Our friend at Le Volpi e L’uva, Giancarlo recommended this Pian dell’Orino Rosso di Montacino based on what we enjoyed while in his care in Florence. This red, 100% Sangiovese was unlike any Sangio-stateside wine we’ve had. It was fruity and silky without the giant red berries we’ve come to expect in our new world wines: in a word, it was balanced. So, cheers and ciao to the best wine bar in Europe and our guide, Giancarlo.
Tag Archives: Le volpi e l’uva
Monteraponi Chianti Classico 2006
When we were in Florence at Le Volpi e L’uva, Giancarlo guided us on a wine and cheese tour of Italy (blog post here) and that included this wonderful Monteraponi Chianti. The wine is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo and is aged both in barrels and concrete before making it to the bottle where it sits for another 3 months before distribution. The wine itself is light, moderately fruity, with a hint of cedar on the finish. It’s unlike any Chianti I’ve had stateside and I’m stoked that we brought it home; we had Florence in Philly tonight.
Le volpi e l’uva – Firenze, Italy: What a Great Wine Bar!
I found Le volpi e l’uva in a Travel & Leisure issue before we went on vacation which identified it as one of the top 10 wine bars in Europe. Being the wine lovers that we are, we had to find it. It was a bit tricky as it’s between Ponte Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti. Giancarlo is an amazing host, first suggesting some prosecco to start us off. It’s worth noting that we had a full lunch in Florence already with Pizza in one of the squares, but when Giancarlo asked if we wanted an assortment of Italian cheeses, the only answer was: yes, please. The cheese was wonderful and had 2 different types of pecorino (one very soft with a washed rind, and the other hard with saffron) and 3 other wonderful selections as well. They were paired with 2 honeys, and two chutneys 
. It was also accompanied by some extraordinarily fresh tomatoes and the best foccacia I’ve ever had – no rosemary or other herb, just simple olive oil and salt: what else is necessary? Giancarlo recommended a Chianti to go with our cheese and it was perfect and not like any other Chianti we’d ever had. It was light, slightly fruity, and a really matched our cheese well. We asked him for some recommendations and brought some of Italy (wine) home with us. We spent about 2 hours eating, drinking, eating, and drinking and absorbing all Firenze, or Florence as we know it had to offer.
