we keep seeing in the bathrooms”? Some suggest it’s to wash feet in, others that it might be a mini bathtub for kids, or to hand-wash clothes in. That’s not far off from a reality some years ago when a friend of mine had to wash her dishes in the bidet because she had no kitchen! However, the bidet is intended to provide for personal hygiene, on a daily basis.

Having talked to many Italians about it, I have come to understand that it is common to use the bidet several times a day. I’ve been explained that it might not be necessary to do an integral cleaning (like a shower or a bath) every day, so the bidet helps to spot-clean on non-bathing days. A lot of my friends couldn’t possibly shower every day, as it would take too long, especially if they consider washing their hair…

I’m personally from the primitive North, so this logic was quite new to me. However, I’ve come to see the functionality of the bidet, even though I scandalously have a tendency to fill it up with useless toiletries that have no business in the bidet!

Terroir in Monte Bernardi

On Saturday excursions we are so lucky to go and see enologist (wine maker) Michael at Monte Bernardi who is a biodynamic fundamentalist (positive annotation of the word) and a very attentive-to-detail wine maker in his own estate near to Panzano in Chianti, where it is possible o try some of the best wines that the region has to offer.

The Tuscan Wine Society

Harvest is happening in these days and the grapes are looking beautiful this year. Here's a photo from the harvest last week at San Polino in Montalcino.

And now for some big news that I would like to share with you all. I have decided to transform the company into a cultural association with the new name of Tuscan Wine Society (translated from its Italian name "Associazione del vino toscano"). This means that whoever wants to join an excursion to the Tuscan wine regions now will become a member of the association and also the farms visited during the trips will be associated to the Society. This opens doors for more cultural and in-depth exchanges of agricultural practices and a deeper understanding of the Tuscan viticulture and eno-gastronomic traditions. So I am very happy to announce this transformation and with it believe that the true nature of my educational activities have been defined in a more appropriate manner.

Here's the new logo of the association, hope you like it!

Cork trick for parties

Summer salute

It's got pretty hot in Italy. In fact, as every summer, I feel a little uncomfortable serving reds (Tuscany being famous for these) that in a few minutes warm up to the out-door temperature that hits the 34 degrees… And, as the wine, the heat has made us all warm, a little slow, lazy and perhaps a bit more crazy...
However, the tours are going strong all the same – except for a week’s pause in August when I will be taking my little girl Louise to the sea-side. I’m sure I’ll give you a reportage of that since we will be residing for a whole week in an exciting wine region right on the Tuscan coast; Bolgheri from where you get important Tuscan wines such as Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto, Grattamacco, Paleo, etc.
My personal life has seen some changes in recent times, however, to the positive I do hope. In the meanwhile, I’ve enjoyed meeting the most interesting people through the tours from all parts of the World. My job is truly fantastic and (quietly in my mind) I thank you all every day for having the possibility of doing it!
My best summer regards to everyone!

Additives in wine?

The many kinds of additives in wines is alarming, especially because they are never listed on the label. They are all used as a way to improve an inferior product. The result is a wine-like beverage, not natural wine. Scary enough, most wines available on the market today are merely beverages made from grapes because businesses are failing to do the work to make them a true wine, which takes its time.

Here is a list of 5 additives used frequently in industrial wines:
1. Cultured yeast.
In healthy vineyards with living soils there are plenty of natural yeasts. These native yeasts are also present on the grapes at harvest. The majority of winemakers add commercial yeasts either because their vineyards are not part of a living ecosystem (because they've sprayed too many chemicals on the vines) or because commercial yeasts can add particular flavors to a wine.
2. Enzymes.
Enzymes are proteins added to industrial wines to improve the color, improve the aroma and to make filtration easier.
3. Tannin.
Tannins are often added to industrial wines in the form of powder. Often used in combination with things like oak chips or oak staves.
4. Tartaric acid or malolactic bacteria.
Used to adjust the acid levels in a wine out of balance. This manipulation really would be unnecessary in wine as it is possible for wine to proceed through a malolactic fermentation without manipulating it, but again that requires time.
5. Enhancing the product further.
Many industrial wines are still made with the addition of sugar. Arabic gum is another additive used in industrial wine making (see video below). Many industrial winemakers pump oxygen into the wine, ostensibly to speed the aging and maturation process to make a wine more approachable.

