Tuscan tipples at 10am? I’ll raise a glass to that!
There are surely few things in life better than hanging around an 11th-century Tuscan castle – with an expert to guide you through the excellent wine list. Oh, and a top chef. And did I mention the outdoor pool among the vineyards?
I’m on the world’s only wine and yoga retreat in the extraordinary Castello di Potentino, a hotel-winery-residence on the slopes of dormant volcano Monte Amiata. Here former River Cafe sommelier Emily O’Hare leads lessons in the grand dining room with passion and precision, teaching us how to taste wine and match it with food, and how to open a bottle of champagne without the cork destroying the nearby antique china.
It all leads to a WSET 1 (Wine And Spirit Education Trust) qualification in wines. I learn a lot, not least that I have a taste for vino at 10am – as Emily says, ‘that’s when the palate is at its perkiest’.
The castle produces its reds, a white and a rosé on a 10-acre plot. There are also twice-daily yoga sessions – which I lazily avoid – and excursions. One is to the delightful village of Montalcino, home of the renowned Brunello di Montalcino wine, and a nearby superstar winery called Sesti, where we have a dramatic candlelit dinner in a chapel as a thunderstorm rages outside. We also visit Bagno Vignoni for a dip in its volcanically heated natural pools, and receive a butchery demonstration by a local master butcher. The only downside? Deciding which epic wine to toast my passing the exam with – Saluti!