The Chianti Hills Say Farewell to Fall

Winter is coming to the Hills

The Chianti Hills are the heart of Tuscany. This is where nature gave us a range of stony, forest covered hills that have supported civilisation since centuries before the Romans.

The Etruscans planted vineyards on terroir that was carved from forests; this was the dirt that had been laid down by millions of years of decomposing forest floor that makes this area so unique.

Whether it was the highly civilised Etruscans, the Romans who assimilated them, the Lombards who came after the fall of the Roman Empire or those of us who live in this paradise today we have all watched the same change of seasons.

Spring was eternally wet. Summer was long and dry. The grapes were smaller than usual and the Fall colours muted. Late fall has seen the rains come again, the day closing down at 5pm and last night the first snows over the range in the valley of the Arno.

Winter will be long here in the Hills; it always is. Warmth will not return until May although Spring will be making its presence felt by then. This is not the Chianti the tourists know and love but it is nature’s way of turning the cycle of life.