While we still cannot travel to Tuscany, Women’s Quest is bringing the best of Italy to you with our Taste of Tuscany event. Springtime in Tuscany is magical as the poppies bloom everywhere and the grape vines begin to bud out with anticipation for another outstanding vintage. Bringing you the food and wines of this spectacular region, we have two great tastes rolled into this event.
First, we are bringing back Cooking with Chicca by popular demand. Chicca will teach us how to make a delicious artichoke and potato casserole. We will also have Martina Chiappini from the Chiappini Winery with us to do a wine education and virtual tasting.
Keep your fingers crossed that we will be able to go to Tuscany in person for our La Dolce Vita Tuscany Co-Ed Retreat on October 10-17th! In the meantime, we can celebrate Taste of Tuscany virtually on May 17th at 10am PST/11am MDT/ 1pm EDT!
About Cooking with Chicca
Chicca was born in Naples, Italy, and like many Italian children, she spent much of her childhood in her mother’s kitchen. A renaissance woman, Chicca earned a degree in architecture and spent many years after university traveling throughout the world by bike, including Alaska, Australia, Ecuador, Iceland, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and all over Italy and Europe. After the birth of her daughter, Elsa, Chicca moved to Tuscany, where she restored her Tuscan farmhouse.
Her farmhouse quickly became a magnet for foodie travelers where she started to share authentic recipes with her guests. She ultimately founded Cooking in Tuscany, a culinary school with the mission to teach authentic, home-cooked food and inspire others to cook for themselves and their families.
Chicca believes cooking is a creative experience that involves mind and body, smell and touch, mood and imagination. For Chicca, cooking is an act of love and generosity, because it is something that we do purely for others. If you would like to see current recipes or learn more about Chicca, please visit her at http://cookingintuscany.cc/.
*To purchase Chicca’s PDF cookbook for $16 please email her at iolandamaione27@gmail.
Cookbook is not included in the participation cost
About Wine by Chiappini
The Chiappini family relocated to the Bolgheri area of Tuscany in the 1950’s when the area was hardly known and full of potential. Many winemakers moved to the Bolgheri area for its soil, to escape the confines of wine regulations in other regions of Italy, and to make red wines in the style of the much better known Bordeaux region of France. Not to be kept in the shadow of Bordeaux, Bolgheri quickly flourished based on the success of their wines, especially their highly praised Super Tuscans.
The Chiappini Winery is located on a modest seventeen hectares (approximately 42 acres) along the famous Strada del Vino along the Etruscan Coast of Tuscany. While the Chiappini Winery sits in the shadow of some of its high-brow neighbors — they are down the road from multiple 100-point award winner Sassicaia wines and located adjacent to the world renowned Ornellaia winery, winner of Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year in 2001 — they quickly established their own wine presence.
Despite their success, Chiappini patriarch Giovanni still considers himself a farmer and is more interested in producing wine reflective of their soil, region, and the people producing it than producing a perfect wine. Still, Giovanni did produce a perfect wine when Wine Enthusiast awarded 100 points to their 2009 Super Tuscan, Guado de Gemoli.
Our tasting will be headed by Giovanni’s daughter Martina, who is sommelier and runs marketing for the family business. If you would like to purchase wines from Chiappini or join their wine club you can do so at http://www.giovannichiappini.it/en/shop.html.
*Wine delivery usually takes 3 days, please confirm shipping time when purchasing.
Not yet a Quest member? Join us for virtual classes, events, gatherings, and more at womensquest.com/thequest.
*If you are not a member of THE QUEST and would like to sign up for our Taste of Tuscany event on May 17th at 10am PST/ 11am MDT/ 1pm EDT, please fill in the form below. The participation cost is $10.00. QUEST MEMBERS DO NOT NEED TO SIGN UP HERE, you have access automatically via the platform.