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Savouring the Good Life at Borgo di VagliJul 20, 2012
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Gate at Avignonesi Winery
View of Tuscan hills from Avignonesi dining room
Grape crushing machine from the early part of the 20th century
| Monday evening, July 20th Monday night is tradition Pizza Night at Borgo di Vagli, an event that absolutely must not be missed. Returning from Gubbio, we became impossibly lost at the town of Umbertide on the way home and after wasting at least a half hour, we feared that we would not return in time for the olive tasting and apperativos on the front lawn. We made it however with just enough time to change. We joined our friends as well as the architect who created Borgo, Fulvio de Rosa, and the sales director, Lee Cogher and other guests. When we all reconvened in the trattoria, we joined the large table consisting of Fulvio and Lee, our American friends, a couple of British barristers and their wives, and a French couple we had met the year before on our first visit to Borgo. Dina rolled out pizza after pizza, seven in all, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely, with the conversation becoming more animated as the night, the pizzas and the wine wore on. The wrapped up around 11:30pm after dessert, cafe and liqueurs. We chose our personal favorite of course, ice-cold limoncello. Needless to say, we slept well and long that night. Tuesday, July 17th Today we had per-booked a wine tour and lunch and wine pairing at a well known winery, Avignonesi, beautifully situated in the Tuscan hills between Cortona and Montepulciano. The setting is gorgeous, atop a hillside with a road lined with cypress trees winding up to the estate. Avignonesi was established by a family from Avignon in Provence A few hundred years ago and was purchased by a Belgian lady in 2009 and is being converted into an organic winery. It is now fully organic, but cannot advertise it as such until it receives official government accreditation in a few more years. Our tour group was small, consisting of an American couple and a group of five Scandinavians as well as ourselves, led by a charming and extremely knowledgeable young tour guide named Paola. The tour began in the vineyards and continued through some of the cellars, ending with the cellar where the vineyard's famous wine, Vin Santo, must age for years before consumption. It sells for 200 Euros or more per bottle, and even tastings cost 25 Euros each (we passed on that too). Following the hour long tour, we were treated to a fantastic three course lunch, with each course accompanied by their selection of wine (prosecco, white, a couple of reds and muscat with dessert). The restaurant, which is only open for lunch, is beautifully situated with expansive views of the Tuscan hills and the hilltop town of Montepulciano in the distance. Service by the two waiters/sommeliers was out of this world. After a leisurely and enjoyable lunch, we purchased a couple of bottles of the winery's vino mobile made with Sangiovese grapes, for which the area is justly famous. We noticed with interest from the guest book that members of the Saccomanno family from Edmonton, well-known in the Italian community, had visited Avignonesi only the day before. Our return trip was in eventful, meaning that we did not get lost for a change. We had a nap and then joined our neighbors and the other American couple for sunset watching (not very spectacular) and looking for sights of wild boar around the hamlet . At that we were more successful as we spotted a wild boar at dusk not more than 50 feet from where we were sitting under the pergola on the lawn. We were later joined by a couple of ladies from Norway and had an interesting conversation. One of them was very well traveled and had owned a fractional at Borgo since January, although this was her third visit in less than a year. Larry had met her earlier at reception and learned that she was a fan of Andrea Bocelli, who is from Tuscany, and holds an outdoor concert annually in a beautiful natural amphitheater near his home town in western Tuscany. We had briefly considered attending his concert when we began to organize our trip months ago, but the cost of ticket and accommodation packages that were available was prohibitive. The Norwegian lady was also a rabid fan of Leonard Cohen of all people, and already had tickets for her and seven lady friends from Norway to see him perform in the ancient Roman arena in Verona, near Venice in September. We have heard that this is an amazing venue. We later adjourned to our neighbor's outdoor for more visiting, appetizers and wine, where we were joined by the sales director, Lee. We heard some more boars, and called over the Norwegians, who were our neighbours on the other side and who desperately wanted to see a wild boar, but we never spotted the boar. Wednesday, July 18th Today was our last full day at Borgo and we chose to take it easy and enjoy the surroundings, resting, catching up on Lorraine's diary and our trip journal, going on a short hike, lazing around the pool. We spent our last evening dining at the trattoria with our four American friends, Lee and the French couple (who seemed to eat at the trattoria every night). We spent an enjoyable evening dining on Dina's always great food, conversing, toasting new friendships and exchanging email addresses. |
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