Travel to Montepulciano, Pienza, and Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy. Wine tasting with Vino Nobile.

Travel to Montepulciano, Pienza, and Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy. Wine tasting with Vino Nobile.

The Toscana region of Italy is known for its 
spectacular hilltop towns and its exceptional vineyards and wineries. In this video, we visit 
three of those towns, Montepuliano, Pienza, and Arezzo. And we also sampled some very special vino 
nobile di Montepulciano stored deep in the caverns under the streets of Montepulciano at the De’ricci 
winery as well as spending an afternoon in the Tuscan countryside at the Boscarelli winery where 
we try one of wine spectators top 100 wines in the world. Welcome to wandering with Rick and Rachel. 
Come with us as we explore culture, history, art, food, and wine. This time in Tuscany. We’re a 
director and an actor who’ve spent our lives telling stories on stage. Now we’re chasing new 
ones out in the world one unscripted moment at a time. Hello. We are in the small city of Pienza. 
We have a break in the weather. It’s been rainy in Montepulciano. So, we are here today. Uh it’s 
a little cloudy, but it doesn’t matter because this is one of the most beautiful spots, the Val 
D’Oorcia. and just take a look around. And the last time we were here, which was the first time 
we were here, which was a really long time ago, was in the early spring and it was so windy and so 
cold, but it was still stunningly beautiful. So, we’re looking forward to kind of just walking 
around and seeing some more of of Pienza. The town of Pienza is one of the gems of Tuscany. 
This charming village known as the city of pious was meticulously rebuilt in the 15th century by 
Pope Pius II who was born there to become the first planned ideal Renaissance town earning 
it UNESCO world heritage status. Beyond its stunning architecture and hilltop views, Pienza 
is famous for its delicious pecorino cheese made from sheep’s milk, a local specialty. And 
for film buffs and theater geeks like us, you might recognize it as a location for 
Franco Zeffirelli’s classic 1968 film of Romeo and Juliet. For our week in Tuscany, we 
based ourselves in Montepulciano, so we could drive to a number of nearby Tuscan villages 
and wineries. Since it was late in October, the weather varied every day with rain and mist 
often creating their own stunning Tuscan views. Isn’t that something? So, we’re in Montepulciano. 
We’re in a little overlook just off Piazza Grande and it’s been raining for days and days, but 
right now it stopped raining and and we found this incredible overlook. Yeah, we did. Nobody 
else did. Just us. We’re so clever. And we’ve been doing a lot of driving out there in the 
countryside the last couple of days. But it’s great to see it from this venue. Yeah. And just 
seeing how many vineyards there are surrounding us all through this valley below the clouds. All 
those olive trees out there. Yeah. Montepulciano offers a unique blend of history, culture, and 
natural beauty. From its strategically significant perch and its role as a Renaissance intellectual 
hub to its world renowned wine and the miraculous legends behind the church of San Biagio, the town 
invites visitors to step into a living testament to Italian heritage. Really atmospheric back 
street in Montepulciano. So this is Piazza Grande in Montepulciano and a gray drizzly day at the end 
of October but not ridiculously cold. But I think it’s in the ’60s. So, we’re going to take a look 
around. I don’t know what any of the buildings are called because we didn’t do any research. There’s 
the big one. That’s I call that the big building. And over there’s the building with the flags. 
And that one that’s a cistern. And I know it is a cistern. That’s the portico building. I’m 
renaming them all. There’s going to be plaques soon. That’s the building with the Enoteca. That’s 
the Contucci Winery. We know that. Yeah. Um, do we And that’s that’s the church with a huge 
campanile. It’s beautiful up here. Absolutely beautiful. Now, we’re going to walk up to the 
top of Montepulciano. Okay, cool. Let’s go. Montepulciano is known globally for its celebrated 
wine, Vino Nobile Di de Montepulciano. This wine is not merely a commercial product. It stands 
as a symbol of the region’s cultural identity and historical economic importance. A 17th century 
poet famously hailed it as the king of all wines, hence its name. And it was among the very first 
Italian wines to receive an origin guarantee from the Italian government, underscoring its 
long-standing tradition of quality and its deep connection to the land. Hello. We are still and 
we’re about to do a wine tour through the cellar and then a tasting. And this this one is De’Ricci. 
And the one we chose was six tastings because- remember my thing about steps. 87 steps later, 
we were deep underground. Montepulciano is famous for its warren of historic wine caves, many of 
which are located beneath the town’s buildings and date back centuries. These cellars, often 
carved directly into the stone, are used for aging the Vino Nobile. Some sellers, like those 
here at De’Ricci, have sections dating back to Etruscan times and feature unique architectural 
elements like brick vaults and tunnels. So, we’re inside. It’s absolutely beautiful in 
here. Recommend coming. I mean, it’s worth it just to come in here and walk around. She has 
great stories to tell about the family and the vineyard and the winery. And we’re on our own 
for just a second. We’ve been given permission to walk down by ourselves first. So, I want to 
play hide and seek down here. This is so cool. This is really some cave. Wow. Nibbles. Nibbles. 
But you don’t get two of the chicken liver. But Rick doesn’t like the chicken liver. So on his 
plate, he gets two of the tomato. So, I gave him my tomato and I took the chicken liver pate. 
Uh, so far we we we have three that we’ve started with and then she’s going to come in. Oh, here we 
go. Three, right? And we’re ready. Just in time. These are not tiny little tasting pours. I’m 
on number four by You’re on number four. And do you have a favorite wine so far that you’ve 
tasted? Uh, so far it’s number four. Okay. And which one is that? That’s the Vino Nobile, which I 
guess is their signature sort of their high Yeah, they’re featured their highest price overlay. 
There’s a reason and it’s good. You’re swirling like crazy. I’m swirling. You know what? 
Some people do it on the tabletop, but no. We’re professionals. Am I doing it right? 
