Just outside the Medieval of San Gimignano is a bustling winery called, Tenuta Torciano Winery, where we had one of the most boisterous and entertaining wine tasting. The energetic patriarch of this 400-year-old wine estate is Pierluigi (Luigi) Giachi who walked us through the art of wine.
Luigi Harvesting the Grapes
First he instructed us to raise our wine glass and examine its shape and explained that a proper wine glass must be 4½ cm across the mouth of the glass, 5 cm from the mouth to the inside bowl of the glass, and 8 cm tall.
He demonstrated by pointing two fingers into the glass on an angle until they reached the bulbous frame. There is a reason. You need a glass large enough to swirl the wine and reach in with your nose to breathe in the wine for more than two seconds to allow the flavours to be released.
We began with a little antipasto paired with a white wine. We were advised to savour the moment and notice how the wine changed with each mouthful of meat or cheese.
This is a family run estate and it was his daughter and son who served us, and Mama cooked the meal. When the salad arrived, the red was poured into a second glass. None of the formality of gently pouring the wine into the glass without touching the rim. No, his daughter plunged the wine bottle into the glass bowl and the wine splashed into the glass with a satisfying glug.
Next course, Ratatouille, and more red wine. “Hurray up. You drink too slow,” shouts Luigi. We tasted 6 red wines and 1 white, each from one of his four wine estates. With each wine, we learned of its heritage, what to look for in the flavour notes, and especially how to drink it.
Whispering to Luigi – No Red Wine on My White Clothes
Luigi called for a volunteer and I leapt to the challenge. Luigi describe the sweet dessert wine that would be our final wine to taste. I realized that I was wearing all white and feared a mishap with a glass of red wine so I whispered to him, “No red, please.”He dipped a biscotti in the dessert wine while telling the story of how a man should woo a woman, then ran the biscotti, drenched in sweet wonder, down the side of my nose and into my mouth.Now that would make it seven wines that we enjoyed in just an hour. Needless to say, Luigi made good money that day as the crowd clamoured to buy wine. Including us. We expect to see six bottles arrive any day now.
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