Giorno otto

Let me preface this blog entry with the fact that I’m a bottle of wine deep as well as a few glasses of grappa.

We departed Florence this morning to a small town on the fringe of the Tuscan countryside. There we met up with Guido, a farmer who runs his family estate. He makes his living primarily by raising Chianina cattle.These giant, and I mean giant white cows, are what make Bistecca Florentina. His prized bull, an 8 year-old male, was well over 6 feet tall and weighed over a ton. Despite his docile nature and the steel fenced enclosure, I still found myself intimidated by his presence. His sole purpose is to mate with the calves and I would want his job if I was to be a cow, since all of the other males with the exception of another younger bull in training, will end up at a butcher shop within 3 years.

Aside from raising cattle and some organic farming, Guido also has grounds very well suited for the prized white truffles. After spending 2 hours hiking through the lush woods hunting for truffles, I have a new appreciation for the little fungus. Dogs did most of the work as they galloped around sniffing out the white gold. These dogs are bred and trained for this very task and cost anywhere between 3,000€ and 8,000€ each depending on the pedigree. After a few hours, we only managed to find 3 tiny little nuggets, each weighing no more than 7-10 grams. For those of you global warming deniers, Guido blames the tardiness of Fall and the terrible season so far. The woods need a lot of moisture to produce truffles, and his woods, due to weather, still appear to be in the summer months.The fact that no one has been able to cultivate truffles, along with the painstaking and often fruitless process is what sets their high price of around 4,000€ per kilo. Guido’s estate averages around 15K per year but is off to a very, very late start.

Wet and muddied due to the rain today, we then departed for Valpolia, in the heart of the Tuscan Chianti region. Here we are staying at what I believe to be one of the most charming little B&Bs overlooking the valley floor. Our hosts, Martina and her husband (also Guido) were extremely fun and gracious. They are consummate hospitalitarians and great for a good laugh. Martina is a funny, borderline hyperactive woman in her 40′s and Guido, at least 15 years older, also has a very sweet nature and a great sense of humor.

In the late afternoon, Ryan and I hiked through the vineyards as well as the surprisingly dense forest to the town center of Valpolia. This medieval town is so picturesque and perfectly preserved that it looks fake, like a set at Disneyland or Epcot center. Not much going on there so we turned right back, but the hike alone was worth the effort. Besides, I weighed myself a few days ago and I clocked in at 165 lbs clothed, so roughly a 4 lb gain so far. So it was nice, necessary and good to earn my dinner.

After a much needed nap, we spent some time in the kitchen preparing and then eating dinner and shortly thereafter, enjoyed some nice grappa and even better conversation. Tomorrow we have an early start as we will be exploring the ins and outs of Chianti wine country.

AK