Italians versus other europeans

I don't usually blog about Italians or Italy as such - just because I think there's enough written about it in other sites and blogs. I, however, live right amongst Italians, my boyfriend is Italian and my daughter was born here and goes to Italian school. I very much love my life here in Italy and find the Italians to be warm and wellcoming towards foreigners. However, there's always a "dark" side to any place in the world, and this film underneath describes it very well - LOL!

Should the word "organic" be on the label or not?

In Italy, when a winery officially becomes organic certified - which (like in most countries) takes several years -, it has the right to advertise the words "wine obtained from organic viticulture" (translated from Italian words) in the label, but the labels might not necessarily have this writing on them. I already know a few vintners who couldn't care less about certifications, or for that sake think that the opposit is necessary: the farms that do use chemicals should declare so in the label - since the chemicals sometimes could be life threatening! At this point in time, that is not the case with vintners nor with other producers of vegetables and fruits.
Here's the opinion of an organic winery in Montalcino, the spokesman is a good friend of mine Federico:

Biodynamic - the future of viticulture?

So, have you heard of "biodynamic" wines before???

You've surely heard of organic wines...so, shortly, biodynamic agricultre is sort of a step further from organic - in the direction of being "natural", that is.

In recent years there has been a search for more natural produces including wine, and vineyards are indeed sprayed with many interesting substances that the consumer often is not even aware of.

Basically, biodynamic agriculture follows certain cycles of nature and cosmos such as the moon and position of the planets. Sounds a bit like witch-craft, but actually ancient agriculture always followed the phases of the moon and somehow this knowledge was forgotten about during the industrial revolution in modern agriculture. Today this forgotten knowledge has been rediscovered, tested, and proved to improve farms without having to use any sorts of chemicals, so creating sostainable farms.

Castello dei Rampolla - what a winery!

One of my favourite places in the Chianti region is Castello dei Rampolla. The estate is in the Conca d'Oro valley just South of Panzano. The winery was one of the first in the area to turn organic and biodynamic back in the 90s. Maurizia is a dedicated host and takes time out of her day to wander through the vineyards and answer all the questions of the visitors. The tasting includes some of the best Tuscan wines such as Sammarco and d'Alceo, the latter is a blend of Cabernet and Petit Verdot and quite singular in its class - possibly one of Tuscany's finest wines.

Wine is fun!

As you've probably noticed approaching fancy restaurants with extensive, uncomprehendable (to normal people) wine lists, some people take wine very seriously, some even get snobby about it. But in my opinion, wine is just about the funnest thing I know! It's a bit like art in that sense that there are multiple ways of experiencing it, but we all enjoy it. We had this discussion on the wine tour today, and the discussion resulted in a fun little video that you'll find here below.

Doing the wine tours

How many of us can go: I love my job and couldn't imagine my life without it?!
So, I've been doing the wine tours for 5 yrs now and I haven't got bored doing it yet - on the contrary; every day is like a new challenge and I just love to have the close contact with the wineries and to watch the progress through the year culminating in the harvest in the fall.
Here's a little clip from a wine tour this past week - thought you might enjoy a taste of the tour. Jackie owns a small organic vineyard in the Chianti Classico region and is here talking about the "green harvest" which is done in July to concentrate the grapes.

Cracking the bottle open with a classy touch!

May has come - and it's got to be one of my favourite months, even if it usually passes by in a second because it seems to be one of the busiest months of the year (I'm probably not the only one who's caught on to this beautiful month in Italy!).

This post is dedicated to a little bottle-opening trick that you can soon learn to do (just practise on a couple of bottles before you do it in front of your friends). The important things are 1) that you get a hold of a proper waiter's cork screw (the only proper wine opener if you ask me) and 2) that the wine you are opening has a foil cover (so not plastic).

Judy Witts at Officina della Cucina Popolare!

Cook, teacher, blogger and author Judy Witts and her Tuscan husband came to visit Officina della Cucina Popolare this week. She's just out with her new cook-book "Secrets from my Tuscany Kitchen - Divina Cucina's Recipes" which is also the name of the cooking school run by Judy for many years in Florence. She still does special cooking classes and trips, for example small tours to the markets of Florence.
We're proud to have a her books for sale at our restaurant. Thanks Judy & good luck with your book!
Please see the link above for Judy's impressions of her meal!