I got to get it going. It’s like a Frisbee or hula hoop. It’s like a hula hoop. You 
got to You got to get it. You got to start it. You got to keep it. You got to get it 
going. Spend most of my time doing this. And you sniff it really hard 
and you swirl it and you look at it and then you finally finally take yourself. You’re a goofball. I never do that. Why? 
Okay. But it still tastes good. All right, I’m done. Bye. Last time you saw us, we were 
doing an amazing wine tasting. And now we are just in this little tiny cafe. We’re going 
to get some Ribolitta which is a soup. We got a bottle of wine, which is the wine from 
the place that we were doing the tasting. So, we felt we needed to honor the time that we spent 
in their in their wine cellar. Right. Right. So, we’re going to sit out here. Hardly anybody’s 
here. It’s so quiet. It’s really getting foggy in this weather. I always find when it 
gets like cool like this and then foggy and misty. When you turn a corner in one of 
these streets and there aren’t any people, I feel like I’m suddenly dropped back inside 
of the the medieval era or the Renaissance era. Right. Yes. Yes. Are you waiting for 
vampires to come out in game? I’m always waiting for vampires after dark. I always Well, 
I always think they’re going to be vampires. Yes, but you you do know. You probably don’t know 
this. What? Rachel, are you a vampire? Should I know this? A little bit. No, they some scenes 
from Twilight were filmed here in Montepulciano. Really? You hear the bell tower? There’s the 
bell. Yes. Pulcinello just tolled. So, yes. So, where are we? Look at this beautiful 
town square. This is the Piazza Grande, but not in Montepulciano. This is in Arezzo, and 
it’s a larger town than Montepulciano and some of the others we’ve been to. It is so beautiful 
here. The buildings, the medieval architecture. We haven’t wandered around too much. Apparently, 
you get there’s certain places you can go and you can see views out on the the valleys, but just 
the buildings and the vibe so far is really I don’t want to use the word genuine, but 
it’s just it’s just so much less touristy and crazy as you could tell. Known as the 
city of gold due to its long history of gold and jewelry craftsmanship, Arezzo also hosts 
Italy’s largest antique fair. Additionally, Arezzo is the birthplace of Guido of Arezzo, who 
invented the modern system of musical notation. So, still in Arezzo, we made it with the up to the 
Fortezza and you can walk around the walls of it. It’s that kind of star- shaped old medieval 
fortress. There’s a lot of history here from the Etruscan times and Romans and medieval. We 
were walking around. We’re looking at beautiful scenery. We’re walking along here and we look 
over and it’s a just it’s very sobering. Do you want to can you sure down and look at this? 
So this is the cemetery at Arezzo and it’s just huge and it is clearly hundreds and hundreds of 
years of of folks in the town so much history who are buried here in the cemetery. If you notice, 
and this is what you’ll find in a lot of old Italian cemeteries. The pictures of the people who 
have passed are on the spot that they’re buried. So that’s kind of why it looks like a almost 
like an art gallery with cemetery below it. It’s not. It’s just everybody’s their picture 
or a saying or something about them from their family. And then you look past it and you’ve got 
this absolutely stunning olive groves for miles and miles and miles cypress and yeah. Yeah. We 
decided to drive out of Montepulciano and we’re still in the region to go to a winery here. 
We’re going to have a tour. I think they’re going to take us through the vineyards. We’re 
going to see the cellar. We’re going to do some tastings. This one’s called Boscarelli. Don’t 
know anything about it. Uh they’ve they except they made the wine Spectator top 100 a couple 
of times. Yeah. Yeah. They’ve been Yes. So, we just learned really nice. And uh again, 
end of October. Can you hear the birds? No, because they stopped as soon as Look how 
beautiful the sun is so warm. Yeah, gorgeous. Gorgeous. Um, typical countryside. So, right out 
of a movie or a painting. We really fell in love with Vino Nobile on this trip and gained a deep 
respect for the producers here. Very different from the more common Montepulciano D’Abruzzo which 
is a completely different grape and from a region not remotely near Montepulciano. Vino nobile 
demonstrates some of the unique qualities of the region. Clay and sandy soil, hot dry summers 
and cool wet falls and springs primarily from the same sangiovese grape found in the more well-known 
Chianti classico from the Chiantii region as well as in the exceptional and highly celebrated 
Brunello de Montalcino from its neighbor. The vino nobile from the producers we visited 
were among our favorite wines in the world. How are you enjoying the barrel stave? 
This is as close as I’m going to get to being inside a wine barrel. So that’s 
that’s actually true. Here we are. I hope so. Here we are. Our last day in the 
Montepulciano region, Sienna region of Tuscany. We decided to drive up and then walk a little 
into this beautiful iconic chapel that you will probably recognize from lots and lots of 
photographs. Cappela della donna della vita, this one over here, Yes. Yeah. And as we were 
walking up here, we also realized that um there’s a film shoot. We were coming up 
the backside and you see all the the wagons, the trucks with their gear in it and we saw 
the makeup artists and the trailers and the talent and that’s kind of cool. Yeah, we’re 
we’re really enjoying this uh this walk today. This is I’m going to take this and turn it on 
you. Yeah, there you go. Hello. Hi there. So, since we’re in our our last day, um which means 
it’s uh October 28th, um we really didn’t expect that we’d be having short sleeve weather. It’s 
hot, it’s sunny, it’s beautiful blue skies, and you can just see the fields of Tuscany, the 
vineyards, the olive groves, just for miles and miles. It’s a glorious way to end our our October 
uh in Italy and our our week in Tuscany. Yeah, this is just wonderful. I am loving it. We’re 
leaving here and we’re going to London. It’s going to be considerably cooler and then 
Ireland. Uh so we are definitely soaking up the sun today. getting as much as we can 
out of the sunshine and the countryside as possible. Of course, Tuscany is high on 
our list, not only for places to visit, but also where we could easily see ourselves 
living. With our love of history, art, food, and wine, there are few places like it 
in the world. We can’t wait to return.

