September 10, 2019 – Finding Vernaccia, Boccaccio and the story

I met a Princess yesterday who is descended from Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo – the Mona Lisa, whose painted face I saw for the first time four days earlier in Paris  – and whose family has been growing wine in Tuscany since 994 AD.

Yeah it was that kind of day, one that I’ll never forget.

One of the reasons for coming to the medieval walled town of San Gimignano in the hills of Tuscany was to search for original Vernaccia vines that hadn’t been destroyed – as most had been in Europe – by the phylloxera disease that had struck Europe in the 1870s and 1880s. Geoffrey Chaucer’s father John Chaucer had imported Vernaccia for King Edward III, as it was known then as the wine for royalty (says Dante in his Divine Comedy). I thought it would be quite something to find vines still producing similar grapes some 650 years later. I had heard some original vines may have survived due to the unique terroir around San Gimignano – quite sandy and composed of sea shells from an ancient sea that had once covered the area. I also wanted to walk where Chaucer or his father may have walked, see a town that was mostly unchanged from what he would have seen.

I had done my research and thought to start with La Rocca Wine Tasting Experience in San Gimignano, the famous walled medieval hill town three kilometres from the Hotel Pischelle where we were staying (that had a fantastic view of the town). Highly recommended!

San Gimignano was known as the medieval Manhattan of its day. Wealthy families tried to outdo each other building taller and taller towers as a show of their wealth. By 1348, some 72 towers covered the hilltop. Today, 13 remain, but the surrounding hills are still covered by Vernaccia vines and olive trees and saffron. It’s a true medieval town, and if you can ignore the throngs of tourists, it’s easy to imagine Chaucer or Boccaccio walking the streets and drinking the unique straw yellow wine sought after by kings and popes.

I tried nine different Vernaccias in La Rocca’s tasting room.

You buy a card with whatever amount you want to try, then put your glass under each wine you want to try and choose the amount you want – I chose the smallest amount for each, as still had to drive later. The best of the lot was clear – Cesani’s Sanice, a DOCG Riserva that was surprisingly full bodied. I had sampled a few different Vernaccias back in Vancouver and this was far the best I had ever tasted.

La Rocca had helpful staff and an interesting interactive history of Vernaccia…

The next morning we headed to the Cesani winery north of San Gimignano along winding hilltop roads just past Pancole. The views on the road looking back to San Gimignano were amazing, as were the views in every direction.

The topography was not unlike the Naramata bench, only a thousand times larger in every direction, with olive trees. And much, much older. 

The woman who helped me at Cesani was very informative. I said I was interested in the history of the Vernaccia grape as part of my research into Geoffrey Chaucer. I asked about the vines being wiped out by the phylloxera disease in Italy in 1879 (reaching Italy after destroying thousand year old vineyards across France and most of the rest of Europe). She explained that most of the Vernaccia had succumbed; some may survived in southern Italy because of the sandier soil.

She then mentioned two ancient wineries that had been in operation for centuries. Neither were on two of the three wine maps I had, but one map did show them, thankfully. One she circled, Guicciardini Strozzi, established in 994 AD, which caught my eye. That was where I wanted to go. She said to call first, as they don’t like people just dropping by, especially at this time of year when the grape harvest is underway.

But Certaldo, and the birth (and death) place of Giovanni Boccaccio, came first. 

Certaldo is not unlike San Gimignano, a fortified town situated on a hill, but much smaller. It was about 20 minutes north of the Cesani winery. Arriving late morning, hardly anyone was there, and we were able to take in a museum, the Palace and Boccaccio’s home, all for 8 euros each. 

Boccaccio was very important to Chaucer, impacting both the style and content of his writing. Literature professors point to the similarities between Boccaccio’s Griseldaand and Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale; Boccaccio’s Teseida and Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale, and on and on. Boccaccio’s most famous work, The Decameron, is a frame narrative that contains 100 tales told by a group of men and women escaping the plague in a villa. Written in vernacular in 1353, using moral criticism, sarcasm, and bawdy, earthy stories, it established Boccaccio’s reputation as the founder of Italian vernacular prose literature. 

The Canterbury Tales is also a frame narrative, with 24 tales by several travellers (many more were planned; the Tales are unfinished), also used sarcasm, was more concerned with worldly than spiritual concerns, was bawdy, and popularized English vernacular.

