He pulled off the road to visit one of his favorite wine makers, the Natalini family, and their Le Berne vineyard wines. You could immediately tell that this was a placed cared for, year round, with love and attention. The clusters of grapes on the vines, and the broad leaves that surrounded them, seemed to have been carefully arranged for our photographs. There were no real "weeds" anywhere in sight. What work this must require. The aromas that surround any winery are unique and unforgetable. Breathing in that smell of grape fermentation takes me back to earlier trips to the Napa Valley. I always feel like its a kind of great priviledge to be allowed to walk into the space of this ancient art. 
It was a beautiful day, and we caught this happy family “just right” -- in the process of harvesting their matured crop of grapes. I counted about 8 people working in the vines. This was no bulk harvesting process. These "workers" seemed as if they might be family friends who had volunteered to come over and help with the harvest. Joking and banter back and forth, as they cut clusters off a vine and dropped it into their big red bucket, made it seem like a little party in the grape fields. I don't mean to make light of their labor; it's just that they seemed so happy to be there, doing what they, in large part, lived for. 
Hanging in beautiful mounds of dark blue-gray, these grapes became our snacks while the various family members joked with Romeo and guided us around the vineyard, showing us how they select and cut the grapes from the vines in such a way as to preserve the health of the vines for next year’s growth. Scattered here and there on the ground were thousands of “raisin” clumps of grapes that were cast off in earlier weeks as imperfect. 
This was indeed a tour that “not just anyone” would be able to take, given the urgent business at hand of getting the grapes into the long wine-making process while the time was right. Once again, Romeo was our key to that door. The main end product of this harvest will be the 2009 Vino Nobile, Vino Nobile “Reserva,” and the Montepulciano Rosso (the younger brother “table wine” to the distinguished Vino Nobile, made with exactly the same grapes). When the wine tour was complete, we drove up the mountain and entered Montepulciano. It was a comfortably coolish, sunny day, and the stroll up through the streets of the city to the main plaza at the top seemed effortless.
