I wanna be a sommelier.

Thursday was nice. We finished our midterms and everyone was so freaking happy we made it thru the week filled of papers and presentations in Italian. I got 100 on my oral midterm! Ha. Rather exciting. I got a 89 on my written. I totally thought those scores would be the other way around, but alas, not so.

Our program director congratualating us for getting thru the week w/ dolci. The same powdered sugared cookies we got at Carnavale. Mmmmm nice pay off.

Friday we went to Castello di Brolio. Brolio Castle, were Chianti Classico was created in the 1800s. We got to roam the grounds of this huge castle. The castle has been in the Bettini family since 1141. Of course between then and now, it has been subject to numerous invasions, but always managaed to get back to the family. The longest time, they didn’t own it was when they were under house arrest for 40 days back in the 1400s. we went into the Castle church, complete with a family tomb area underneath. Our program director’s grandparents actually worked on the grounds for a number of generations. She had all these stories. She talked about how her grandmother hated one of the jobs she had at the castle. She had to light the candles in the tomb area below the church. And she always was scared because there were rumors that if you were quiet enough down their you would hear the baron breathing echoing in the room. Spooky….there was also some other story about his ghost riding around the grounds on his white horse. He was called the Iron Baron because he was very strict with his workers. He invented the type of wine now dubbed Chianti Classico.

All the views from the terrace and the gardens were abfab. Rolling Tuscan hills, sun, vineyards. Like I keep saying, a picture that comes to life.

After the tour of the castle grounds, we got to go on a tour of the actual winery! Very cool. We saw the big fermentation vats. And the masceration machines and barrels they go in to age.

Then we were taken to a wine tasting. Mmmmmm. It all makes you feel very sophisticated. She walked us thru the process of how to taste wine. First you stick your nose in. and smell it. Check it out. Then you “let the wine breathe” and swirl it around a bit. Then you smell it again and recognize the differences in the first scents you got. You can also turn the glass on it’s side and let the reflection show on a napkin. If the color is a light red it is a “younger, lighter” wine and if it is a dark vibrant color it is older. You can also tell this from looking at the wine’s legs. The legs are the streams of wine that fall on the inside of the glass after you swirl. If the legs fall slowly down the inside of the glass, the wine is more structured. Has a better body.

The whole entire thing kinda made me wanna be a sommelier. A professional wino or something.