A lot has happened since my last update including the birth of our second son. It is very time consuming looking after a baby and a toddler and leaves little time for blogging. I will give you an abridged version from then to our two weeks holidaying in small town in Italy called Dicomano,Tuscany.

In my last update I briefly mentioned my wife had given birth to our second son. I won't go into too much detail - I'm sure you don't want the graphic details and if you do there is plenty of information elswhere on the internet.  I shall try to focus on wine! Suffice to say I received a call from my wife at midday 29^th June to say  she was getting twinges, by 3pm a got a second call "leave immediately" by 9pm it was all over and I was proudly holding my second son.

Back onto the theme of wine, my ever trusty father was soon over with a chilled bottle of Champagne to celebrate -  Joseph Perrier a rich creamy wine chardonnay based champagne. Not bad, but I suspect he got it as a present, it was the sort of champagne you get with flowers and chocolates from Interflora.

Since my last update I have also been welcomed into the warm embrace of the wine bloggers world! Andrew Barrow who runs amongst other the www.spittoon.biz invited me to A.R.S.E.2 - Andrew's Really Secret Event 2. This as the name suggests was the second such event, the location secret until the last minute and quite conveniently was the a few stops up from me on the Chiltern Line. We tasted some very good wines, since this is an abridged version of what has happened I ask kindly that you read Andrew's review of the event for fuller details (click here). It was a great day, I met some very nice people and could finally walk around sniffing wine, swirling iit n the glass, swishing it about in my mouth talking 'lingering tannins' without risk of being called a prat. Andrew put on a great spread as well (well Waitrose Entertaining did) and one of his friends baking a great selection of cakes.

Sitting around at home I have had the following wines. Rustenberg John X Merriman 2007, very nice deep ruby red wine made from the Shiraz grape. Fruity on the first sip with some acidity which fades leaving that very light tannins, I'm told this bottle will age well and their blurb on the back says it can be laid down for up to 15 years.

I was recommended the Koonunga Hill Seventy Six 2008, this is not the standard Koonunga Hill which has become fairly mediocre over recent years but a homage to the original Koonunga Hill of 1976 which I'm told was legendary, I'm too young to have experienced it firsthand of course. The Koonunga Hill Seventy Six is everything you hope and expect from and Australian Shiraz, rich full bodied thick blackberry flavours, a long finish and subtly tannic. This wine is available at Waitrose for a bargain £6.74 as part of their 25% off sale - normal price is £8.84.

The Tim Adams Protégé Shiraz has been frequently on my shopping list since being 25% off at Tesco (£7.50 reduced from £10) great at a tenner, even better at £7.50! Now winter is here I'm getting back in to big Aussie Shiraz. Like the Koonunga , the Tim Adams is a another rich, very fruity dark forest fruits with a long finish and quite spicy. Similar to the Koonunga Hill but more spice and a longer finish so comparing the two I'd say this just about shades it. 

Our long awaited holiday in Tuscany finally arrived, a bit of a risk taking a plane journey with a 2 year old and a 3 month year old but not as bad as feared. The 3 month year old slept through most of it and the 2 year old was bribed by chocolate buttons; he couldn't  believe his luck.

Tuscany is  home to the Chianti region of Italy, famed for it's bold full bodied and usually oaked reds. The Chianti region is split into 9 sub- regions  Classico, Colli Senesi, Colli Aretini, Colli fiorentina,  Colline Pisane,  Montabano, Montespertali and Rufina. We were situated in the Rufina area.

The first week was staying in a vineyard called Il Lago. We first discovered Il Lago whilst staying at in the are 5 years before. We popped in to taste some of their wine and noticed they also have holiday villa sprinkled amongst their 400 hectares of land. My memories of the wine tasted are somewhat faded, however it must have been quite good since we left with quite a few bottles. The wine upon my return was not as good as I remember, I did enjoy their Pian de Guardi but at 15 Euros a bottle at source I would expect it to be good. I've had better for under £10 in the UK. 

Whilst the landscape was fantastic the accommodation could have been better, we arrived in the middle of the night and were told we'd been 'upgraded'. I suspect the people who had originally booked our apartment turned it away upon arrival. The accommodation was very basic to say the least. I would consider going back as the location was fantastic, but not in the same villa.

The second week we stayed in a place called Il Nidi Belforte, this was not a vineyard but an Agritourismo- a style of vacationing in farm house in Italy although other than a few olive groves I saw very little evidence of farming. The accommodation was on a different level to Il Lago and quite deservedly won Best in Class in the area. We had a 3 bed farmhouse with a great big lounge and kitchen/diner area and it's own private garden just a few yards from a swimming pool, which unlike the swimming pool in Il Lago was cleaned meticulously every day. At Il Lago you had to swim through a sea of dead insects and my wife nearly swallowed a praying mantis.

I tried numerous Chianti's whilst I was out there, one that particularly sticks in the memory was Poderi del Paradiso Chianti Colli Senesi 2009. We had this at a restaurant in a carafe whilst having lunch in St Gimignano a fantastic walled medieval hill town near Siena. I was surprised how good it was for a house wine and found out where I could buy it. It was on sale for 5 Euros a bottle, a brilliant bargain at that price so I stocked up for our return to the farmhouse, all the more suprising as I generally found the decent Chianti wines to be a bit expensive (dare I say over priced?). A quick Google search shows it is possible to buy this wine in the UK for £9.50 a bottle from a firm called Great Western Wines.

I will finish up but before I do though I have to recommend one place that in Tuscany that is a must for any wine enthusiasts in the area. The Wine Museum in Greve, a wine cellar with dozens of bottles of wine set up in sampling machines. You buy a prepayment card and can sample the wines with the cost of each sample being deducted from your card. The sample is the same size regardless of the cost of the wine but the amount taken off you card increases the more expensive the bottle, so for 5 euros you can try a 200 Euro bottle of wine. An experience I would never have otherwise! Check out their website it even has a little film showing you what to do.

My updates will be more frequent from now on...