Life in a Tuscan town (Colle Val d'Elsa)

Bound to the spot a bit more, I'm experiencing the joy of living in a small Tuscan village and being part of its heart-beat. I'm getting to know the townspeople much better and enjoying the banal everyday events that I was so longing after before. From the noisy street-cleanings in the morning to the observation of the people passing on the streets at the same time of day during every single day. Usually the recognition of you comes with a loud "buon giorno!" even if the weather doesn't always promise the day to be that great this time of year.
All in all, the restaurant is really going quite well and we are so pleased. We fill up with locals in the evenings (late, because Italian only eat after 8 pm).
I hope some of you will come and experience our cuisine! Every Sunday and Monday we organize a tour of our town before lunch. Here's a taste of the tour of yesterday:


Tour of Colle Val d'Elsa from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Interview on NextTrip Radio

http://nexttrip.sbc-inc.net/archives/Shows/Next-Trip-with-Melanie-Cole/-3ATuscan-Wine-Tours/details

http://nexttrip.sbc-inc.net/archives/Shows/Next-Trip-with-Melanie-Cole/Tuscan-Wine-Tours%21/details

Check out my interview on NextTrip Radio!!!

Restaurant "L'Officina della Cucina Popolare" finally open!

We have opened!!! I can't believe it! Finally, after months of frustrating and prolonged renovation, we finally opened the restaurant this week. But the relief of actually having guests coming for lunch and dinner and having a delicious meal is just enormous!

So, if you pass by Colle Val d'Elsa in the future, I hope you'll come see us - even just for a glass of wine!

Here's an initiative that we're running all summer:

Every Sunday and Monday starting at 11.20 am in Piazza Arnolfo in Colle Val d’Elsa.
The tour will go through historic Colle, on a trip that will take you through the Middle Ages and all the way up to recent history, including the back ground of the crystal industry.
An hour and a half later, we will have lunch consisting of samples of typical Tuscan foods at “Officina della Cucina Popolare”. Lunch will be accompanied by a fun wine tasting of two wines of the territory.
Please call ahead to reserve:
(+39) 0577-921796 (Officina) or (+39) 333-7229716 (Rebecca)

2009 - great first tours

Nothing better than ending a long wet winter season with a couple of wonderful tours.

Actually the weather has gotten much warmer and the buds on the trees are the proof; they are sitting there ready to boost open with the first rays of the serious spring sun!

Here's a photo from the other day - it's still lots of fun to do the juming photos. The person who seems to be flying to the left, is Alan and next to him his wife Joan. They were really interesting to get to know as they are spending some years travelling the Mediterranean in their sail boat. What stories - I wish there had been more time to hear them all. Anyway, I have been peeking at their web-site and there's now a really nice review with pictures up from the wine tours last week: http://www.alanjoanhere.com/2009_Italy_Florence3.html

The other exciting news is that we are really close to opening the restaurant. We believe the opening date will be the 14th of March. I will make sure to post lots of pictures both on Facebook as on this blog so that you can see what it looks like. We've got a restaurant blog as well, but so far it's only going to be in Italian: http://cucina-popolare.blogspot.com/ But you can enjoy the pictures there as well. The wine list is what excites me the most (find the link to it here: http://www.cucina-popolare.com/cucina_vini.htm) and is made up by mainly organic certified and biodynamic wines from wineries that have a heart, so to say. What I mean by that is that I've selected the wines both by their goodness but also because we know the vintners and how well they work.

I suppose that's all for now. I better get back to one of my jobs; these days are full of important things to do but it's just so nice to sit down and reflect...

Restaurant in Colle Val d'Elsa

"Officina della Cucina Popolare" (Workshop of Folkloristic Cuisine) is the name of the restaurant that Myself, Nicola and two of our close friends Ilaria and Matteo are going to open hopefully by the end of February '09.

Here's the logo that my friend Raffa has designed (her web-site: http://www.errecomunicazione.it/) and our dream is to really make this a research workshop for popular dishes of the past. The menu will change seasonally and there will be a mix of very traditional Tuscan dishes and other Italian regional dishes.
We're going to select mostly local foods produced organically - the wine list is going to reflect this criteria as well.


All in all, it is very exiting! And I hope to see many of you there in the years to come.

