Vacations

...and if you haven't already, it's time to take a vacation.

A co-worker and friend mentioned to me yesterday evening that he was planning to take the vacation he put off last year. When I asked him if he intended to go to the same place, he said yes...Tuscany. That got me thinking about this, and though you may recall some of this if you've been receving the Friday emails for a couple of years, the setting really is magical so I thought it warranted yet another more descriptive visit.

About 116 kilometers south of Florence, there is a Renaissance hilltop town in southeast Tuscany called Montepulciano. As you walk on the well-preserved medieval streets into the walled entrance of the town, there is a restaurant on the left-hand side of the street named Cafe Poliziano.

The Restaurant...

As you walk through the main dinning room there is a balcony that overlooks a Tuscan scene complete with Italian villas, Cyprus trees and the rolling vineyards that produce the red Vino Nobilie di Montepulciano wine famous to the region. My wife, my cousin Michael (who lived in Padua) and I wandered into the restaurant one afternoon about two years ago, and spotting the recently vacated balcony, I boldly walked through the crowded dining room and sat at the lone table outside.

The Balcony

We were incredibly lucky to snare that rarified Tuscan perch, and on that epic day we did justice to our good-fortune by drinking copious amounts of red wine while dining on various cheese pasta delicacies of the region. At one point, after we were sufficiently stewed on Italian red table wine, we ordered our fourth bottle and asked the personable waitress where it had come from. With kind of a confused and somewhat annoyed look on her face, she motioned her hands over the balcony railing while proudly pointing at the vineyards below and said…“out there.” The wine was a 2005 Incanto Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano, and though I’m no wine connisuer, I feel compelled to share my personal story of what happened next.

          The Wine

 

She went through quite a process just opening the bottle and pouring out a few drops off the top. She explained why she did it in Italian, but my Rosetta Stone wasn’t mixing well with the previous 7 glasses so I didn’t understand much of what she said. Once she finally poured the Incanto into a glass, it was a shadowy ruby-red color with a semi-opaque core. The wine faded slowly into a fine garnet-tinged rim definition with high viscosity and as I raised the glass to my nose, I sensed a discernable hint of cypress over black cherries... mixed with an earthy minty character, a touch of crushed black plum skins and perhaps even a tinge of wood. Amazingly, there was also is a particular freshness springing from the glass, with an underlying aroma of freshly tanned leather. Once on the palate, the Sangiovese grapes were full-bodied with expansive crushed black cherries and plum. Soon, there were notes of wood (given my propensity to gnaw on trees and 2x4s...I reconized the lumber taste quicker than most others), earthy minerals and juniper…all clearly influenced by the location of the vineyards that sloped along the sides of the hills just below our balcony. As the wine swirled on the midpalate, it was classically Tuscan…bursting with dried cherry, herbs and woody black fruit with firm tannins. As I swallowed, the wine finished with a strong close driven by chestnuts dancing in plum sauce.

Now, I'm hoping you know I didn't write much of  that review (it was largely taken from a wine column that appeared in the newspaper) and if you actually believe I (or anyone else...including the wine columnist that wrote it) smelled or tasted any of that crap, then you need to spend a little less time in cities like Florence and more days in places like Fargo. I did love the wine though…mostly because it tasted exactly like…well…wine. Not sure how it tasted on my midpalate (not entirely sure where my midpalate is though I’m so hoping it’s in my mouth), but if I had to guess, I think it probably reminded me a lot of fermented red grapes. What I liked best was that it provided a really, really, really quality buzz.

As we sipped the Nobile, we asked the waitress if there were any good places to stay in the area. She recommended an establishment run by the owners of the restaurant, but after checking and learning it was booked for the evening, she suggested a spot by the entrance to town called Villa Chicolina. I won’t bore you with details of this magical setting, but if you’re interested,  it does boast of the best infinity pool in Tuscany. I suspect that may be true…but once again, if that matters to you too much, I’d suggest less visits to Sienna and more trips to Saginaw. Anyhow, If you are curious about Villa Chicolina, you can visit the Inn’s website via the link below.

The Inn

Not sure if you’ve had  your summer vacation yet this year, but if not, I’m hopeful you will take some time to disconnect from the electronic leash and simply chill. There’s still about seven weeks before school starts in most places, so grab some extended time or even some long weekends with family and friends. There has been much written of late about the rejuvenating value of time away, and as you pour your heart into your work, you should set some time aside for you…and the people you love.

This is a small thing, but you can actually take the first step this morning by taking a few minutes before the hurricane of the day to listen to some beautiful music. If you close your eyes, you can visit the balcony above (or any other place) in your mind while enjoying one of the world's most famous operatic gems. You may not care for this genre of music, but if you listen nonetheless, you will have a better day. Turn up your speakers...because this really is something special. Best of all...if you do, you are guaranteed to have a better day.

Now…seriously, how many honest-to-goodness guarantees to you actually get any more?

Take a vacation…and have a terrific weekend.

And most importantly...the music