On Tuesday I got up early and ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I needed to sweat as I was still reeling from our lunch at Officina Della Bistecca, no joke! We packed an overnight bag and headed out to Bolgheri to go wine tasting. This region is famous for Super Tuscans (classic Bordeaux varietals). The climate is perfect for growing Merlot, Cab Franc, Petite Verdot and Cab Sauv grapes because of the sloping hillside with ocean breezes 360 days of the year. Bohlgeri is located 8 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. Our first stop was Le Macchiole. We learned a lot about the history of Bolgheri but weren't that impressed with the wines. Post tasting, we grabbed lunch at Enoteca di San Guido which is associated with the Sassacaia winery. We had the most delicious plates of regional pastas; pappardelle with wild boar ragu and ravioli stuffed with ricotta and fresh sage. After lunch we headed to our B&B in Bibbona. This is a small town in Bolgheri yet somehow we managed to get lost. After asking a police officer and delivery guy we found it. Super cute 6 bedroom place on the side of a hill next go a pizzeria, bakery and several residential places. Come to find out the owner is a famous interior decorator and her husband is an architect. The place was meticulously remodeled and decorated with no details spared. We'd totally stay there again but only for one more night as there's really not much to do. Oh yeah I almost forgot, when we go to the door of the place there was a note telling us to call Maria. When we did, some non-English speaking woman grunted that she'd be right over....thank God we had a cell phone. Only in Italy! Post check in, we headed on a 3 hour tour of the Ornellaia Winery. This is the second oldest winery in Bolgheri with Sassacaia being the largest and also the creator of the wine region. The property is lined with 200 and 300 year old cypress and olive trees (respectively)! We had a lot of fun with our private guide....she was a hoot or maybe it was her and I together that was a blast. After the tour we kept the party rolling and went to an Enoteca in Bolgheri to drink some difficult to find wines by the glass. I started with a white produced by
Ornellaia. This is a small production that isn't exported or offered as a tasting in the cellar. It was so good we ordered a bottle at dinner. I followed the white up with a red from Ornellaia as well, Ron drank beer because he was driving. It's important to make note of the fact that whenever and wherever we are drinking wine, the waiter provides us with some sort of flour based item to snack on - be it breadsticks(Piedmont), crusty white bread(Florence) or Foccacia(Bolgheri)...love that added touch! We headed to La Pineta for dinner at 7 only to be turned away because the restaurant didn't open until 8, like almost all restaurants over here. Wet grabbed a beer next door and sat on beach chairs and watched kids playing in the Mediterranean Sea. It's so crazy that 10 short minutes away is one of the most famous wine regions in Italy if not the most famous! I learned about La Pineta from an interview with Alessia Antionori (of the famed Antinori wonery) I read in Afar magazine. It truly was an amazing experience and reasonably priced for a one Michelin Star joint! The chef has two boats and prepares dishes from what hauls in that day. The sunset was indescribable. The entire time we were I Bolgheri we kept saying that the pictures just won't do the scenery justice. After dinner we headed to our hotel and went for a walk through the little town. The sky was so clear that we were able to find the Big Dipper. We'll be back that's for damn sure!!

Wednesday's original plan was to to go to Argeniera at 3 o'clock but we decided against it and headed to Florence after a lunch of pizza for me and lasagne for Ron in the town of Castagnio di Carducci. We just couldn't listen to another person tell us all about the terroir and wine making process then serve us their lower end wines that I wouldn't buy because as Ron says, "You always like the really expensive stuff babe!" We arrived at the Westin without incident, unpacked our stuff and went on the hunt for a Italian soccer shirt for Little Man. We wandered around the city for a few hours. It was a much more pleasant experience than the other day because it was about 10 degrees cooler. After a few draft beers at King Grizzly Bar (bartender had great taste in music - 90's grudge rock...think Pearl Jam and STP) we headed to the hotel. We cancelled our dinner reservations at Buca Mario and grabbed pasta and pizza to go from a restaurant around the corner. We wanted to enjoy our last night in Florence on our terrace enjoying the view of the Duamo at night in our robes. Perfecto!