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A Note from Sergio
A few weeks ago, I wrote that when people fall in love with Italy, they usually fall in love with Toscana first. Books like A Year in Tuscany and movies like Under the Tuscan Sun have made the region play a big part in popular culture. It's hard to go anywhere in Italy and not see beautiful a landscape, yet Toscana seems to have an undeniable, unshakeable romantic grip on American minds. Still I have to ask why. I drive all over Italy and have a chance to see all of its various beauties. From the dizzy heights of the Apennines' white-capped points, to the scrubby and windswept rocks of Sardegna, to Venezia's improbable waterways and lemon light, to the great green plains of Trentino, and all that lies in between, Italy has a lot to make people fall in love. So why Toscana?
I suspect that one reason is Toscana's hills. Much of Italy is hilly--Rome has its seven hills, and Liguria's coastline, especially Cinque Terre, seems to be on the verge of tumbling down into the sea. Piemonte's hills are legendary, and they rise more steeply than those of Toscana. But there's something about the round undulations of Toscana that call to mind other hilly regions. People from Virginia say it looks like Virginia's blue hills, and people from Vermont say that it reminds them of Vermont's green mountains. The shape of the hills, the green-and-gold of the hillside foliage and valley's grasses, even the fog that creeps in, all these factors work to make travelers nostalgic. It's familiar, yet just unfamiliar enough.
Toscana is strange enough to feel magical. All those tiny soap-colored towns that perch on those hills look like something out of a fairytale. When you drive up that hill and enter one of those towns, that fairytale turns into a history book. While it's true that every Italian town worth its salt has a medieval borgo, the ones in Toscana are special. Way up on those hills, these towns also have a view, usually a spectacular one. There's nothing like sitting at an osteria, glass of wine in your hand, eating cinghiale ragu over pici or pecorino drizzled with chestnut honey and seeing the green carpet of vines and the lion's pelt of hay fields roll out below you. The view, the food, and the buildings all make you feel like time has stopped, and you with it.
And yet I think it's something that's bigger and less easily explainable than familiar hills, fairytale towns, great views and amazing food and wine that make Toscana unique. I think that it's things that you can't put your fingers on. It's the way that the air smells like earth, cypress trees, olive leaves, wild onions and wildflowers. I think it's the ineffable light that makes everything look a tiny bit clearer, crisper and almost shimmering at the edges. I think it's the feel of time before history, the way that you feel like even as old as the churches, piazzas and cobblestones may be, there's much here that's even older. You can't name it, but it's there, and it's special.
This week, I'm delighted to bring you wines from Fattoria di Fubbiano, an organically maintained estate in the heart of Toscana. These Super-Tuscan wines hold all the beauty of Toscana--its hills, its traditions, its air, its light and its uniqueness. These are wines that will remind you why you fell in love with Toscana in the first place. Open one and toast to that love--and to discovering the rest of Italy.
My Best,
P.S. You can now follow me on Twitter: @Italian_Wine_SE.
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