It's true, the vineyards are stunning and at this time of year, they are just starting to change colour, lovely yellow hues are beginning to appear across the hillsides, its just magical.
Radda is a quiet little town, full of ancient buildings and quaint little shops. The locals are very friendly and welcome tourists from all over the world to their very beautiful part of the world. The town is so ancient that their are many Etruscan tombs and we walked through a small stone thoroughfare that has a sign indicating that it is circa XIV (that says 14!!) A mazing!!
So, this area is all about the wine and food, we have had 2 amazing meals at La Botta di Bacco and enjoyed a number of local Chianti there.
Our first day in the Chianti region was a sightseeing tour to the medieval town of Sienna.. This ancient city has a lot of history and you can feel the stories seeping through the walls of the buildings as you walk past. It was almost like they were whispering their secrets to us as we wandered the city. Our gorgeous guide Barbara (I think the boys took about 1000 photos of her!!) had fantastic knowledge of the town and really came to life when she took us to the Cathedral of Sienna as it was the last day of a rare display of the floor mosaics and she was keen to explain their history and meaning.
The guides on our Italian Cousins tour have been nothing short of amazing. To be a guide in Italy, you must have a tertiary qualification - usually in languages, history or theology and then they are required to study extensively about the region they are guiding in and sit regular examinations to keep their registration, so all of the guides have been passionate and knowledgable and ready to share what they know about their area.....terrific.
Next day, we ventured to the neighbouring town of Castalina where we met Rosaria, who took us for a tour and wine tasting at La Castellina Fattoria. This small winery (about the size of Ballandean Estate) is family owned and has been making wine for generations in the town. Rosaria was great, and took us through a range of thier wines including their Chianti Classico, Chianti Riserva and then explained to us about the Super Tuscan wines and we enjoyed thier Merlot. The wine tasting was fabulous and everyone enjoyed the wine, food and the great information provided by Rosaria.
Our afternoon was spent at leisure enjoying the sounds and sights of the gorgeous town of Radda, all in preparation for our next day at the cooking school.
Cooking school day began slowly, as our chef let us know that the markets would begin late today, so we needed to meet him mid afternoon. The group decided to have a picnic lunch overlooking the picturesque hillsides, so we all had to head to the supemarket to choose some local delicacies.
Lunch was fantastic! Salami (many types), artichoke, olives, gorgonzola, pecorino, pane......it was all delicious and wonderful way to while away a few hours. You might even spot a bottle of Ballandean Estate Viognier in the pictures and it was gorgeous too.
Finally, it was time to enjoy our cooking class with the entertaining Lorenzo and his very talented Zia (aunt) Lorena. We began by taking a walk through the markets with Lorenzo to pick up some eggplant and zucchini and some cheese and salami from his uncle, then off to the kitchen.
The setting for our class was the ancient kitchen of our hotel, Palazzo Leopoldo and we began by preparing some lovely cheese souffle for our entree followed by the gorgeous recipe for cantucci in preparation for our dessert. The afternoon was definately a highlight of the tour and we laughed and created amazing food as well as learning some tricks of the trade from the lovely Lorena. After making our Ravioli, heading to the modern kitchen to learn about the meat preparation and watching the Vin Santo custard being prepared, it was time to sit at the table and enjoy a Chianti before the first course.
What a meal it was, enjoyed even more, knowing that we had assisted in its creation, but the presentation and flavours were outstanding. We would highly recommend Lorenzo and Lorena as they were a fantastic duo to spend an afternoon and evening with....a truly great experience.
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