The first big highlight of our Tuscan adventure occurred on Tuesday: We took a private, all-day tour of the Chianti wine and olive region with a local guide. Miriam, a French/Italian who grew up in Livorno on the east coast and spent a great deal of her young life in Paris, showed up in the morning looking like something from a fashion magazine: Black pointy-toed leather pumps with kitten heels, silk scarf, Angora sweater, cigarette pants. Louise immediately worried that she was under-dressed for the day, LOL.

Determined not to be intimidated by such obvious European elegance, the three of us climbed into Miriam’s trusty nine-passenger minivan and set off for a day of adventure, which included two small wineries (not the kind that cater to motor coaches filled with rowdy tourists) and lunch at a small family farm on a hilltop with a view of Florence. At least the woman who served our meal told me it was Florence. Regardless, it was gorgeous.

We made a couple of quick stops near Panzano to do a quick photo op in the surrounding vineyards and to visit a traditional butcher in town. There we sampled a traditional Tuscan “snack”: Tuscan bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and topped with sea salt, a lightly herbed spread of lard (a by-product of making salami) spread on the same bread, and slices of prosciutto and house-made salami. And, of course, a glass of Chianti to wash it all down. Mom enjoyed telling the butcher (who was quite the flirt, by the way) that her great-grandfather was a butcher.

Then it was on to our first winery of the day, Castello Monterinaldi where the charming Federica was our guide. We toured the production facility and the wine cave, and learned about the 1,000 year history of this winery and the many accolades the owner, Daniele Ciampi, has earned from his Chianti Classico. We also learned that the black rooster is the symbol of the Chianti Classico designation, which is only given to wines made in a certain way and containing a minimum of 80% locally grown Sangiovese grapes. And you can bet I’ll be throwing that little bit of knowledge around at cocktail parties.

After the tour of the gorgeous gardens and historic Tuscan buildings, Federica took us to the tasting room where mom and Louise sampled four wines: A standard Chianti, a Chianti Classico, a Brunello (which is made of 100% Sangiovese grapes) and a “Toscana” blended wine. I swirled and sniffed and enjoyed watching mom and Louise compare notes on the four wines.

We also sampled extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Now you are talking my language. Tuscans take great pride in the quality of their olive oils and are eager to educate visitors on the production process, the quality controls and the health benefits of olive oil. For me, the highlight of our visit was the opportunity to taste a balsamic vinegar which had been aged for 15 years — sweet, syrupy and amazing! I declined to purchase a bottle of it, but it sure was good.

Next, we headed deeper into the hills to a family-run farmhouse and restaurant where Miriam had arranged for us to have lunch. It was gorgeous. We were in the middle of the olive orchard and there were small villages and ancient homes tucked in valleys and perched on top of hills as far as the eye could see.

The woman who served our lunch told us that she and her mother-in-law were the cooks, and that all the products we were served originated on the farm: the cheeses and salami served for the antipasti, the beef in the “ragu” sauce served with the pasta, the olive oil and wine, and even the wheat used for the pasta and the desserts. Everything was absolutely amazing.

After lunch, Miriam bundled us back into her trusty minivan and took us to the small town of Greve, the birthplace of the explorer Verazzano. A cute town and apparently a standard stop for American tourists tours. How do I know this?

We had about a 1/2 hour to look around the adorable town square and duck into stores, then it was back in the van for our second and final tasting of the day, at Brogioni which is located on the side of a very steep hill outside Greve.

I absolutely loved this small winery (and I do mean “small” since they only produce about 400 bottles of olive oil and 10,000 bottles of wine each season) and the owner, Maurizio Brogioni, who was an absolute hoot.

Maurizio took us on a brief walking tour of his vineyard and olive grove, explaining that due to a very warm summer, the grape harvest was already over, but he was in the process of gathering olives for pressing. He explained the traditional way of gathering olives (always by hand, never by machine) and how the olives are washed, pressed to extract the oil, and spun in a centrifuge to separate the oil from any water used during the pressing process.

He explained that best quality olive oil is cold-pressed, with limited exposure to air, heat and light. He also said that the first press yields the best quality oil, designated “Extra Virgin Olive Oil,” the second press yields “Virgin Olive Oil,” the third press yields “Olive Oil” and the fourth and fifth presses, well those products are used for machine lubricants and lamp oil.

[As a side note, each day we’ve been out this week we have passed men (and some women) harvesting their olives. Our host, Andrea, told us that he planned to finish his harvest on Friday and we asked it we could stop by to watch the pressing process. I hope he remembers to tell us…]

Finally, it was time to taste!

In addition to his Chianti, Chianti Classico and Toscana wines, he also offered our valiant tasters a sample of a special blended wine. I can’t remember what it was blended from, but it was called “50/50” and it was so good that both Louise and mom purchased a bottle to ship home. And, of course, we sampled his EVVO (bought some of that) and this amazing “grape syrup” that we had sampled with our farmhouse lunch.

Maurizio explained that it was an extract made from the grape skins, but since it was not fermented, there was no alcohol. Instead it was amazingly sweet (bought some of that, too.) And if that were not enough, he served us an antipasti with his house made salami — made the traditional Tuscan way with fennel seeds. YUM!!!

Finally, it was time for Miriam to bundle us back into her minivan and head back to the villa, rolling through stop signs all the way. (Apparently, in Tuscany stop signs are considered optional.)

Don’t get me wrong, we really enjoyed our time with Miriam. So much so that we are planning to have her take us on a day trip to Assisi when Deborah comes to visit in two weeks.

Maybe I’ll dress up that day…