Tenuta di Forci.

I'm sad.  Last night I finished the last bottle of wine that I brought back from Lucca.  The Tenuta di Forci, 2011 Rosso (DOC Colline Lucchesi) was a wonderful wine.  This light to medium bodied red, a blend of 65% Sangiovese, 30% Canaiolo and 5% Colorino, was young, fruity (plum and cherry) and beautifully floral.  Purchased at La Grotta dell' Anfiteatro, on via Anfiteatro, Lucca, for €6.50 (about $8.00) this was a delightful wine that paired brilliantly with the pseudo-Italian dinner on my plate.  I wish I'd bought another, but weight restrictions...blah, blah, blah!  So sad.
I really like Italian wine labels.  They are very straight forward, but informative - I always learn something new from them.  Searches online for the definition of 'tenuta' mostly give 'estate' as a translation of the Italian, but I best like the definition below, which I borrowed from Do Bianchi.  (Thank you, Dr. Parzens.)
"Tenuta, a [land] holding or property, past participle of the Italian tenere, from the Latin teneo, meaning to hold, have, or keep.  Tenuta is a term that you see applied across northern and central Italy. Its relation to the pre-industrial age, when land ownership denoted nobility, is clear."
I love, have always loved, and will always love, Italian wines.

Vigna Le Tese.

I do not know much about this wine, except that it was good.  Very good.  So good in fact that Thud, Monkey and I finished the bottle pretty quickly and were left wanting more...if only we'd brought two bottles back from Lucca.  Sigh.
Produced by Azienda Agricola Valgiano, an agriturismo in the Pizzorne hills north-east of Lucca, the 2008 "Le Tese" (DOC Colline Lucchesi) appears to be a blend of approximately 85% Sangiovese and 15% Canaiola.  Or Ciliegiolo.  Or Merlot.  Or Cabernet Sauvignon.  I don't know...when it comes to Italian websites online-translators can only help so much.  Where is Do Bianchi when I need him?  No matter.  One of the more expensive local wines to be had on the shelves of Enoteca Masser Ugo, on Via S. Andrea (just loved the ever so dapper proprietor), it was a bargain at €12.50 (about $17.00).  I'd have to say that this vineyard designated wine is one of the most pleasantly delicious Sangiovese blends that I have ever had.  I can almost imagine Pucchini, a native son of Lucca, quaffing a glass of this wine and perhaps being inspired by it whilst composing one of his operas...like La Rondine.  Well, at least something similar, as I don't think Valgiano produced this wine back then.  Great wine!

Wine shopping: Lucchesi style.

What a wine shop!  The Vini Liquori Vanni, across from the fountain on the Piazza San Salvatore, Lucca, is a great establishment for any oenophile to visit.  The above ground part of the shop has a fairly extensive inventory of wines from all over Tuscany, including the wines of Lucca from the Comune di Montecarlo about 8 miles east of Lucca.  But it is the cellar of this extraordinary establishment that had me oohing and aahing at every turn of every corner in this subterranean vino-paradise.
I wasn't the only impressed person in the cellar (actually this was my second visit and on my first visit I had had the entire place to myself).  From the very depths of this brick-and-bottle clad cellar, I heard the strains of American accents (oohing and aahing also), so I made my way towards them.  Three Chicagoans were on a mission to find a bottle of Castello Di Ami, 1999 L'Apparita to add to their collection.  I know this because I had a quick chat with them, but there was no eye contact as we were all too busy looking at great wine.  I had already done my meagre wine-shopping (weight restriction, drat), so I didn't buy anything.  However, the folks from the Windy City were last spotted making their way up to the cash register, cradling some vinous plunder in each of their arms.

Lucca.

What a wonderful place. Lucca is one of the best places I have ever visited.  This fortress-city founded by the Etruscans, enclosed by Renaissance era walls - whose wide tops look out over the town’s many towers, piazzas and gelato shops - is a great holiday destination.  A quick flight from Liverpool to Pisa and my family OTW and I found ourselves in a place that hasn't changed must over the past 500 years.  Lovely architecture - with some bits of Roman wall still visible - great history, good food, wine and the aforementioned gelato...what is there not to love about this place? The people are friendly too.  As a whole, the Lucchesi seem to be a mellow bunch who take time to stop and smell the roses...and colour coordinate their laundry.  Now, that's my type of people.

Where in the world is Vinogirl? Seconde parte.

I'm in Lucca.
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