Thursday, July 7, 2016

7.6.16 Tuscany

If there is a definition of a perfect today than today was it.  We have visited Napa, Russian River and Sonoma many times but always wanted to check out wineries in Italy specifically in Tuscany. Stopping in Livorno gave us that chance. We booked a private tour for our group that was a Chianti Wine Tasting tour.

We had more time for breakfast today since our pickup wasn't until 9am. So we went to our favorite place Blue Iguana and had Heuvos Rancheros.  So good again. Our pickup was prompt at 9am and off we went from the very industrial port to the beautiful hills of Tuscany.  Lovely views of vineyards on the hills and cultivated fields of sunflowers. I didn't know that Tuscany had so many sunflowers!!  It was about a 90 minute drive to our first stop the Palagio winery which has been a family run winery since the mid 1800's.  Great to see the cellar and learn about the famous Chianti Classico wine from this region. 

A few things we learned:
Sangiovese is aged in french oak for thr vanilla and fruit flavors
Cabernet Sauvignon in American oak
Chianti classico is aged in Slovenia oak sine it doesn't impart flavor - only allows the transfer of oxygen to help smooth out the bitterness of the tannins.
The Reserve Classico is aged in small barrels that are used about 4 times in their 10 year life.
Super Tuscan are only put in new barrels since the heavy oak balances the heavy tannins.
Extra Virgin olive oil has lower acidity and better benefits. To be called DOP, the olives have to be manually pressed and low acidity.
High acidity in the olive oil could mean flies in the pressing, olives not pressed within 24 hours of harvest, or olives are not harvested early enough.

After the tour we went to the main tasting room to try several types of their Chianti and a very interesting Pinot Grigios (it was sweeter than any I have had).  During the tasting we had a lunch of delicous cheese and four kinds of salami as well as fantastic bread and their two signature olive oils. The oils were so fresh tasting. One had the aroma of fresh cut grass. The other more spicy and slightly sweet. And of course the wine was so good we ordered a case to be shipped home as well as a bottle to take on the ship. More on that later. 

Our second stop was to a lovely little town - Greve in Chianti-  that had several pottery shops and restaurants. Perhaps inspired by the olive oil, we purchased a ceramic olive oil vessel.  It will replace the generic one we have at home. We checked out a few more stores, had the best gelato of the trip and then headed to our next stop at the Grabbiano winery.  The wines here were also mostly Chianti style and a little different. Didn't like them as much but they did have a nice Rose and an interesting red so we got a bottle of each to take back to the ship. 

It was about 3pm and we decided to head back to the ship.  We got more views of the rolling hills in between some naps (wine tasting and Tuscany can cause drowsiness).  Once back at the port we headed to the short security line and VOILA!!  They didn't take the four bottles of wine we had.  We went straight to the cabin and put one on ice (love our cabin steward Lawrence).  Wonderful relaxing day.  And we have some gifts following is home.  Highly recommend doing this but private is the way to go. Can't imagine enjoying this with a large group.

Had sushi at Bonsai when we got back on the ship and I was very impressed. The tuna and yellow find sashimi was very fresh. Also split a spicy tuna roll and bonsai roll with my FIL and both were good. Angie went to the spa for a facial. She said it was great.

Also went to seafood shack today and had a couple of oysters. Also surprised how briny and fresh they tasted. They were $2.50 each.

I got chosen to be onstage for the Hasboro game show.

Dinner was beef wellington along with seafood Newburg.  The Newburg was pretty tasty especially the shrimp which were cooked nicely and not overdone.  I've had it before on other ships and it was dreadful so was pleasantly surprised. Desert was bitter and blanc which is my favorite dessert. Didn't disappoint. Rich flavorful vanilla sauce and the Chocolately,  brown sugar flavor are so good together with that sauce.  

Two things I noted at dinner is they have been serving broccoli with everything and there are a lot more beef mains then I have ever seen before. Short ribs at least two nights. Tenderloin two nights. In addition to the flat iron steak that has been there most nights. Did the Carnival supplier have a surplus and cut a backroom deal to get someone to take so much broccoli?  SO MUCH!

After dinner, we went to Valerie Storm's comedy show. I'd give it a B. Then we headed to the piano bar. The piano player was fun, but the room set up is terrible. We called it a night after a few songs.

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