Visit Montepulciano, Pienza, and Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy! Go on wine tasting tours to the De’Ricci and Boscarelli Wineries to sample Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

More travel with us here! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfR0988h6mUzqrD2Yz1LC-8xlS0PizXB7

@wanderingwithrickandrachel

Embark on an unforgettable journey through the heart of Tuscany with Rick and Rachel, exploring the captivating hilltop towns of Montepulciano, Pienza, and Arezzo. Discover Montepulciano’s rich Renaissance history and admire the architectural marvel of the Church of San Biagio, a true masterpiece built from honey-colored travertine stone. Wander through Pienza, the “ideal Renaissance town” and UNESCO World Heritage site, famous for its delicious Pecorino cheese and its cinematic connection to Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. Delve into Arezzo’s medieval charm and history, known as the “city of gold” and the birthplace of modern musical notation. This video offers an immersive experience into Tuscan culture, featuring exclusive wine tastings of the esteemed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano—hailed as the “king of all wines” —both amidst the picturesque countryside and deep within the ancient, hidden wine caves beneath Montepulciano’s streets. Perfect for travelers passionate about history, authentic culture, exquisite food and wine, and unique experiences.

We visit the exceptional wine caves and caverns buried deep beneath Montepulciano as we explore the history of the production of the region’s famous Vino nobile di Montepulciano, and do a wine tasting at the highly rated De’Ricci Winery. We travel to the gorgeous Tuscan countryside to the Boscarelli Winery to tour their estate and sample one of Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines in the world.

00:00 Tuscany Intro
00:52 Pienza
02:20 Montepulciano
04:31 Vino Nobile
04:52 De’Ricci Caves
08:09 Night Atmosphere
09:20 Arezzo
12:00 Boscarelli Winery
13:42 Tuscan Countryside

Visit Sicily in Taormina, Cefalu, and Ortigia here https://youtu.be/4K5y9Tezbpo
Visit Valencia, Spain video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ-YAn3sDI0&t=26s
Visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKoNDpwaELg

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