Fireflies on Fifth: "Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance." -Benjamin Franklin

The foothills of many areas in Tuscany have become homes to hundreds of winefarms, often long held in families and passed down through generations, and producing inky Merlots, aged Chiantis, fruity Sancerres, and food-friendly Cabernets.

When planning our trip, we knew we wanted to tour at least one winery, and we wanted to steer clear of the large, factory-style wineries in favor of the more intimate feel from a small family business. After researching a few vineyards, we settled on Altesino, located in the Montalcino region and specializing in the production of Sangiovese grapes. We made our appointment for our tour, and four weeks later, here we were. :)

Remember when I said that many times, we would be greeted by pets first, then the business owners/guides second? This held true yet again.

German shephards. Fabulous. My favorite. ;) All kidding aside, they were very sweet, of course.

Not longer after these two furry guys greeted us, Melissa followed and greeted us just as warmly. When we discovered that we'd be on a private tour, with our group consisting of Raja, myself, and the two dogs, we knew we'd made the right decision in going for the smaller winery experience.

Melissa showed us the grape and olive vineyards, which take up 108 acres of the Montalcino region, and also the house where the owners and some members of the staff reside.

Before long, we followed the same path their grapes take after the harvest: from the winery and into the processing center, which is where fermentation, refining and bottling take place. The first task is to separate the grapes, then transfer the fruit to a destemmer/crusher where the stems are separated from the grapes and the grapes are crushed. After de-stemming and crushing, the grape juice is poured into fermentation vats, where yeast converts most of the sugars in the grape juice into alcohol. Their time inside these sets of tanks is when red wines develop their colors, scents, and flavors. This is also when the juice naturally ferments, turning sugar to alcohol.

When the time is right, the vintner transfers the partially-fermented liquid into oak barrels or stainless steel tanks, depending on the kind of grape being used. The wine sits in these oak barrels, which encourage further fermentation and initiate the beginning of the aging process. The use of oak plays a vital role in the winemaking proces and can have a dramatic effect on the resulting wine, affecting the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of the wine. The length of time that a wine spends in the barrel is dependent on the grape variety and style of wine that the vintner wishes to make.

After the aging process is complete, the wine is ready to be bottled, sold, and shipped. Rather than heading straight for the buying process, we decided to do a wine tasting to determine which wines we'd like to take home with us. With well over a week left in our trip, we were excited to take a few bottles with us to the next stops on our journey.

After trying four different wines, Raja and I easily agreed on a favorite, so we visited the sales area where Melissa could pull the specific bottles we wanted and package them up for travel. She was a wonderful guide... gracious, friendly, and knowledgeable. I snapped one last picture of our sweet host, we exchanged our goodbyes with both Melissa and the pups, and we headed off, wines in tow. We were ready to see where the next unmarked, dirt road would take us. :)