lunaluna

We'll be traveling to Italy from September 28 - October 9. We will take off from Florence the evening of 29th and have Sep 30, Oct 1, 2 to see Chianti area / Siena / Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulcano.
(On the 3rd travel South to Amalfi coast.)

October 2nd is a Sunday and that is the day we were planning to do Montalcino/Pienza/Montepulcano - a day dedicated to great wine and cheese - what could be better? However, it occurred to me that on Sunday lots of places could be closed so we might want to plan our itinerary differently - anyone have experiece with this?

Also, my husband is a real wine aficionado and we are very excited about tasting lots of great wine and seeing some wineries - any tips?

Read last night about a winery called Il Paradiso Di Frassina near Montalcino that we could stay at - 124 Euro incl breakfast. Does anyone have experience here or can recommend other??

Thanks!

Henry

lunaluna,
Most places require you to call and set up an appointment but be aware that a lot of them do not offer tours.
See http://www.consorziobrunellodimontal...r=0&did=25
for a list of producers. Click on the icon for phone numbers and locations. La Crociona http://www.lacrociona.com/ is a winery that produces brunello, about three kilometers from Montalcino. I have stayed there and loved it.
e-mail me if you have questions.

Budman

You've only allowed 1 day, a Sunday, to visit Montalcino/Pienza/Montepulciano? You could do just Montepulciano in one day.

In Montalcino, you can taste Brunellos in the Fortezza (sp). It's an old castle and there is a tasting room with loads of Brunellos to purchase. Not cheap. I believe 3 flights of Brunellos cost about 15 Euros, and purchase anythere from 30 to 50 Euros per bottle, with the '97's to be the most expensive. Great wine, but pricy.

Outside of Montalcino is Castello Banfi. They have a great tasting room with a wide variety of wines that are all excellent!!! I would highly recommend this place for tasting, buying, and souvenirs. You could even arrange to have lunch there.

Pienza for their cheeses. 2 hours max unless you are going to have lunch.

Montepulciano -- for the Nobile de Montepulciano -- my favorite in the region. As you enter the North gate, there are 3-4 places where you can taste and buy, and they even have cheeses and sausages if you didn't have time to stop in Pienza. My favorite is the Crociani winery which is at the other end of town. If you have only one day, I wouldn't bother going up there.

I would recommend doing Banfi & Montalcino, and maybe Pienza in one day, and spending the entire day in Montepulciano, or a good portion of a day then driving south to Amalfi.

lunaluna

Thanks for the responses!
... If we have 3 1/2 days to explore all of Chianti / Siena / Montalcino,Pienza, Montepulcano - would love to have advice on how to plan - (not enough time I know!)
(We could actually spend only 1 day on Florence and get about 4 days for the rest - getting another day in florence on a future trip...)
Appreciate the advice!

lunaluna

lunaluna

Henry,
tried going to the website you reference for La Crociona - didn't work... put it in a search engine and got some hits (other travelers recommending) but no hit for the La Crociona website. Do you have an e-mail address?

thanks!

Henry

lunaluna,
I just copied the address
http://www.lacrociona.com/
and pasted it in the address bar and it worked fine.
The e-mail is [email protected]

Budman

topping.

StuDudley

Nobody answered is main concern - are the wineries open on Sunday???

Also, are the tasting rooms in Montepulciano and Montalcino open on Sunday?????

I suspect the Avignonesi tasting room in Montepulciano is closed, since it's their main office also.

As for suggestions, I would personally skip Chianti altogether, and take 2 1/2 days to visit the entire Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, Sant Antimo Abbey, & Val d'Orcia area - I think it's much prettier than Chianti and the villages are more appealing to me. Sunday would be a nice day to see the countryside, and on Friday & Saturday you could visit the villages and do your wine exploration. Remember, however, the wineries are not as "drop in" tourist friendly and accommodating as wineries in the Napa Valley, for example.

Many shopes in Pienza are open on Sunday (including the tourist office), but not so in Montalcino and Montepulciano.

On the 29th I would head to Siena and visit this town. Stay overnight in Siena. On the 30th (Fri), see more of Siena in the morning, and then head south to do your winery and village touring. On the 1st (Sat) more village exploring, shopping, and tasting. On the 2nd (Sun), visit Pienza, Sant Antimo abbey (pick up picnic provisions in Pienza), and tour the beautiful countryside in the Val d'Orcia. Take a hike or two. On the 3rd, leave early for the Amalfi coast. Remember, most shops in these towns are also closed on Monday mornings.

Stu Dudley

lunaluna

thanks for the responses!

now let me pose this question... am i rushing things too much? i'm considering totally ditching our plans to head south to do the amalfi coast, etc - and instead spend our entire 11 days doing tuscany, cinque terra (sp?) and maybe a day in umbria - not really planning to spend more than a day in florence (we'll do florence justice on another trip)

does this sound like a better idea?

thanks for your thoughts!

lunaluna

never mind, my husband nixed that idea- he really wants to head down south...

oh well!!

buongiorno

Hi Luna

If you guys are Italian wine enthusiasts, I recommend getting a book called Vino Italiano. You can probably find it at www.italianwinemerchant.com

I wouldn't rule out any of the areas you mention. Of course there are some great Tuscan wines but there are many fantastic wines say in Umbria. Good Rosso Conero and Sangrantino.