Castellina sits in the heart of the Chianti Classico area. Just in case you are not sure the road maps have it signed as Castellina-in-Chianti, obviously to differentiate from a town of the same name elsewhere.

The Tuscan fare is well rehearsed in cook books and Italian ristorantes worldwide. On a cool drizzly October day it made sense to eat some Tuscan soup.

And while noticing a wine tour of Americans descend on one large trattoria we jumped next door; full of locals, children included at Il Cantuccio Caffetteria and Wine Bar. The advent of the shiny glass, mood-lit, stainless steel vinimatic single glass wine dispenser powered by argon has been a boon for winery tourism here.

Il Cantuccio blends the traditional family fare with better service through better choice; there was a single glass menu as in Australian restaurants, too many wine lists in Italy force diners to choose a bottle, and miss the pulse of the wines in the region through fewer options to try.

The soup dish came without a spoon so you can guess its texture; white beans disintegrated, typical dry local crusty bread (seems to always taste stale but with a crust to die for), hearty vegetables and vegetable broth.

The primi platti, first course has to be a cutting board (made of olive wood) of cured meats and cheese; fennel-infused coppa (neck muscle of pig), various others well aged, peppered, always prosciutto crudo (preserved pork loin and leg too-shaved off a stand), crumbly 12-month-old pecorino, sublime, salivating saltiness.

Drinks: had to re-acquaint with the sole white of the area, Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2008 by Terruzzi and Puthod (89), nice and pale, nose unwooded, and palate just fine; good texture with the bitter sweets of nectarine, tang, mouth feel and flavour intensity from some good winemaking (winemaker had aged on yeast, a totally good wine drinking package).

The red of choice was Tre di Brancaia 2008, IGT (92), very well made with freshness and good texture, a real find here amongst wines which often tire in the glass from lack of zip. This Brancaia had subtle new oak, and close knit tannins versus the normal grainy ones.

The blend of tourism and culture in this town is quite engaging. The enotecas are slick and polished yet the decor is rustic; olive oils and pasta sauces for sale sit between wine in racks.

The Le Volte Enoteca across the cobbled street from Il Cantuccio stretches for an unusual two rooms to accommodate tutored tours and tastings. I tried to taste the set of Chianti stored under the flashy dispenser but was politely declined unless I took a tour. Probably not.

It’s brand is La Castellina, a suitable name in this part of the woods. I purchased Squarcialupi Riserva 2006, 14% (84) Gallo Nero neck label and all; but it was disappointing, old oily oak aromas and too much intervening brett to really appreciate its flavours.

The point of merlot and cabernet having been blended in as 15% of the mix allowed, other than sangiovese was lost.

The Enoteca did better with my choice from further south: Crocedimezzo (meaning half of the cross) Rosso di Montalcino 2006 13% (89, white neck tag) from Barbara and Roberto Nannetti’s property. This was a trifle muted in colour as expected for the second tier after Brunello di Montalcino.

But the wine had forest aromas, subtle sweets from residing in barrel for 18 months or so, and fruitiness rather than the excess palate dries. Pleasant, good drinking wine.

www.enotecalevolte.com ; www.brancaia.com ; www.camparigroup.com ; www.crocedimezzo.com

Tuscan skies like all things Italian are a little unpredictable at the moment. It is a relief to many that most of the grapes are in anyway.

It’s been a long sunny season, yet cool and the ripening has stretched through September and into October.

This the home of the sangiovese grape – an ugly grape vine which likes to grow like an unruly child, in every direction, has very tough skins, easily carries too much crop causing late ripening.

Yet the Tuscans are proud of this hardy vine. Most properties on the steep hillsides do not have irrigation so there are clear signs where vines are struggling: varying leaf colours across the vista, many turned yellow. So wines from these vines would not be generous.

As we Australians do, the better vineyards have not yet been picked, hanging out the crop to full ripeness.

Sangiovese had its origins further north during the Middle Ages, in the province of Romagna yet we credit Tuscany with its determined commercialisation.

I am on my way to the heart of Chianti Classico, that big geographic slice of land south of Firenze (Florence) and north-east of Siena whose wines carry the distinctive Gallo Nero (Black Rooster) pink neck tag, and have done so for decades.

The trip from my digs in Barberino Val D’Elsa (town of Barberino in the Elsa Valley) was 30 minutes on back roads, GPS-assisted, which really gives the feel for the terrain (hilly, ever-changing, gangly sangiovese everywhere, some new plantings, forest, elegant pencil-shaped cypress pines, other cypress bushy), even driving over the main Siena-Firenze highway.

This misty morning the visit is to the hilltop village of Castellina in Chianti, and my host at Castellare, Sienese-born customer services officer Gabrielle Mori. A property with 100 hectares, not all vines but olives for oil, is set in a patchwork of vineyard blocks.

The cellars house all the wine made annually (200,000 bottles), established 100 years ago, underground, and now extended in 1979 by the current owner.

The wine library is comprehensive in this modern era, but I did have to grin where four barrels of chardonnay, and three of sauvignon blanc, fermenting, were resting. International white variety experimentation, why do it?

