Sunshine and Wine

- August 07, 2012

For the past week we've been on holiday in Tuscany just south of the little hilltop town of Barberino di Val d'Elsa. We had an apartment in the Agriturismo Due Piani, a wine and olive farm of seven hectares and we had seven days to soak up the Tuscan sunshine and sample the local wine.

Due Piani

Due Piani (meaning Two Levels and referring to the two levels of the farm) has three apartments and we had the largest with the most stunning view across the valley of Tignano, which was perched on top of the hill opposite our balcony. It was very pleasurable looking out as the sun set behind us eating our evening meal. The warm welcome we received from Brunella and Alberto was fantastic and we were made to feel right at home.

The Wine

The vineyard produces about 4000 bottles a year mainly for local consumption in restaurants, bars and direct sales at the farm. They produce the classic Chinati, Other Due Piani Wines are the Rosso Toscano and the Bianco da Tavola from Moscato's grapes, which is perfect when served cold with a plate of pasta.

Tignano

The Agriturismo is centrally located, situated 30km south of Firenze (Florence) and 30km north of Sienna. We visited several places but in the 38 degrees sunshine we also spent a couple of days relaxing by reading and swimming in the pool (not at the same time!). More on our visits to Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano and Colle di Val d'Elsa in later blogs.

Barberino di Val d'Elsa

We were also treated to an aerial display each night by bats that were roosting in the roof of our balcony. At around 8:30 each evening the bats would emerge just above our heads. We counted 32 bats one evening and they then spent the next couple hours wheeling around in front of our balcony.

This was our first trip to Tuscany and it is highly recommended to anyone wanting great food, sunshine, wine, art and beautiful countryside.

For more information on Due Piani visit the website