Here we are with the Notaio (notary) signing the constitution of our society. The notary seems to be the happiest as he just earned 1.500 Euro in 15 minutes!!!
The restaurant will be in the old part of Colle Val d'Elsa (our hometown) in the province of Siena. It's a 5 min ride from the highway exit.
Here are the details:
Ristorante Officina della Cucina Popolare
Via Gracco del Secco 86 (Colle Val d'Elsa)
Tel: (+39) 0577-921796
http://www.cucina-popolare.com/ / officina@cucina-popolare.com

Video #33 - Best of Tuscan Wine Tours 2008

The wine tour season is almost over and winter is crawling up on us. In the meanwhile, I have collected some of my favourite video clips from this past year in this video below. The background music is composed and sung by my sister, Tabitha, who's currently studying at the Conservatory in Aarhus, Denmark.
Just a little teaser: Very, very soon I should have some very exciting news to announce - so come back and see me soon!

Video #32 - Making of First Cold Press Extra Virgin Olive Oil w/ Tuscan Wine Tours

I don't think I need to comment much on the following video. I shot it yesterday at my friend's Alberto in Montalcino (http://www.agriturismo-podere-la-fonte.it/) who's one of the few traditional olive oil producers left in Tuscany. The oil is available for shipment everywhere through http://www.tuscany-in-a-bottle-com/.

November

So, November has come with its cooler weather and shorter days.
It is also time for the olive harvest which is very exciting!

All Saints day was spent in the lovely company of Georgia wine tour guests. With permission I'm linking to the wine tour review: http://susancoggin.blogspot.com/2008/11/day-in-tuscany.html


Today, in occasion of my birthday, I took my friends out in the Chianti area and he had lunch in one of my favourite spots "A Casa Mia" in Montefiridolfi.
And these ary my crazy friends and I on a Chianti road (I'm the one flying in the air to the right). The little girl is my daughter Louise who is almost 6.
I shan't speak too much of my own age, but have taken to me the saying on the picture above - a sign found today in a wine bar in Panzano in Chianti.

Video #31 - Brunello solo IN ITALIA!!!

So, apparently the Brunello scandal is coming to some sort of end. Banfi was kind of cleared and has started selling again (for a much more detailed blog about the subject, do see: http://vinowire.simplicissimus.it/)
Here's a little video from one of the wineries I like to visit during the wine tours, Le Chiuse, an organic farm and on this video we are hosted by Lorenzo.

Very funny story from a Tuscan Wine Tour guest

This morning I received this email and I got the permission to post it on-line. It's really funny!!!

"Hi Rebecca
Hope you have recovered from a busy summer.
We had a great time with you and have made many recommendations for people to visit and have a tour - it made a fantastic day out and we learnt a great deal about Tuscan wines (now we scour the shelves of the local wine stores for Chianti Classico's)

Thought we should share a story with you from the evening of our tour!
Well...we were recommended a great restaurant in Florence and booked a table (The 4 Lions..you may know it?)
Anyway - arrived and ordered from the menu - the wine list was extensive, however, having drunk great wine all day we decided to simply order a 1/2 carafe of the house red -
Well it turned up and was awful!
The restaurant was starting to get busy and a couple came to a table next to us...he was a flashy American and she was very 'City' from London. It seemed quite clear that it was a 'hot date and weekend away and that they were only in Florence for one thing!!
So, the waiter came to their table - they gave their order and the American then asked what the best wine they had was - the waiter told him that he had a 'super tuscan' from Ruffino...the one on the menu was a good year 2005, however, they had 4 bottles of 2003 in the cellar. This was ordered and away he went to get the wine.
As you can imagine, our ears pricked up and we started a conversation with them, telling them that we had heard that 2003 was a great year and that we had been drinking some good Super Tuscans during the day.
They were quite disinterested and did not pick up on the converstaion, prefering to gaze into each others eyes and play footsie under the table.
The wine arrived and they simply poured and drank, making no comment at all...very matter of fact etc.
So our main course arrived and their starter arrived. They quickly finished their starter and all of a sudden got up from the table and left the restaurant...Laura said...well they're in a hurry and we both laughed etc, then noticing the half full Super Tuscan bottle still left!
5 minutes passed. The waiters cleared the table, except for the wine.... then 10 minutes and we then started to joke about trying the bottle. 15 minutes later - much to my suprise, Laura then reached over, picked up the bottle and poured us both a glass...placing the bottle back on the table and telling me that it 'was a great waste' and we should 'just try it'.
We both sat savouring the wine when I saw Laura turn white!...the couple were coming back to their table! They sat down and their main course arrived - apparently they had gone outside for a cigarette!!...Well Laura went red!.. They hadn't a clue, just poured more wine into their glasses - didn't even blink! We finished our meal...called quickly for the bill and left!! - We've never left anywhere so quickly in all our lives....
So that's the Super Tuscan 2003 story!

