On this morning the first official thing on the agenda was to leave around noon to head for a lunch I had planned for Heidi and Jeff in Montalcino. After such a full first few days, it was nice to have some down time on this morning. I thought about going for that loop around the property that Carlo took us on, but the weather had shifted and it was cloudy, windy, and cool. Rather than whipping myself around out in the cold on that hike, I decided to build a fire and spend the morning sipping coffee and writing.
There was a restaurant in Montalcino with a view that I wanted to visit this trip, as I had sent other travelers there based on Carlotta’s recommendation. I also had a ‘credit’ on their account for unused funds from the summer when I surprised Dana’s daughter and new son-in-law with a wedding gift ‘meal experience’ at this place. I wanted to do the same for Heidi and Jeff as this was their delayed honeymoon.
We found ourselves in the hill town of Montalcino, and as per usual, looking for decent parking. Much to our surprise we followed ‘P’ signs and it was an actual parking lot with ample parking. Not wanting another ticket, we all walked over to the machine to pay the parking. I pressed every button on that machine and nothing was happening. It didn’t seem to be working. Also, it was cold and the wind was whipping. Thankfully, a young couple with a baby came near us and spoke English, they explained you have to download an app ‘EasyPark’ and handle the transaction on the app. As we needed wifi to be able to do that, I just took a picture of the rear of the car so that I had the information, and we headed up to the restaurant.
It was a steep incline up to the top, using a mixture of steps and pathways, and there were biting headwinds as we walked up to the top. We kept following the walking directions, and then it had us going about the same elevation down a pathway towards the restaurant. ‘Great,’ I was thinking – we will have to do this all in reverse again after lunch – but it’s probably for the best as I’m sure it will be good to move after we eat. Hopefully, the winds will have died down by then.
We finally arrive at Osticcio Ristorante Enoteca and are led through the restaurant with a window view of the valley below. It is truly breathtaking, and the cloud formations on this day make the view even more dramatic. Even if I drove here and did this little hike just to sip wine and look at this view it would have been worth it for me. But, what followed with the menu was a culinary parade that was a treat to see and taste, while you savored each bite. After the waiter picked out a very nice bottle of Brunello for us, I asked him to select 3 appetizers for us to share and then we each picked a main course. That was followed by 2 desserts we sampled, with coffee. So far, this was my favorite meal because it was so very different than anything I had experienced in Italy (since the Four Seasons in Florence surprise from Jay in 2017) and because every dish was an artful masterpiece to the eyes and the tastebuds.
We spent three leisurely hours there enjoying each bite of that meal and good conversation. I was so happy for the app for parking that the waiter helped me with when I arrived. It was so easy to keep adding ‘time’ to the meter from my phone. It even would ping me when I was 15 minutes away from running out of time. I couldn’t even imagine having to interrupt this meal to walk up and down that hill town to pump a meter full of more money for more time.
We finished our meal with desserts and coffee and then enjoyed a leisurely stroll back to the car. Jeff is a photographer so he was enjoying poking in and out of all fo the little nooks and crannies, while Heidi and I kept walking towards the car at a steady pace. Thankfully, the winds had died down at this point.
Once we got back to the farm, we had about an hour before we had to head over to La Moscadella for a lesson in wine-cheese pairing from Antonella (a high-end guide in this part of Tuscany). Thankfully, as everyone in the group was also full from the days activities – many had been at a cooking course of equal gastronomic proportions. By this point in the trip, as you are about to hit mid-week, you wonder how you can keep going at this pace of eating, especially now that the weather is shifting and isn’t great for movement outdoors.
We arrive a La Moscadella and Antonella is there waiting with place settings for all of us in the main dining room. We all are seated and then she shares with us for about an hour. When she was done, it seemed liked 5 minutes as she was so entertaining and at the same time educational as she walked us through the pairing of the cheeses and wines.
We each had a plate of 4 different cheeses in us in Noon, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm formation. This is how she referred to them as she took us through the tasting. We also had 3 glasses of wine in front of each of us for the pairing. I learned so much in that hour, that I never knew before about cheese. Especially that cheese is a food that you can and should use all 5 senses to enjoy. She would have us smell each cheese first and asked us what we were smelling. Some cheeses she would have us touch first. Then we would taste the cheese and she would walk us through the taste – was it salty, sweet, did it change in your mouth like wine does, what was the aftertaste of the cheese?
I have to say, I have never been this ‘thoughtful’ with eating or tasting cheese. It was interesting to really break it down. The most amazing thing of all is that when the cheeses were paired with the right wine, it COMPLETELY cleansed your palette. It was like everything in your mouth dissolved . When it was the wrong wine paired with the cheese, it felt like paste in your mouth.
She also explained that there are certain cheeses that you can’t really ever truly experience unless you go to the part of the world where it is made fresh daily. The taste will never be the same after 24-hours. You can’t ship it, you can’t take it home, you have to literally go there to experience it. One of those cheeses is the Buffalo Mozzarella cheese from Naples. Due to it’s high moisture content, the true taste only lasts 24 hours.
There was a sweet little family that were with us this week staying at La Moscadella. Dan and Stephanie are both aviators stationed in Naples. They verified this is true about the Mozzarella and they get it off the trucks in the morning and you have to eat it that same day. They had their 5-year-old little boy with them named, Duke. He is in an Italian school in Naples and they said his Italian is already so much better than theirs as they only speak to him in Italian at school. He often corrects their pronunciation. He is an expert at rolling his ‘r’s already.
After the tasting, Isabella announces there are now ‘light’ appetizers prepared for everyone in the other room. I couldn’t even get up to go look. I was happy with my cheese tasting that night and the few sips of wine they were paired with that evening. This wine/cheese class so impressed me and it is something I want to share back home. I know I could never do it justice, so asked if perhaps Antonella would be open and interested in doing a virtual one-hour ‘webinar’ class for me and friends in the future. She said she would definitely consider it in the off season, which is, I want to say, starting about now.
