Another week, another wine region. Just when I was getting used to Sagrantino and Montefalco Rosso wines, we move on! Poor me. I kid… and I certainly don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me! 
This week we are in Montepulciano, a town I thought was known for its Tuscan wines called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and its Rosso di Montepulciano. Turns out, it is known more for being a town used to film the movie “New Moon” in the Twilight series… no comment on that one! In all seriousness though, the town is incredible: stone streets, architecture from the 13 and 1400s, and the most dramatic views of its surroundings: the town sits at an elevation of 1,985 feet! Suffice it to say that the views are stunning.
What I love about Montepulciano is that many of the wineries have tasting rooms in the town. Instead of spending half a day touring and tasting at each winery, visitors have the option of popping in to a winery enoteca, sampling their wines, then continuing on with their site-seeing. As much as I love spending hours at a winery, talking to the staff, tasting their wines, touring the facilities and enjoying their views (in Tuscany, there’s ALWAYS a view!!!), I love this option as well. It is perfect for those who don’t have too much time in the area and can’t sacrifice an entire day wine tasting, and it definitely allows visitors to taste and learn about more wineries in a short amount of time.
As if this system in Montepulciano weren’t already pretty user-friendly, the town also has the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a consortium with 230 members that has a tasting room in the town square. Wines change daily, and tastings are just five Euros for three samples. Not bad!
Over the next week I’ll be studying these wines and look forward to sharing the notes with you; in the meantime, I will leave you with some photos of Montepulciano. Yeah, I know… you can just watch that Twilight movie if you really want to have a good look at the town, but hopefully these photos do the scenery justice.
