wine and jazz bar... firenze's best

le volpi e l'uva

The French say that the best perfumes come in small bottles. I guess the Italian twist to this will be "the best wine bars(enotecas) are the most hidden streets. It is certainly not easy to find this place, even though it sits just next door to Ponti Vecchio, one of the most touristic places in Florence.

This very little wine bar/shop is a little world of wonderful taste. the very good wine selection, from the ones you sell by the bottle to the offer by the glass is ranging from very good to outstanding, and the prices are very fair, certainly very cheap if like me you are used to London prices. I tried 5 glasses from the menu(the verdicchio twice), and would be happy to finish the rest of the day drinking the rest of the bottle. 

To go with this if have a good offer a range of local products from cheese, to cured meats, bread and the most exquisite jam of dark rum and tobacco, on our table only 50% loved it, and it got a bad reaction from the Italians who were sharing the Brunello with us, but I must say, its the best match I had with Pecorino cheese, and Howie certainly agrees with me.

One last note to the lovely decoration, the amazing books, and above all, the jazz. A playlist to rival any specialist radio, and certainly better than Jazzfm, a very good choice to match the style of slow food and slow drinking that makes every visit a "degustazione". 

P.S. A further post will follow about the music selection thanks to Ciro...

The undiscovered and overlooked pleasure of Vermentino

Pinot grigio is by far the most famous italian white, so fresh and easy drinking makes it a really popular choice for a summer lunch but also to have on its own. When you look for quality, Gavi is probably the most respected white wine of the country. but with hundreds of indigenous grapes and so many appellations, what else is there?

Last night I had a really interesting Vermentino DOC,  from Tenuta la parrina. Vermentino also delivers the freshness of the whites, but can give much more. This one had remarkable vegetal notes (I got asparagus) and some lovely herbal, leafy notes on the nose.
On the palate, the first thing to note is its creaminess, almost velvety texture. such a full bodied white, brings the freshness through a good balanced acidity with high alcohol, 14.5%, whisch is quite high for a white. The fruit is juice with citrus and a hint of melon, and finishes with spice notes.

all in all a great white wine, good on its own, but also with food, and being in Tuscany, there is a lot of good choices to choose from.