Wine tasting in Tuscany – Fattoria Fibbiano

You can’t go far in Tuscany without seeing a winery, vineyard or agriturismo (wonderful working vineyards where you can stay) and Terricciola had some of the finest wine producers you can come across.

We’ve discovered many wine producers of varying sizes over the years but of course are always keen to discover more. This trip we went along to the Fattoria Fibbiano, where the wonderful Dalila and Giuseppe were happy to greet us and show us round their site. We had a wonderful personalised tour of where their wine is produced, how it’s made and the different processes involved and it all culminated with 45 minutes of wine tasting. Yup, 45 minutes to sample some of the best wines Tuscany has to offer. Lucky us!

Fattoria Fibbiano is about 35 minutes from Pisa and Volterra and sits atop a hill, with breathtaking views. The cyprus trees line the driveway leading up to the agriturismo – a typical Tuscan scene. There was a group of us, all keen to learn more and most importantly sample the wines.

We met Giuseppe who quickly quizzed us on our local knowledge and got straight into his tour. He was such an interesting man, really approachable and clearly passionate about what he does. I sometimes think wine tours can be stuffy and pompous, but not this one. Some of the lads we were with had never even drunk wine before, but Giuseppe happily answered all our questions and entertained us.

We were shown the immediate grounds of the vineyard (with over 70 acres of land and 35 degree heat, we wouldn’t have wanted to wonder the whole site!) and then into the oak barrels. We were then shown the large metal tanks, where the maceration process takes place before being left in the barrels to cool and mature. We were walked through the bottling and labeling process and shown where the bottles are then packaged for exportation.

Then, as if he read our minds, Giuseppe told us we’d be trying some of his wines and we were led to a cool stone room, with a large wooden table full with wine glasses and platters of ham, pecorino and bread. We sampled 6 different wines, guided by Giuseppe who talked us through what we were tasting, from the colour/appearance, the bouquet/smell and then of course the taste. Each was different but wonderful in its own way.

If you’d like to read up on the wines we tried, click here.

The standout surprise for me was the Rose. When I think of Rose wine, I think of Lambrusco or dodgy sweet pink stuff served in pubs back in the 90s. So I was pleasantly surprised to taste a light but dry wine, full of strawberry flavour and extremely smooth on the palette. Heaven on a hot summer’s day. I immediately conjured up visions of sipping a cold glass whilst watching the Wimbledon final (and guess what…that’s exactly what I went on to do…go Andy Murray!). I took a box home with me.

We tried a white, which was crisp and lovely, but the majority of wines we tried were red. They are predominantly made from the Sangiovese grapes and some are mixed with other grapes to create new and balanced blended flavours. My favourite of the bunch was the La Pienette, 70% Sangiovese and 30% Colorino grapes.  Ruby red in colour, the taste was full bodied and warm, but smooth. Just what I like in a red.

We worked our way through the bunch, sipping, smiling and nodding as we were talked through the complexities of each wine. The bread, ham and cheese provided much needed palette cleansers (and carbs!) and before we knew it, our wonderful personalised tour was over. We were there for about 2 hours and it flew by.

Feeling very pleased with our newly found knowledge of Tuscan wine, we skipped our way to the shop (the best bit), where we all selected which wines we’d like to buy to take home. I opted for a case of the Rose and the Le Pienette.

Thank you to Dalila who kindly arranged our personalised tour of Fattoria Fibbiano and thank you to Giuseppe who was a wonderful host and taught us lots about his wonderful wines. We can’t wait to visit. again.

If you are into your wines, or even if you’re not, I’d highly recommend a visit and tour of a Tuscan vineyard as there is no better way to experience such wonderful wines and learn about the hard work and passion that goes into those bottles we see on the shelves of our supermarket. It’s easy to forget that there’s humans behind those bottles and a lot of hard work to get them into our fridges.

And what not start at Fattoria Fibbiano and try their selection for yourself. Let me know what you think!

Planning a trip to Tuscany? See some of my other posts here and here and tag me in your holiday pics on Instagram @_hollygoeslightly. 

 

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