After class today Justine and I went to this hole in the wall store with sandwiches that were more of gyro shape and they were soooo good! They called them kabobs, but they were not like our version of kabobs like skewers. After lunch, we boarded a bus that took us into Chianti to a winery and vineyard called Verrazzano. They make the Chianti’s that mom buys a lot!! That was very cool for me to get to experience and see where they make the wine that mom likes so much!! It made it very personal. We got there and took a tour of the winery that looked over the vineyard. He explained to us that grapes have a variety of thickness of skin. The skin gives the grapes the flavor, so if the skin is thicker then the flavor will be stronger. Also, if the grapes are grown on a slanted surface then they do not take in as much water and therefore are stronger. There are much less grapes at the top of the slanted surface, which makes the wine that is made from these grapes much more expensive. Once they pick the grapes, they place them in barrels for 25-40 months depending on the thickness of the skin. These barrels are sealed using a contraption at the top of the barrel that keeps the air out of the barrels. The contraption has wine at the bottom with a cup of water on top of it. On top of that is an area full of air and the water cup moves depending on the air in order to keep all of the air out of the barrel of wine. It was designed by Leonardo DaVinci. After that, they add the differing flavors to it before bottling it. After we toured the grounds, we went into their huge dinning room overlooking the most gorgeous view of the vineyard and surrounding hills and mountains. There we learned three techniques to try the wine. The first is by sight. You tip the wine down (holding the bottom) over a white surface to see the color of the wine. I.E. how dark it is compared to others. The second is by smell. This is the one you see most often in movies and restaurants. The wine needs air to release the smell of the ingredients. Therefore, if you smell the wine without swirling it then it will simply smell like alcohol. Therefore, you swirl the wine and get air to it then place your nose into the glass and smell — you honestly can smell the differences of ingredients in different wines. The third is taste. The owner said that honestly the true way to taste wine is not to spit it back out. He took a tiny sip and swirled it around in his mouth, much like he did by hand before smelling it. Then he swallowed it and talked about how you can taste it in different parts of your mouth. It was so fascinating. We got three different kinds of Chianti — each with a different course in our meal. The first was a nice blend of fruity and dry — which is why it is moms favorite! The second was a much drier kind, and the third was fruity. Each of them complimented the corresponding courses very well. We had pasta and red sauce and lots of bread and differing meats. Then finally we had biscotti. The bread had the most amazing olive oil I have ever tasted on it. It was also made at that winery. After the meal we took pictures and then headed back to the hotel!