Party trick.

We toured one of Cortona’s most renowned wineries on Wednesday. Everything we have been learning in lectures finally clicked when we could see the vines, trellises, fermenting barrels, aging wines, etc. In addition to the detailed tour, we, of course, sampled the wine—including the sparkling! The owner, an attractive 30-year-old Italian (Momma Mia!), taught us a very valuable wine-opening technique…with a sword! A few in our group took turns opening the bottles. Stephanie can definitely claim the most dramatic opening.