Hope all is well with you.
Best wishes
Paul & Laura"

Video #30 - Tuscan Wine Tours interviews organic wine producer about Sangiovese

This is one of the wineries I like to visit in the Chianti Classico region, so we are speaking mainly Sangiovese grapes. This video is from the 20th of September 2008 and Piero, the enologist (wine maker) presents the vineyards and speaks about the conditions of the grapes.

Video #29 - Late Summer Tuscan Wine Tours' Fantastic Guests

Thanks to all who participated in this video!

Video #28 - Walking Food tour of Florence, part 1 - MEAT!

Yesterday morning I unexpectedly found myself spending some of the morning in Florence and decided to go video the Florentine food markets (Central Market by San Lorenzo and the Sant'Ambrogio food market) with my small handycam.
For those of you coming to Florence and wanting to experience the food of Florence, you should do likewise. Just remember to go in the mornings before 1 pm after which they close.
Hope you enjoy the video!

Video #27 - Tuscan Wine Tour Guest Clips from the Summer of 2008

The summer is proceeding beautifully over here. I was in Denmark last week visiting friends and family which really was a recharging of batteries and I have now come back with new energy for the harvest season.
We expect a nice grape harvest at the end of September and a good olive harvest in November. Remember that it's about time to book your shipment of the Olio Nuovo (the new olive oil) if you would like to receive it before Christmas. Contact me through http://www.tuscany-in-a-bottle.com/ for that.



Great Summer Guest's Clips '08 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #26 - Tuscan wine Tour testimonials - summer 2008, part 2

Time for yet another video featuring the fantastic wine tour guests the past months. Again, thanks to everyone who has contributed ;)

Some news about the Tuscan Wine Year, '08:
For those of you who are wondering what is happening in the Tuscan wine regions this year... Unfortunately, '08 has been the year of the wine scandals, starting with Brunellogate that put a black cloud over the Vinitaly fair in Verona in April. The region is behaving a little chaotic at the moment and we are all attending official news on what is really going on. The attention shifted to Montepulciano for a short while as it was discovered that wineries were using grapes from outside of the region. Again, all has yet to be confirmed by the authorities and many speculations are perhaps leading to false rumours??
Weatherwise, the year thus far has proceeded within satisfactory parameters. Spring was in the sign of rain, and summer has so far been generous in sun hours. The green harvest (selection of grapes on the vines) is about to happen and the exciting season of the grape ripening is about to set in. So far, so good...


Tuscan Wine Tours Summer Testimonials - 2 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #25 - Tuscan wine Tour testimonials - summer 2008, part 1

I apologize once again for my rare postings on the blog, and I really have to thank my great guests who leave me with these wonderful memories - the testimonials:


Tuscan Wine Tours Summer Testimonials 2008 - 1 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #24 - Tuscany Wine Tour testimonials - spring 2008

A few testimonials of some recent wine tours... Thanks to all who contributed!


Tuscan Wine Tours Spring Testimonials 2008 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #23 - Blindtasting of 3 whites by Mastertaster Louise

The busy season has really started and there is practically no time to make interesting videos for you right now. The wine tours and guests so far have been terrific - a great satisfaction that makes me very happy.
Here's another video with my wonderful daughter. She thinks doing these tasting videos is a blast!


Blind tasting of 3 whites from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #22 - Manzo al modo del Macellaio / Beef as the Butcher likes it

Cooking with Alberto - Manzo al modo del Macellaio / Beef as the butcher likes it from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #21 - Cooking with Alberto again - Ribollita

I don't know how to explain to you how happy I am to be able to post these videos from Alberto's kitchen. I'm so proud of what an excellent cook he is and anyone taking this tour will testify to it.

