Balsamic tour, a bag finally collected, and arrival to Florence

We ate a nice breakfast of fresh fruit and toast and packed up. We dropped off the keys with Robert promptly at 10 am and headed into town to get some coffee before hitting the road. As we parked for the coffee, I saw a bank with an ATM (Bancomat) so Anna and I both got some cash out. I got some for Sofia too, since her card is likely still blocked.

At the coffee place, the barista gave us each a shot of water with our cappuccino. I had seen a shot of sparkling water given with an espresso to someone at the coffee place in the mall near H&M and wondered what the deal was. And here we were, for the first time getting a shot of water with ours. I watched someone else drink there water first, then the espresso, so I did the same. From what I now understand, it's a palate cleanser, so you can fully appreciate the bold flavors of the espresso. This coffee place had some kind of lottery machines behind the counter, or something that looked like a place I could pay my toll, which I did.

We drove to our balsamic tour which we had booked through Airbnb. We wound up getting there 45 minutes early, so we found a bar to have a drink and waste 45 minutes. We've gotten good at killing several hours, so 45 minutes was nothing.

We got to the tour and immediately I could tell this was a fairly posh, well-organized tour. We drove through the motorized gates and were greeted at the large farm house by our tour guide, Ana. She invited us for drinks before the tour began, rosé or sparkling water or natural water. Or all.

Ana brought a large vinyl banner to our table and began the tour by explaining the farm and the production process (the banner had a diagram of the farm and helpful photos of what she was explaining). Honestly, I had no idea how time consuming it is to make real balsamic vinegar. It's way harder than making wine! And what we buy at the grocery store and use as balsamic vinegar...isn't really balsamic. The cheap stuff is mainly a wine vinegar that's only been aged a year to three years and has additives to make it dark and thicker, like corn syrup and caramel color. Its fine for using as a salad dressing or, in my case, frying chicken cutlets, but it's not the real thing, and we were going to try the real thing today.

Next, Ana took us into the house and talked about the family that runs the farm (her bosses). Then she led us up to the attic where we saw about 25 batteries of balsamic vinegar. A battery is a row of wood barrels that are progressively smaller. They keep them in the attic, because there are strict rules that have to be followed to have the D.O.P. classifcation. For example, DOP balsamic has to be made with very specific grapes from the Modena area.

D.O.P. stands for Denominazione di Origine Protetta (literally Protected Designation of Origin and often indicated as P.O.D.). It's assigned by the European Union to the name used to indicate a product that owes its characteristics to its place of origin, and its production, modification and processing occur within that geographical area. So only the true balsamic vinegar made in Modena (or Reggio Emilia) with the very specific methods of production can be labeled DOP. It even has to be sold in a very specific shaped bottle.

DOP balsamic barrels have to be kept in open air, so in the attic, there was no AC and no glass in the windows. Just bug screens. DOP balsamic must be aged for a minimum of 12 years. The battery of barrels of descending size work like this: the largest barrel receives the grape must that has been cooked to specifications. As it ages, part of it evaporates and the level gets lower (and the wood of the barrel gives it a bit of flavor). Once a year, it gets transferred to the next smaller barrel. The barrels must remain 90% full, so once the largest barrel has been transferred, it gets topped off with new must. So the smallest barrel is the oldest aged vinegar. She pulled samples out of several barrels with a glass pipette (she sucked the vinegar out of the barrel by mouth into the pipette) and let us see the "shirt" (the coating when you swirl it in a glass bottle) and we smelled it. It was like no balsamic I'd ever smelled, sweet and just a hint of sour. A deep, earthy smell, with hints of molasses.

Then we went back downstairs and outside for the main event. The tasting. A table was set with two kinds of red wine, and a table with assorted meats, cheeses and breads. At each of our places at the table were two bottles of vinegar, the 12-year and the very old (25-ish years). First she had us try a spoonful by itself of each, starting with the extra old, which was more smooth and sweet than the 12-year which had a bit more of the sour, tart flavor. She explained that, even though it's ultimately a matter of personal taste, they recommend the very old balsamic with the younger cheeses and fattier meats, because the more delicate flavors of the foods are balanced with the more delicate vinegar. Stronger cheeses, like older ones, and spicier meats, balance better with the brighter, stronger 12-year balsamic. We ate so much meat and cheese and bread and wine, as well as little hors d'oeuvre sized bites of omelette, trying everything with the different balsamics. It was, perhaps, close to what heaven might be like. Suitably stuffed, she then brought out a platter of risotto, to try the balsamics with that. So good. And finally, dessert. How do the two balsamics pair with cheesecake and a milder ricotta cake? We got to find out. With coffee of course. I knew the tour would essentially feed us, but they don't have the license to be an actual restaurant, so they don't describe the tour as including a full meal, per se. That said, it was one of the best meals I've had in Italy. It was completely the experience that meals are supposed to be here. Leisurely, sitting in an outdoor beautiful garden beside a gorgeous Tuscan farmhouse. The tour was supposed to be 2 hours, but we stayed till 4. I joked at one point that this was like Circe's island. Perhaps we thought four hours had gone by, but in actuality, it's now October and we're still here.

They are smart to make the tasting experience so pleasurable, because how could you leave that without buying a bottle or two of the vinegar? It is pricy, but we bought the set: one 12-year and one very old. And as pricy as it seemed, I googled later on and found that our price was on the reasonably side. A 100 ml bottle of very old DOP balsamic (gold label) sells for 100-150 euros. The silver label 12-year sells for 60-100 per bottle. Along with the tour, this farm sold the silver (12-year) for €40 and the gold (25 year+) for €60. Or if you bought both, you got the combo for €90. So I was pleased that we got the price we did.

I look forward to trying the gold label balsamic on ice cream. Yeah, that's a thing!

Stuffed, we finally left the balsamic farm and our wonderful guide Ana and headed to the Bologna airport to get Anna's bag. The airport traffic was insane, so I dropped Sofia, Anna, and Cristina off and tried to park in a free area called "Kiss and Fly," but because of traffic I couldn't get out of it before the free 10 minutes ended and I had to pay €4 for about 12 minutes. Disgruntled, I drove out of the airport and parked on the side of the motorway, where a bunch of other cars were doing the same thing. I was going to wait there till they had the bag, but Bella had to pee really badly, so we drove until we found an Aldi. The bathroom there was locked, but the lone cashier was nice enough to unlock it for her, despite her very long line (I think all Aldis must have long lines).

Bag recovered!

Anna got her bag, and I headed back and picked them up just outside the Kiss and Fly turnstile. We headed to Florence and dropped Sofia and Anna at their hotel, in the city center. Then we drove to our Airbnb, met our host Cesare, and got oriented to the new place, which was large and very well-stocked, especially after our experience in San Venanzio.

Cristina and I went to Esselunga for groceries, but we were all still so full from lunch, I just had a banana for dinner.