Retreating into the Val d’Orcia for my pre-Vinitaly spring renewal. Driving through this part of Tuscany, I inevitably ask myself: do these greens really occur in nature?
Got in just after lunch time. Now that is what I call a Room with a View!
Do you really think those little lined-up trees happen naturally too? It all seems so quaint and fairytale-like.
Isn’t the main square of Bagno Vignoni adorable? But that green water…. Hmmmm…. At least 50 shades of green in the Val d’Orcia…
So I had my body scrub with grape seeds, followed by my hydrating oiling up with grape seed oil… Aromatherapeutic and delicious! (No, no pix of that, sorry folks!) Followed by:
Now, I know what you are thinking: starting so early? No, my friends: that is the real McCoy — grape juice! No kidding! Got out of my grape-based sauna and had to have a sugary sip of that to bring my blood sugars and pressure back in line!
Then the challenge:
Rosso di Montalcino followed by his big brother, Brunello.
Followed by….
A little Aleatico passito… A Tuscan IGT.
Which of course, never goes unaccompanied:
I’ve got another gruelling day of massages, thermal baths and sampling the bounty of this incredible terroir tomorrow… Will I be up to it?
Stay tuned…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 
Beautiful!