Cycling through Italy's Chianti region

As the famed Italian wine region celebrates its 300th anniversary, Adrian Phillips saddles up and sets off in search of its lesser-known delights
In a spin: the Dievole Estate’s new 'Natural Path'
Adrian Phillips24 May 2017

I trudge onto the terrace looking like a sweaty beetroot in shorts. “Some bread and olive oil to help you recover,” smiles Gianni Mucciarelli. With his bronzed skin and dapper red loafers, the manager of the Dievole Winery has the look of a man who doesn’t fall off bicycles. “A pleasant ride?” he asks, as I slump in a chair and dab at my grazes.

Initially it had indeed been a pleasant ride: butterflies flitted, birds trilled, and all around were rolling vineyards and the smell of baked earth. But when my bike bucked at a loose stone I was left with bloodied knees, a punctured tyre and a five-mile walk back to the estate.

I’m in Chianti on a pretty significant anniversary: it was 300 years ago that the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III, officially classified the boundaries of this wine region between Florence and Siena. Yet I wanted to see what there is for visitors beyond the usual wine-tasting experiences. Hence my first stop at the hamlet of Vagliagli, and this new 16-mile “Natural Path” around Dievole’s vine-clad slopes.

Strictly speaking it isn’t that new. The path was used by sharecroppers for nearly 1,000 years, and monks cultivated grapes here as early as 1090. However, now there are signposts and maps to follow and, though it is a private estate, anyone is welcome to ride the trail.

All this was the idea of Leonardo Petri, a worker born on the estate, who knows the land like the back of his sun-leathered hand. The project is part of a broader focus on agritourism at Dievole that includes accommodation built with local stone, a restaurant serving local food and a small farm.

“Visitors are coming for the trail, then staying for the wine!” says Gianni, uncorking a bottle. It’s a Chianti Classico — sangiovese grapes aged for 14 months in French oak followed by at least six months in the bottle. Wine proves inescapable in Chianti. On arrival at my villa I am immediately handed a bottle by Alessio, who manages the property and the small wine estate wrapped around it. When I buy a painting from a shop in nearby Castellina in Chianti the owner insists on sealing the deal with a complimentary wine-tasting.

Gelateria Castellina

In the archaeological museum housed in Castellina’s medieval castle, the star attractions are relics from Etruscan tombs built nearly 3,000 years ago. Among the precious things placed with the dead for their final journey — a gold earring, a bronze belt — are items showing the importance of wine in the lives of well-to-do Etruscans.

“Wine was a sign of status, and drunk at rituals and ceremonies,” my guide Francesca tells me as we admire an amphora decorated with a scene of revellers at a feast. Typically the wine was mixed with honey and spices but there was also a version featuring grated cheese.

Bottle of the local tipple, Chianti Classico

If there’s a man who would approve of Etruscan experimentation with unusual flavours it’s the owner of the region’s best ice-cream shop. Simone is waiting for me at the door of Gelateria Castellina, dressed in a burgundy apron and white peaked hat. Little does he know that on his narrow shoulders rest my hopes of salvaging something wine-free from my Chianti trip.

Simone has been making ice-cream for 20 years. He spends his mornings in the glass-walled kitchen at the back of the shop, moving between machines that pasteurise and churn and blast freeze, while curious customers watch him concoct the day’s ices. And what ices! Thick ice-creams of chilli and chocolate, ricotta and fig; sorbets of lemon and sage, lime and basil. Simone even made an anchovy and spring onion sorbet once.

Beautiful: Chianti region

His favourite creation? “Ah,” he says dreamily, “that would be cantucci and vin santo: almond biscuits... with sweet Tuscan wine!” And with that I give an inward shrug. In Chianti everything’s about wine, even when it’s not — and on the region’s 300th birthday, I’ll raise a spoon to that.

Details: Italy

The writer stayed at Ciliegio at Concadoro with To Tuscany (0121 286 7782; to-tuscany.com). The three-bedroom villa near Castellina in Chianti costs from £907 a week.

Rhinocarhire.com (0845 508 9845). Cars from Pisa airport from £78 a week.

easyJet (easyjet.com). Flights to Pisa from London, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester starting at £105.

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