Italian wine making on a small scale

Submitted by Don Quilici on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 12:17am
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On Saturday, Oct. 1, four of us (Bob and Lorraine Scholes of Dayton, Nev. and Elaine and I had the opportunity to visit a small vineyard called Corte de Valle in the Tuscany Region of Northern Italy.
It is one of a number of Bed & Breakfast vineyards (large and small) that are located along the Chianti Road between Siena and Florence.
We saw their small sign as we drove past, and on the spur of the moment, decided to turn around and visit there. It was a great decision.

Shortly after we arrived, a tractor arrived with a trailer loaded with fresh cut grapes from their vineyard, and we were able to watch the entire process from unloading the trailer to juice being squeezed from the grapes.
One of the employees told us that this juice would be put in large steel tanks to ferment until next year when the 2011 wine would be put on the market.
He took us into that tank room, and drew off a glass of excellent red wine (Chianti Classico) from 2010 for us to taste.
A great wine at a great vineyard at a great location.
— Don Quilici is Outdoor editor for South Tahoe Now. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.