This video is a little long (25 minutes) - I'm so sorry - I will try and make them shorter in the future.
In this video Alberto shows us how to make the best Ribollita soup ever. It's an old Tuscan dish, a hearty soup that you should absolutely try to make!
If you need a list of the ingredients, just let me know...


A Hearty Soup - Tuscan Ribollita from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #20 - A Mastertaster judges Tuscan wine and more...

The season has finally started. It's not necessarily the weather that gives us the indication. The first signs are always the big tour busses out on the highways and the school groups that invade the Italian art cities just around Easter.

We all wake up from our winter daze and start working again. It's a wonderful sensation but also very tiring the first couple of weeks - and of course spare time is limited. For this reason the frequency of new videos will be reduced during the summer - but I'll try and get a few out to you once in a while.

In the meanwhile, I would love for people to comment on the videos. And remember that you can download them on your Ipod by going into Itunes and typing in "Tuscany" as a search word on the top right - you'll find mine called "Rebecca in Tuscany" (there are two - one with just audio and one with the videos).

And now we come to today's video which is not very serious but very special to me as it stars my daughter Louise. Since she was born she has watched me wine taste and she's learned quite a bit. Her smelling and tasting curiosity has definitely develloped a lot. Enjoy!


Mastertaster Louise for Tuscan Wine Tours from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #19 - A cooking lesson in Tuscany "Crostini with Salsiccia" - 3

In this video Alberto shows us how to make his delicious Sausage Crostini.
These are the ingredients:
Rosemary
Garlic
Chili peppers
Olive Oil
Sausages
Wine
Tomato


Antipasto - Crostini with Salsiccia from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #18 - Another Tuscan cooking lesson with Alberto - "Tagliatelle con Capocollo" - 2

This is a fairly simple recipe - the ingredients should all be rather easy to find.
In this episode Alberto prepares the pasta sauce and Marzia takes us through the steps of making fresh pasta.
Name of the dish would be tagliatelle con capocollo and here in Italy it is considered a "primo piatto". This is seriously one of my favourite pasta dishes.


Pasta tagliatelle with capocollo from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #17 - Tuscan Cooking Lesson "Stufato di maiale" - 1

Time for a little break from all the wine videos I have put up recently. I convinced my good friends Alberto & Marzia to host some cooking lessons, so you can expect more delicious recepies up in the next few days.
This recipe is absolutely delicious - stufato di maiale - pork casserole - which is considered a secondo - so a second course. Enjoy!


Stufato di Maiale / Roman port stew from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #16 - My Umbrian Wine Tour

Whichever most beautiful place you live in, it's always refreshing to see another area. So I decided to head out to the neighbouring region of Umbria early Friday morning. My friend Brenda had planned the perfect day touring the wine region of SAGRANTINO DI MONTEFALCO choosing mostly small "garage" wineries.
I met Brenda and her lovely friend Doreen by the town that they live in, Spello. Brenda and Doreen are two expats that after having moved to Italy have found a love for wine just like myself. Their town Spello is a little gem close to the notorious town of Assisi and just North of the wine region that gives birth to the authoctone grape varietal, the Sagrantino.
When I arrived and teamed up with the girls, I felt like I couldn't have been in better hands for the perfect Umbrian wine tour!
These are the wineries that we went to:
- Ruggeri
- Antano
- Paolo Bea (will be available for purchase on http://www.tuscany-in-a-bottle.com/)
- Arnaldo Caprai

Upon request from a wine producer who didn't believe his winery was correctly displayed, the video has been removed.

Umbrian wine tour - Sagrantino di Montefalco from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.
PS. If my video has made you more interested in Sagrantino wines, I recommend you watch Gary Vaynerchuck's tasting episode of 3 Sagrantinos. Here's the link: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2008/01/25/sagrantino-di-montefalco-and-heart-to-heart-episode-394/

Video #15 - Benvenuto Brunello 2008, video 4

This is the last video, alas!
And the question in this video requires a little explanation.
Basically, since I started attending the Benvenuto Brunello festival years ago I always wondered why some of the most "famous" wineries wouldn't attend the event. It slightly irritated me partly because I had hoped to try some wines that otherwise weren't easy to get a hold of and secondly because I thought that the whole idea behind producing a wine with a unique name, so in this case Brunello di Montalcino, and by being members of the Brunello Consorzio should imply taking part of the important initiatives that the latter has to promote the area and the name of the wine.
Apparently this is not the case. Very respectable wineries such as Soldera, Biondi-Santi, Salvioni, Cerbaiona, Salicutti, etc (and from this year Casanova dei Neri & Poggio di Sotto) are some of the wineries that were no where to find on the list of the Benvenuto Brunello wineries. Only 153 out of a total of over 204 (approx) showed up.

