For the second morning in succession we had to put on Henrietta's heating as the outside temperature was below 3°C. However the skies are clear and the sun is strong so the temperature soon rises and has been consistently in the early 20's.
Whereas the countryside around Asti is dominated by vineyards, the Chianti country is much more mixed with forest, olive groves and vineyards. This, together with the rolling countryside and the Tuscan architecture makes a very attractive scene. Everywhere there are vineyards with signs advertising direct sales, often selling olive oil as well as Chianti.
We visited two hilltop Tuscan towns, the small Panzano and the larger Castellina in Chianti. Panzano was quiet and charming, with its houses crammed into the small hilltop with the church, of course, occupying the highest point. In the square I went into the village butchers and purchased some piquant sausages and stewing beef. We found a path beside the church and set off for a walk that took us off the hill and round at a lower level before we climbed again back to the car park at the edge of the town. The views across the Tuscan countryside and up to Panzano were lovely.
There is a good aire just outside Castellina in Chianti and we used that to park before walking into the town. Castellina is much more popular with tourists but was still quite quiet at this time of the year. We wandered around the town visiting one of the wine cellars, home of Castellina wines but also holding the largest collection of Chianti Classico wines in the world. These date back many years and large catalogues list the wines, dates and prices. I managed to find some Contessa di Radda wine that we bought many years ago on a previous visit to Tuscany. The 1991 vintage was a bargain at €25. If only I had kept our bottles rather than drinking them!
Just outside Castellina we came to a large wine estate where we attempted to buy some wine in bulk but they only sold it in bottles. We explained that we knew that it was possible to fill your own containers at some vineyards but didn't know where to go or how to ask for it. They couldn't have been more helpful. They made a phone call, confirmed that they couldn't do it but gave us directions to the nearest agroturism vineyard that offered the option. They must have detailed the route to us about five times – they obviously thought that we were a little simple! We just hoped that they weren't watching as we drove out of the estate road and turned the wrong way – we decided that we didn't have time to backtrack on our route. Still I had asked for the Italian word for bulk wine sales – sfuso. We had seen signs showing this word but didn't know what it meant. We will look out for more such signs on the journey.
We headed on around Siena (been there, done that but will return sometime) even driving on a short stretch of motorway before travelling south to Casciano. Here we had identified a campsite offering the ACSI out-of-season discounted price of €15 per night. We chose it partly because it was at a convenient point on our route but also because it was described as having excellent views. It certainly has and we found a plot in amongst the olive trees. Our first night in a campsite since we set off!
Photos: The Tuscan countryside – a mixture of vineyards, olive groves and trees with Tuscan houses in amongst; Tuscan chimneys in Castellina in Chianti; the casks of Chianti Classico in Castellina.
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