Not only are we lucky enough to live in southern Tuscany, we also happen to live in an area surrounded by fantastic wines!  Today we were going to tour a local favorite, Avignonesi.

The key to visiting many of the "cantine" (wineries) in the area is to call ahead and schedule a tour.  Most of them have websites listing their contact information and many speak at least a bit of English so it can be an enjoyable way to spend an hour or two in the heart of the Tuscan countryside.

The main Avignonesi estate, Le Capezzine, is located a mere 15 minutes from Cortona, halfway between Cortona and Montepulciano in the heart of the Val di Chiana.



Avignonesi literally means "of Avignon" and as you probably can guess, the original founders of the estate came from Avignon in France.  In 1974 the estate was taken over by the Falvo family who turned it into the first class winery it is today.



The entire winery consists of four estates, although Le Capezzine is the estate you will visit if you want to do a tour of the winery and taste a selection of their wines.  The tour starts off with a walk to the vineyards and an explanation of just how the winery painstakingly grows its vines.



The tour is quite detailed oriented and Avignonesi is very proud of the care and science they use to encourage the very best out of their vines.  After a lesson in the vineyard they take you to the cellaring room where the wine is aged.  In Italy the wine is often aged for a period of time in large wood barrels called "botti".



These barrels allow the wine to age giving some nuances of the wood but not as much as smaller barrels would.  They also can be used for many years and are thoroughly washed out in-between vintification.



Regular size barrels are stored in another part of the facility where they also allow a "good" mold to grow in mass quantities, the kind they make penicillin out of.  As disgusting as this sounds, it is a perfect place for aging the barrels as it keeps the barrels moist from the humidity.





The barrels go on and on, stacked up two high, aging in the vast underground of the cantina.  If I could just be left alone here for a little while, what damage I could do!



The building that the wine is aged in is one of the oldest of the estate and dates back to the 1700's.



Above the cantina is another large storage area...



...where the "wine of the saints" is stored.  This is the aging room for vin santo!  Vin santo is a dessert wine made from grapes that have been hung to dry after harvest for several months, which extracts out a lot of the water and in the end makes a wonderful sweet wine!



At Avignonesi they age their vin santo for 10 years, quite a long time to wait.  In fact so much time that it ends up being REALLY expensive and not something you taste at the winery.  Oh well!



Finally, it was time to taste!  Although we have had most of Avignonesi's wine at various restaurants in the area, it was nice to be able to taste them all side by side.



The Avignonesi wines are quite good; one of our favorites is the Desiderio, a Cortona merlot that is really spectacular.  Our guide let us sit and linger over our various glasses and discuss the nuances of each one. It was really an enjoyable tasting! 



We took in the views of from the property out over the Val di Chiana before heading out.  If you are ever in the area I would highly suggest a visit to the Avignonesi estate!

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