SO, my question to some of the wineries that actually were at the Benvenuto Brunello event (you might already have detected that some of the people I interviewed are part of the famous wineries - but who did turn up) was:
"What do you think about the wineries that have chosen not to participate in the Benvenuto Brunello wine event?"
I felt it was a sore question that nevertheless needed to be addressed.
So here are the answers to that:


Benvenuto Brunello Wine Festival February 2008, part 4 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #14 - Benvenuto Brunello 2008, video 3

And so here's the fun question that I just had to ask the producers to see their reaction ;)
What do the Brunello wine producers think about Sangiovese grown in California?
Here's the answer!


Benvenuto Brunello wine festival February 2008, part 3 from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #13 - Benvenuto Brunello 2008, video 2

My second question to the wine producers has to do with the star-system used in Italy (1 star being pretty bad and 5 stars being extraordinary). It seems to me that especially for Montalcino the stars have a huge say on how the market goes for a specific vintage. The 2002 vintage was rated only to stars, but there were wineries who could produce Brunello and wineries that couldn't. And then again there were the ones who decided not to produce Brunello because a lowly rated year would be hard to sell.
The most recent harvest - the '07 has just been rated - 4 yrs before the '07 vintage will actually come on the market. It was rated 5 stars which is the max.
So, my question to the winery owners was:
Do you think that the stars given to the different vintages are fair?


Benvenuto Brunello festival in Montalcino 2008, part II from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #12 - Benvenuto Brunello 2008, video 1

This weekend we attended the Benvenuto Brunello manifestation in Montalcino. It's an annual event organized by the Consorzio and all the producers of Brunello are invited to come into the Fortress of Montalcino to present their newly released vintages. This year's release was the Brunello '03 (there were no Riserva's as the '02 vintage didn't allow for it).
I decided to go and ask the winery owners and producers 4 questions. I regret that I didn't ask a fifth question related to the recent sponsorship that the Consorzio has received from the car company FIAT. In fact, the yearly artistic tile hung up in Montalcino at this time has FIAT written all over it. However, I decided not to become too political and to stick to my original questions.
Question number 1:
In a few words, how would you describe the tipicity of Brunello?


Benvenuto Brunello Wine Festival in Montalcino 2008, part I from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #11 - Follow me in my visit of a Pecorino Cheese maker in Volterra

Volterra is one of those hilltop towns in Tuscany that really is a must-see both because of its ancient history that ties it to the Etruscans and for its magnificent handcrafs. The country side around it is almost magical, vast views that on a clear day will let you see the Mediterranean sea. This area is perfect for keeping sheep and hence it was a natural choice of Sardinian families to settle down in this area when they came over from the island in the last century. They took their cheese making tradition with them and hence the Pecorino Cheese making has flourished in Tuscany.
Here's a video of one of my favourite producers of cheese. My question to you is, what cheese is your favourite? (leave a comment...)


Pecorino Toscano from Rebecca Christophersen on Vimeo.

Video #10 - Last video question to the wine producers at the Anteprima of the Vino Nobile

And so my last question to the wineries is:
"Do you think it is possible to taste the difference between organic and non-organic wines?"
Do you think they agreed?

Video #9 - Third video from the fair Anteprima del Vino Nobile

...in which I ask the producers which place within Tuscany they think that the Sangiovese grape gives the best result...

Video #8 - A second question to the producers of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Here's the second video with comments from the producers to the following question:
"Do you think it could be perplexing to the customer abroad that there is a likeness between the names of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo?"

Video #7 - Anteprima Vino Nobile

This is the time of year when many of the wine fairs take place.
The first I've attended was this past week-end in Montepulciano. My "mission" was to ask the wine producers 4 questions and then confront the answers cutting them together in videos for you guys to enjoy.
So I predict that there will be 3 more videos coming along...

The question in the first video:
"Do you think that the DOC & DOCG regulations are enforcing quality or are they restrictive regulations that effect the competition on the international market?"