Fattoria di Montecchio, Olive oil and Wine

Looking out the main entry.

One of the wonderful things to do in Tuscany is to learn about the magic of the food. As we are not that good at magic we left our significant others to learn that magic, oh and cook the meal at Authentic Tuscany, and we had a taste and tour set up by Silvio of his favorite close proximity winery that he set up for us. Don't get us wrong we fully intended, and were looking forward to consuming said magic Tuscan food upon our return. The winery we were sent to was Fattoria di Montecchio.

This beautiful 18th century Villa is in the heart of the Chianti Classico region and covers approximately 273 hectares. The magestic 18th century house stands on a hill overlooking the small medieval town of San Donato in Poggio.

Looking up the main entry

There is even an old tower that was used for defensive purposes during the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines back in 920. The estate has a wine shop, an olive oil mill and very old wine and olive oil cellars as well as some state of the art production facilities. The estate still makes fine hand made terracotta from the Montecchio kiln that dates to 1700. There is also a magnificent Agriturismo building used for farm stay holidays. We may need to go back and stay! That way we can let you know how comfortable the beds are and how the showers work. You know, doing the hard work.

Silvio told us to ask for Arianna who was ready for us when we arrived. We were to be included into a group she was taking on a tour. While waiting for the tour to start we were shown around the tasting area and got to check out some of the main building facilities. The tour group was from the Tuscany Wine School being lead by Rebecca and they were gracious enough to welcome us along.

Our special tasting setting.

Arianna conducted a wonderful tour of the facilities and grounds and was very knowledgeable about the history of the family and the property. She was also well versed in the wine making and olive oil making processes and was able to convey that information clearly in English with a nice Italian accent.  We toured through the old library storage area and the new production areas and even some of the original barrel rooms with the old cedar barrels. These have been coated on the inside and are now used for storage only. Once we had completed the tour which took about an hour it was time to get stuck into it! We were then on our own as the group had their tasting and we had our own special tasting with delicious and generous tastings of olive oil and wines. Thankfully the olive oil was accompanied by some great Italian bread, or as they call it, bread. We are not big fans of just slurping neat olive oil like the pro's, so the tasty bread was truly enjoyed.

Their wines consist of  Chianti Classico Gallo Nero Docg and Chianti Classico Riserva Docg, followed by two very nice Super Tuscan's. All very good and so we could not help but to leave with one of everything (yeah broke the one bottle rule, again).

If at all possible go by and check this place out or better yet use it as a base to stay in Tuscany for a week. The standard of service, olive oil and wines we experienced were great and we give Fattoria di Montecchio a 'recommend'. Go by and say g'day to Arianna and tell em we sent you.

Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala

How to get there, well here is the info from their web site; http://www.fattoriamontecchio.com/dovesiamo_scheda.php?iddovesiamo=1

Here is how we found them;

Standing by the old Cedar barrels.