My tasting in the wood-panelled room quickly focussed on the 2008 Chianti Classico, 13.5%, for its freshness and vitality. This grape has almond and black cherry/sour cherry flavours, and at times, tumultuous and terribly drying tannins. It’s generally medium bodied.

I wondered if that Madiran, France-origin technique of micro-oxygenation has reached these parts. “Micro” makes tannic reds soften during making, and I reflect on why the Tuscans hold sangiovese wines so long in barrel and bottle letting the fruit dip, and the tannins dry out, even before wines are sold.

The serious wines, Riservas, and single vineyard wines currently on sale, are from 2006. Imagine how well a fleshy Riserva 2008 would drink now? Conceptually better to an Aussie.

Now that I have that wine style thought out of my system I am more determined to enjoy sangiovese some more; generally its grippy tannins and savoury, medium texture come into play at meal time.

This is where the magic starts, and all of Tuscany closes down around 1pm for lunch, streets go quiet, traffic drops and life goes on much slower.

www.castellare.it; for country apartments, at Poneta, near Barberino, very close to Poggibonsi- www.santamariaaponeta.com

The A1 autostrada between Roma (Rome) and Firenze (Florence) is not the tiring and monotonous driving that we Australians know.

If you have ever tackled the Hay Plains or taken a short trip west along the Warrego Highway to Roma (Queensland); now there is something quite boring.

No, the way that Italians behave with their autos calls for concentration, and this was not assisted by the GFC-influenced slow rate of repair of the country’s number one highway. It’s close to a basket case, almost.

So the temptation to lunch at the Umbrian hill top town of Orvieto, in the Orvieto wine producing DOC was too great.

First one has to negotiate the autostrada payment system, having changed somewhat since 2007, and it proved unable to accept debit cards.

One cannot get too excited though: it would be un-Italian of Budget Rentals to give their hirers some good advice, even their touring map is simply too discreet on autostrada process.

My soon-to-be-Italian speaking wife could not decipher the swearing style Italian lingo which comes with a burst when Aussies hold up the automatic cashier.

Toll payments complete my appetite for a local Orvieto meal was chosen by the Slow Food Edition 2010, Osterie D’Italia – it was Trattoria La Palombo.

Leave you cars at the bottom of the hill (as usual the occasions for parking are both limited and chaotic without ample provision for tourists); take the funicular (cable car lift) to a beautiful old medieval town.

The commercial side was just shutting up its shops for lunch and the ristorantes were buzzing.

From a curious menu, partly translated in French, German and English but only legible with a magnifying glass, is where knowledge of Italian dish names gave assistance.

The antipasti were a must; prosciutto, two ways (crudo and cotto-cooked and salted hams), several salamis, one wild boar, fatty leg shaved ham, artichokes.

There was no wine by-the-glass, and the Italian rule of zero tolerance of blood alcohol does not assist the wine choice.

However there are no sommeliers here! Take a stab and I did not wish to buy rubbish wine (no screw cap remember); crappy cork only.

The lucky bottle was Arcosesto Bianco (white, 87); what an authoritative sounding wine name from Cantina Altarocca nearby, IGT, 12.5%, a trio of grapes in classic white fashion-grechetto, procanico (rare, ancient variety) and the ever-present malvasia.

The pronouncement: unwooded, reasonably pale as the market now expects, bland but clean, solidsy which I think creates interest, then a crunchy, half-bitter palate signifying mainly rustic winemaking.

Altarocca is a small producer 5 km away, high at 300 metres on the slopes of the Rocca Ripensa, growing their grapes in tufa or weathered volcanic rock. The cold maceration of these white grapes by the way is not working.

Keeping one eye on the drive ahead this wine was also paired with umbrichelli or Umbrian style kitchen-made pasta (that morning), about 70 mm sliced dough about the thickness of hokkien noodle but showing the hand-sliced shapes.

The traditional accompanying sauce was arrabbiata; squashed tomatoes and onions, minimal seasoning save a heap of salt and ample pepper to heat the taste. Fabulous with the Arcosesto.

Trattoria Palombo (14/20) turned out to be tradition with tradition. There were collections of culinary memorabilia for generations of the same family no doubt since the 50s. Table decor was basic but functional and bottles of olive oil enthusiastically taken to tables for flavour lubrication.

There was a recent report that Marchese Piero Antinori in his capacity as chair of the Istituto di Grandi Marchi (Institute of Italian Fine Wines) which represents premier Italian makers in 17 regions, calling for more Italian trebbiano vineyards to be uprooted.

He emphasised there was no place in Italian wine for heavily fertilised, over-cropped trebbiano grapes which produce thin, flavourless drinks. And that a third of Italy’s vines, namely these types in central Italy (high cropping of 250 hl/ha versus 60 in Chianti) should be grubbed.

I was wondering if some of the flatland grapes along the A1 in Orvieto where in Antinori’s sights. But then the Antinoris have a winery in Puglia further south, and no doubt this region grows ample flavourless trebbiano too.

And worse still it is presented in restaurants as a golden drink (poorly made), looking more as a drink for the ancient Roman days.

La Palomba tel 39 0763 343395 via Manente, 16 www.cantinaaltrocca.it