Agricola Buccelletti

Last summer before we left San Diego, Michele Buccelletti gave a presentation to our House of Italy group about about his family's estate in the Val di Chio near Castiglion Fiorentino.  This week we visited the estate and heard a fascinating story.  The estate has been in the family since 1625, producing wine and olive oil over most of that period, but fell into disuse in the 20th century.  Michele's mother Lidia and her sister-in-law Roberta saw the opportunity for boutique wine and gourmet olive oil production, as well as agri-tourism, and set out to restore the estate.  They started by doing serious homework, studying winemaking in France and California's Napa and Sonoma valleys. Coming back to Val di Chio, they met resistance as the only woman winemakers in the region with untraditional ideas about organic farming and fruit selectivity.  Lidia told us their first year, 1996, "was vinegar."  In 1999 they achieved a decent wine, and in 2005 produced excellent ones.  Also serious about olive oil, their 5000 olive trees are harvested by hand.



Roberta took us on a tour of the wine cellar.

After the cellar we went to the old mill building.  It is not used for olive oil production any longer, but it was fascinating to see the old grinding machines with huge stone grinding wheels.  The olive oil poured from the grinders into large earthenware urns.

Then it was time for a tasting--the table was set with a bianco and three rossi (you can see them at their website).

Part of the estate's rich history is that the family included a small chapel that was eventually consecrated and served as the church for the people of the valley.  A plaque on the wall has the family crest and a patriarch's grave is beneath the chapel floor.

Leaving Agricola Buccelletti with our purchase of wines and olive oil, we drove south to Lago Trasimeno for no other reason than we had seen a big lake on the map and were in the vicinity.  The day had turned blustery and we only made a short stop.

To get everyone caught up, we went skiing/snowboarding again at Abetone last week.  Unlike the first time, it was bright and sunny, which brought out hoards of Italian skiiers.  For a local mountain, Abetone is quite large, so we still were off on runs by ourselves and never waited in a lift line.  Here are our phone-camera pix from this trip:

And finally in closing, I am very disappointed that nobody has responded to the little contest I proposed--probably because it is buried in my reply to John T.'s comment in the Castello Gargonza post.  Come on people, it is TOO EASY for anyone who grew up with rock'n'roll;-)