Saturday, July 2, 2011

Wine Tour

Wednesday of this week, we took all the Management students on a tour of two wineries in the Chianti region.  The first was the estate of Niccolo Machiavelli.  It is the home where he was exiled after losing favor with the Florentine government.  From here he could still see the Florence Duomo.  It was torture for this once politically and powerfully active man to be able to see the city but no longer be a part of it.  During his exile, he wrote his now famous book "The Prince."  The winery is very large and produces over 25 million bottles of wine a year. 

Machiavelli Vineyards
Our Management Gang!
After a delicious lunch of food and wine pairings at the Machiavelli estate, we took a short bus ride to a much smaller, but still very successful winery called Fontodi.  In contrast, this winery only produces about 250,000 bottles of wine a year.  Fontodi is a certified organic estate practicing wine producing principles which emphasize a respect for nature.  Their vineyards are located outside the town of Panzano which is called the "gold shell' because the area is shell-shaped like a natural amphitheatre perfectly designed for grape growing. 

Tuscan vineyards

Wine aging at the Fontodi Winery
It was a fun day of food, wine tasting, and fun!  We all learned lots of new and interesting things about wine!

For more pictures of the wine tour, click here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/112716875856144719736/WineTour02?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIeFg-P-95aCLg&feat=directlink



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