Today was the first day of the field school and it was pretty packed.

We started off doing a scavenger hunt through the town to get to know the area better.

After the scavenger hunt we got a tour of the Castello Sonnio estate and learn’t lots of interesting information especially about Sidney Sonnio and his, as well as the estates, involvement in Italy’s history, such as with the Treaty of Versailles

After touring the area we got fed in the Enoteca. We were served bread, cured meats and anchovies on bread to start and then had rice salad as the main.

We had a short break after lunch, then had a lecture about wine, especially wine in Italy and in the Tuscany region. In the lecture we did a wine smelling activity to prepare for the following wine tasting.

After the lecture we toured the grape drying area and learn’t about the wine production for Vinsanto. Which is a dying tradition, that produces oxidized wine after a 9 year process.

We then toured the wine cellar and saw the oak barrels and cement vat.

After learning about the wine process we did a wine tasting and tried 4 of Castello Sonnios wines: a Rosé – Pichius, Chianti Montespertoli (D.O.C.G) – Sonnio, Chianti Montespertoli Reserve (D.O.C.G) – Castello di Montespertoli and Cantinino.

After the tasting the majority of us went to the grocery store to get food and ingredients for dinner.

For dinner Gabi and I made bruschetta (I chopped she did everything else) and on of the culinary students made pasta, followed by some ice cream and cone bowls, provided by two others.

After that we stayed at the guys house for a while then went for a walk to the Piazza.

Then it was bed time after our walk.