We haven’t been blessed with a kid. We have tried, of course, but it just didn’t happen. We haven’t let this become an obsession although we get upset sometimes, thinking of that empty room we would never decorate. We have concentrated on our relationship instead and put a massive effort in growing it as our own child: we have been dining out, taking cooking classes together, painting walls, traveling a lot and dedicating any effort in making things cheerful and nice between the two of us.

We have collected some extraordinary wines during our frequent trips worldwide and at one point we have built a cellar in Tuscan style, a small one, where we have nursed a number of Chianti Reserve, some Rentless, a lot of Pinot Noir and some precious bottles of Vinsanto, which we are crazy about and definitely prefer to the extra sweet Limoncello. Tuscany harvest 2003: that is when our love affair with Vinsanto starts.

We were spending our honeymoon in Tuscany in a villa close to Vinci, home town to ‘Leonardo the genius’, in the territory of Montalbano, just half way from Florence and Pisa. Not a famous part of Tuscany but incredibly beautiful, full of sweet hills. We only got to know this area because one of our friends is a professional biker and he goes there to train every spring, however we felt in love with it and have come back many times since that first trip ten years ago. We were willing to see as many places as possible and taste a large number of bottles amongst those listed in our book for wine enthusiasts, from the Super Tuscans in Bolgheri to the Brunello, from the Vernaccia to the Morellino: our passion with wine and its culture comes a long way - that’s why we chose Tuscany for our honeymoon, by the way.

On our second day we decide to drive to pleasant Pistoia, a walled city with a great central pedestrian area covered with vegetable markets and located along the old road connecting Lucca to Florence, that’s when we bump into this very nicely designed road sign saying “Facciamo Olio e Vino”, that I could translate as “we make oil and we also make wine” - cute, and that sign gets our attention immediately. One thing foreigners must understand about tuscans is that they do not consider marketing or any form of selling tool less disturbing than mosquitos in the summer, so that when something with a nice package appears, it’s like a candle in the dark you get attracted to. People here concentrate on quality and do not even bother putting up a smile when retailing. Actually, words such as marketing, public relations, gift vouchers simply do not occur. We decide then to follow the sign and enter the farm, and get welcomed with a sincere smile by this happy looking lady. We have barely the time to turn our heads around to notice hectic harvest activities in the vineyards and in the cellars, where people are cutting fast, moving crates, plugging and unplugging pipes to the tanks. We are assisting to an inebriating process indeed, something we have never had a chance to see previously. Right after this lady who greeted us invites us to take part to the ‘thing’, we are endowed with scissors, gloves and instructed on how and where to cut the grapes. We follow instructions religiously and do it.

I remember the day after as a bit critical, as our joints suffered from the harvest strain. Nonetheless we could not miss to join the group and are still grateful we didn’t hesitate. We worked in the vinsantaia, a well ventilated room that usually lies on the top floor of old country mansions, where Malvasia and Sangiovese grapes lay to dry on straw mats and hang from racks until late December, early January. A sweet moist elated our senses, while we laid grapes on their straw beds with delicate gestures. We made friends, again very quickly, with the one that looked and acted as the boss, Mr Antonio, who seemed to enjoy the job way more than one would expect. We completely forgot why we entered the farm and spent the entire day cutting, doing things and being overwhelmed with happiness.

Later that day Mr Antonio invited us to sit down in his tasting room and opened a bottle of the most precious Occhio di Pernice Reserve, a particular kind of vinsanto we have become addicted to. > he said while watering his eyes.

We swore that evening we would be back in Antonio’s again and again, and always in May, because this is when wine makers open the “caratelli”, small barrels containing the fine dew of Vinsanto after years of maturation. We promised ourselves we would be back for sure in ten years time to celebrate our plated anniversary and to open our personal “caratello” of Vinsanto. Since each barrel is hermetically sealed with cement to avoid that fermentation pressure uncap it, this means you discover what you got - if anything - only after breaking the barrel itself: this is a special sort of delivery, I have thought to myself, and I am going to follow up on this.

Winemakers like mr Antonio are longing for days before they open up the bung in the Vinsantaia aging room, infact this is the most thrilling moment for the enologist, when he finds out the nature of the product laying at the bottom of the caratello. It can either be some nice liquid or the most precious 'mother', a jelly composition which will donate new life and taste to future vintage. Whatever the result is, vinsanto or vino santo (holy wine) is one of the most treasured italian dessert wines: every kid remembers the first binge while sopping Cantuccini cookies into a glass of it - and the consequential temporary light-head feeling. And so do we.

Here we are ten years after: mr Antonio is still a friend of ours and we join the harvest at least every three years, and every time our duties allow it. We have climbed the steps to the vinsantaia room today to check the conditions of our own “private” small barrel of Vinsanto, the one with the grapes we selected, pressed and stored, waiting for the dew to ‘happen’. It is a big day because this is the closure of a ritual and the end of a long expectancy, one that works for us. We cannot express the emotion and excitement while waiting to know what this little oak “treasure chest” will disclose.

Mr Antonio, the enologists, me and my husband all wait in trepidation the minute the bung is being chiseled and the barrel is finally connected via a small hose to the bottle. Deep breath: here we are, the golden liquid is pouring out into the bottle, our bottle of ten years old Vinsanto! It is known that each caratello has its own story, well, I hope you enjoyed this one as much as we did.

H. lives in Greece with her beloved husband and works as a teacher, she has met Serena Giovannoni during her last trip to Tuscany, while visiting Carrara - About Vinsanto - Traditionally obtained from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, Sangiovese may be used to produce a rosé style Vinsanto known as Occhio di Pernice (eye of the partridge). This particular wine can reach for up to 10 years in the barrel to turn into a fascinating wine, with hints of fruit and spicy fund.