Hey, let's try that place called IL Portico for lunch...

An early rise was an opportunity to try some of Allesandro's fresh ground coffee.  The challenge was afoot because I haven't made coffee in a percolator coffee maker since, well... never, I don't think.  I remember seeing one at my grandma's house while we played cards, but I had never actually used it.
This thing was in about 10 pieces and after about 20 minutes, I got them together in a configuration that looked like it could make coffee.

After about 10 minutes, I had a nice cup of coffee ready to go and I headed to the patio to enjoy the early morning view from the villa that overlooks the town of Greve in Chianti.

Our villa was very nice.  It was newly built.  I believe that we are only the second group to stay in it... maybe the first.  It is surrounded on three sides by the Castello di Montegonzi vineyard.  There are herbs growing in the planters around the pool and the outside eating area has a cuckoo bird's nest in it.  The villa was on the service road to the grape fields and was marked by the sign below:

No one else is up, yet.  Let's make another "pot" of coffee.  This thing holds about 2 cups of coffee and the other one wasn't even 1/4 the size of this one.  Is everything in Italy this small?

This round didn't go so well.  If it is brown in this picture, it is coffee grounds that have exploded throughout the room.  That is not a marble texture on the wall, cabinet, linens, my shirt...

Shortly afterwards, others began to get up as well.  Maybe it was the shotgun blast of an explosion in the kitchen that woke them up?
After a shower in the smallest shower that I could ever image (I am starting to see a trend here), we headed into town.

Our first stop was the world famous meat shop, Antica Macelleria Falorni.  This place is simply incredible.  The meat is cured in a tenderizing  fashion that will never be allowed in the States.  For example, the meat above our heads hangs for 15 months.

The next stop was lunch.  We decided to try Il Portico.  Great people, great food, and a great house wine!  Kelly discovered her favorite Aceto di balsamico.  We all discovered Acqua Panna.
Another attempt at Italian landed us some bottles of the house wine to go.

The rest of the day started four traditions for us:

1.  Pictures of average sized Americans with tiny cars.
2.  Pictures of average sized Americans in very small doorways.
3.  Picture of what not to wear, although the candid shots didn't always turn out.

Yes, I said four traditions...

4.  Three bottles of wine while we blogged.
     a.  One high end bottle that we knew that we loved from past encounters in the States.
     b.  Something mid-ranged that we knew that we liked or something new to try.
     c.  Something dirt cheap in an attempt to find a bad Tuscan wine.  This would prove to be a long, hard journey that would span several days.

Today's attempt resulted in the four of us ending up in a small pizzeria with an Indian waiter that either didn't speak Italian or he was annoyed by our attempts.

One thing is for sure.  We would be the stereotypical loud, annoying Americans on this night.  The smiles are not due to a great house wine or incredible pizza.  It was the three bottle of wine that we had previously...

Go to 6/14/11