In The Storyteller’s Reputation Chaucer meets Boccaccio and they compete in a storytelling contest, or “puy”, in Milan, which might very well have happened (Boccaccio is known to have won several puys). What is known for sure is the impact of Italian art, literature (including not only Boccaccio, but also Dante and Petrarch) and humanism (including painters like Giotto) on Chaucer, for after to travelling to Italy he changed his writing style and created iambic pentameter (five repetitions of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable), changing English language forever (Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter, and borrowed many stories from Chaucer). 

Visiting Certaldo feels like going to the birthplace of many things…Boccaccio, Chaucer’s transformation into a different kind of writer, my own understanding of how literature evolves, and is transmuted between writers and cultures. An important part of the meta-story I’m trying to write. Plus it’s a cool place to be…

Gelato and cappuccino, an incredible view from the top of Boccaccio’s home, and then some lunch followed.

Certaldo alto is the top, old city; Certaldo basso is the bottom, newish, city. After leaving Certaldo alto we quickly found a simple deli where the husband and wife didn’t speak English but through much laughter and pointing we were able to order a delicious baguette con cheese and proscuito, and a beer and water, and some free biscotti thrown in because she was generous. 

Then a call to the ancient winery – they were booked, but yes you can come and buy wine (you might have been wondering about the Mona Lisa Princess that started this story…and we’re finally about to meet her).

It was only 25 minutes from Certaldo according to Google Lady…Twenty minutes later I started driving down a goat trail following her directions, a trail that no modern machine was meant to travel on, and backed up. Trying another route led us to an imposing estate, and then past it. Turning around, Google Lady had me turning right into an ancient wall. Finally turning off Google Lady, we finally found the entrance, parked, and followed someone in to a massive iron gate that miraculously opened…to another world.

The place was dripping with history around every corner. The winery was established in 994 AD. Finding the wine shop, I luckily spoke to the same woman on the phone who then arranged for a taste of their latest Vernaccia Riserva. As I tried to explain my research about Chaucer and the origins of Vernaccia wine, she had trouble understanding me and introduced us to another woman who spoke better English – Irina – and added, “she’s the daughter of a Princess.” And then things got interesting…

Irina was the daughter of Irina Guicciardini Strozzi, standing a few yards away, whom we soon met and found out was descended from the Mona Lisa. Looking about I noticed several magazine spreads with Irina and her sister Natalia beside the Mona Lisa. 

…and then a family tree that included Winston Churchill. It was clearly all part of the family’s marketing efforts, but I didn’t care. I was hooked, as both mother and daughter were gracious, sharp as tacks and had sparkles in their eyes – they had lived!

Irina Sr.’s phone rang – her other daughter Natalia was expecting a child – and she left us. We chatted more with Irina Jr. who said that one unusual feature of Vernaccia was that unlike most white wines, it aged well for up to 10 years. I hadn’t heard of a white with those kind of legs. She said the 2013 vintage was the best vintage of the past few years and I said yes please – but she had to check the supply. A few minutes later, a bottle appeared, and I was shown the paper record: there are (now) only 5 bottles of 2013 Riserva left. 

Irina Sr. returned and agreed, along with her daughter, to be in a photo with us…

Then just as we were leaving, Irina Sr. called us back and asked if we’d like a “quick tour of the cellars”. In fact, a private tour of the family’s ancient wine cellars. Oh yes please and thank you!

Mateus, who had just started working there (from Argentina) a week before, led us down a flight of old, worn stairs past winemaking equipment (circa 1860-1900), and past the first bottle produced using new bottle shapes and equipment back in 1933…to show us where the barrels were kept…

…then took us down yet another flight of even more worn stairs to the bottom of the cellars where hundreds of bottles of Vernaccia lay on their side on cool gravel. 

Then past bottles of aging champagne…

Mateus then took us up to the rafters to show us the sweet wines aging in barrels there – first in the summer heat, then in the cold of winter.

Needless to say, it was a unique experience that exceeded my expectations for the kind of knowledge I had hoped to find. Funny to think it all started by choosing to go to the Cesani winery, rather than just buying a bottle in the store in San Gimignano (which I could have easily done). 

It just reaffirms the truth that nothing beats meeting people in person when you’re trying to find the story. People ARE the story, and we are most human telling stories – for without stories, what are we?