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LIFE’S A BEACH ! (PT.1)

LIFE’S A BEACH ! (PT.2)

A trip to Rufina to discover its most famous product

The Vine & Wine Museum
[Susan Glasspool]

The 16th century Villa of Poggio Reale dominates the town of Rufina whose name has, for at least a century, been closely linked to wine production. Historically however wine has been drunk in the Sieve Valley since Etruscan times while documents tell us it was already being sold when Brunelleschi was building his great Cupola.

The villa, with its spectacular avenue of cypress trees bordered by huge vineyards on either side, is an admirable synthesis of architectural, environmental and expositive elements. The Vine & Wine Museum, situated in the cellars of the villa, shows its complete understanding of local wine growing traditions, which today are used as an incentive for new evolutionary methods. Time changes...in fact, the vines, tastes, tools and methods have rarely remained the same.

The four rooms of the museum contain a collection of original material that document the traditions of wine production in the Chianti and also stress the deep relationship between wine and the territory. It is a laboratory of historical memories and innovation, containing the typical technical equipment required for the making of wine, thus showing the museum's close interest in modern productive processes. The arrangement is further enriched by a series of historic documents on the methods used for wine labelling, preservation, bottling and selling. Here pieces of equipment, videos, blow-ups and photos offer vivid descriptions of the vineyards, the changing seasons and the way they were worked in the past, compared to the present. The cellar is recreated with displays of tools and documents from the villa's more industrialised cellars as opposed to those used by the share-cropping community. A restored vat gives off the scent and colour of marc (crushed grapes), the true essence of the magical process of wine making.

The traditional containers of wine, like bottles and flasks (a flourishing cottage industry producing the straw protection for the flasks existed in and around Florence) are displayed, as well as a series of wine labels and a reconstruction of the so-called "carro matto", a delivery cart piled high with 1266 carefully wedged flasks. Other exhibits include a symbolic outsize box of bottles that can be entered, offering incredibly unreal sensations, a reconstruction of a tavern with a table and a farmer's desk, where you can read various documents, plus videos, slides, etc.
The museum also boasts a specialised historic library and a wine shop where the wines can be tasted, a restoration laboratory, guest quarters and a conference room.
Therefore if you want to find out more about the making of wine, go and visit this fascinating museum.
Vine & Wine
Museum

Villa of Poggio Reale
Viale Duca della Vittoria - Rufina
Tel. 055.8397932

Summer hours: Monday & Saturday 10-12am - 3-7pm. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 3-7pm (April, May, June, September).
Monday 10-12am - 3-7pm. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 3-7.30pm (July & August)
Winter hours: Friday 9-12am - 3-6pm. Saturday & Sunday 3-6pm (March, October, November, December)


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