The FirstGlass Experience: A Modern Take on Wine Tasting
- Haley Duford
- May 24, 2023
- 5 min read
By: Haley Duford
Let’s be real, most people don’t actually love the taste of wine. They order it because it’s “fancy” or the classy thing to do, especially when you are visiting Italy.
For most people, they swirl the wine around in the glass, take a faint sniff and take a small sip before smiling in delight. They comment on the aroma of the wine, the strong taste of bitter fruits and remark on the fullness of the body of wine.
However, if everyone was truly honest on how they felt about wine, most people would probably say it’s not their most favorite drink. There are wines that people find more tolerable than others, and others they can’t stand the taste of.
When at the grocery store, shoppers frequently pick up a bottle of wine for the week to go with their nightly dinners. But what happens when they pick up a new wine to try and it’s intolerable? It’s so horrid that they can’t even pretend to like it, much less actually drink it.
Usually, the wine bottle will sit on the kitchen counter for another week or two. The buyers can’t seem to bring themselves to dump out this wine they spent their precious money on, but they also can’t bring themselves to pour another glass. Eventually, the wine loses its acidity, it gets poured down the drain and the bottle gets thrown away, never to be bought again.
FirstGlass has been there. They understand the pain of throwing out wine, but they also know the thrill that comes with being adventurous and trying something new.
The Concept
The concept of FirstGlass was born during the Coronavirus pandemic from the passionate and innovative spirit of three women, Silvia Tettamanti, Giulia Bacci and Francesca Vigo.
The goal for these women is that visitors and locals in Florence will experience a wide variety of red, white and rosé wines that can be found from local vineyards in Italy.
After ordering your choice of wine, a FirstGlass employee will deliver to you a 100-milliliter wine bottle and an empty glass. This amount is just enough for a single glass of wine. The outside of the miniature wine bottle describes where the wine is from and the year it was made.
The importance of the small bottle is that customers can taste the wine fresh, as if it was the first sip from a newly opened bottle of wine. There are no hidden bottles of wine behind the counter that have been open for hours, waiting for the next customer to order a glass.
Mirko Filippi, an employee at FirstGlass, admits that he doesn’t love the taste of wine but is passionate about the nontraditional wine tasting concept the company offers.
“In this case you have just a glass so you can taste the same quality of the wine and you don’t waste any,” Filippi said.
Filippi loves how the company has been able to form relationships with different wineries in the Tuscan region. The collaboration between FirstGlass and the wineries allows more consumers to become aware of the wine and strengthen brand image.
“We help them make their wine known to the people. Also, they help us because we sell our bottle and their wine,” Filippi said.
A lot of people who visit FirstGlass are just traveling through Florence, and many would not think twice about remembering the name of the wine they tried. However, FirstGlass makes it possible to take this wine home in a convenient travel-friendly size.
At FirstGlass a fresh bottle of wine is important to the quality, flavor and experience of the tasting.
The Wine
Italy is known around the world for being the epicenter of wine production. The country has the perfect landscape for producing wine with its warm weather, rich soil and diverse levels of elevation. Italy is also a peninsula making it easy to export this desired drink across the world.
After much archeological research, many researchers believe that wine can be traced back over 6,000 years ago in Italian history. It was originally brought over by the Etruscans from Asia Minor, where they began showing the Italians how to ferment grapes.
Around 800 BC, the Greeks traveled to Southern Italy bringing grapevines with them. Upon arriving in Italy, the Greeks were shocked to see that the Italians had grapevines of their own and were already producing large amounts of wine.
The Greeks noted how perfect the landscape and weather was for growing grapes and producing wine. They named the land Oenotria, which translates to “The Land of Wine.”
Currently at FirstGlass, there are six different Italian red wines to choose from when ordering. At the top of the red wine list, for €7 is a wine from Casata Davini. Started by Mario and Luigi Davini in 2008, this family-owned winery is located just outside Florence in Montecarlo.
Roberta Torromino, a lover of dance and Italian culture, is currently employed at FirstGlass. She loves discussing the wines that the shop brings in and offering customers her recommendations on her personal favorite wines to try.
“This wine is from Tuscany. It’s not very sweet but it isn’t dry, it is very much in between,” Torromino said.
From FirstGlass’s three choices of rosé wines, the 11 Primavere is from a winery located in central Italy, just north of Rome, called Fattoria Sardi. The winery believes it is important for the consumer to taste the true flavor of the grapes coming from its vineyards because of its strong connection to the environment in the region.
Fattoria Sardi is constantly looking for organic ways to enrich its soils to produce the best wine. FirstGlass is happy to partner with this local winery, and for €8 visitors can try a glass of rosé from Fattoria Sardi.
Finally, FirstGlass offers customers a choice of five different white wines for either €7 or €8. One wine from this selection is Vino Bianco from Cantine Lunae Bosoni, located in the eastern corner of the Liguria region. This region extends from the northernmost part of Tuscany all the way to the border of France.
This location is optimal for Cantine Lunae to grow the best grapes and produce the highest quality wines because of the climate caused by the breeze from the Apuan Alps, the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of La Spezia. The winery has chosen to only cultivate vines that are local to its region, which includes the vermentino vine.
“This is a very good wine, it’s very sweet. I recommend this white wine because it is very fresh,” Torromino said.
Most of the wineries that FirstGlass works with have pledged to work with nature in the production of its wines. They have done this by refusing the use of chemicals and herbicides.
The Experience
Not many things are as great as the view wine enthusiasts have when sitting outside FirstGlass. Customers can sit on a tall stool, munching on delicious green olives, peanuts and crackers.
Customers can also watch as people take pictures in front of Ponte Vecchio and stare at the Arno River. If the weather is too bad, visitors can enjoy the comfortable couches or bar stools inside the shop.
Every FirstGlass employee is passionate about the company’s work in helping spread the branding of Italian wineries to tourists who are visiting Florence. They are happy to share with every customer the concept of the shop, the story behind each wine, and let every visitor know how dry or sweet each wine is.
The ambience outside on a beautiful sunny day is unbeatable with a bottle of FirstGlass wine. (Photo by: Haley Duford)
FirstGlass inspires its customers to be adventurous and try a wine they might not normally drink. Open every day from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., FirstGlass is a great first stop when visiting Florence. Learn what wine you actually like, keep the small bottle as a souvenir and enjoy the delicious wines the Tuscan region has to offer.
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