Testamatta – my heads in a whirl!

7.2.12

Another visit to Vincigliata – Sir John Temple Leader’s mock medieval castle! – but although today it was so bitterly cold our welcome was as warm as ever!

These days this splendid castle is usually only opened for weddings and courses where in the summer I am sure it is a fantastic venue for such events.

We were fortunate – because it is winter they took our booking for a small group on a private visit including wine tasting – and it went down very well!

The castle itself is stuffed with statues and various eclectic items added to the castle when it was rebuilt over 18 years in the 1850-60’s – as this included the period when Florence was reinventing itself as the Capital of the newly combined country of Italy – Sir John Temple Leader got lucky in his search for quirky historic items partly because – as one of my group commented- there was a lot of treasure to be found in the skips in those days!

Some of these items are original gargoyles and statues that were replaced in the “new” Florence – and as such – although well weather worn – they are probably more valuable than those that they were replaced with!

Another feature within the castle is the contract of sale – literally made in stone – and sadly not very photogenic but if you look closely you can see the Temple Leader coat of arms – now displayed on the wall in one of their rooms.

Above – the Contract of sale of Vincigliata to Sir John Temple Leader

We also visited the mock medieval tower of the castle that Temple Leader lovingly reconstructed to make his castle look the part.  It was from the original tower that young bride to be, Bianca , waited for her lover to ride down from a nearly castle and take her to wife. Unfortunately her family were like the Montagues of Verona – and not keen that their daughter should consort with a rival family – so this poor “Juliet” had full view of her “Romeo” being cut down off his steed and slashed to pieces by her own brother – overcome with grief and despair the young girl threw herself off the tower – and now legend has it that her grieving ghost still walks the castle – and is a good omen if you see her as she offers her protection to other impossible love matches.

The Tower exit alone was a challenge for our group – not a exactly as model of health and safety design – but the view over Florence and across Tuscany – especially when it is warmer – is worth the effort – and quite a thought that escaping Allied prisoners of war had to make their way through these forests to – hopefully – meet up with the partisans and get guided to the Swiss border.

So onto the wine tasting , which to be honest was a relief after the cold of the castle tower , the castle is now owned by the family of  Bibi Graetz – who have entered into the wine making market in the past twelve years – and have created some wonderful wines – one of which,  Testamatta ( head spin!) was given a 98% approval rating by the Wine Spectator for their 2006 wine – not bad for beginners!!

 

Happily my group enjoyed the wines very much – we had some excellent canapes with the tasting and some supplies were purchased for future enjoyment.

I am already looking forward to my next visit in April!