We will be travelling in April (next year) and already planning and dreaming...Are there day tours of wineries like there are in the U.S? If so, where can I find info about them leaving from Florence and returning to Florence? Or, possibly it's best to leave Florence, going through Varenna and on to Venice?

Not sure about tours out of Florence, but I can highly recommend Country Tours (http://www.country-tours.com/index.p...13&lang=en)
They're based out of Siena at Picollo Hotel Oliveta. Antonio, Alex and Fabio are wonderful people and very knowledgeable about wineries in the area.
-- enjoy

sheepdog - site looks awesome, but expensive. any rec's for a more budget way to go or is this what we should expect to pay for that type of tour?

HVC - CafTours does excursions to the Chianti area. Here's the link:

http://www.caftours.com/en/regtoursac.htm

Hope this helps ...

Steve

... And Sita offers something similar:

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...lSITA-IT.htm#5

Steve

Steve -- Chianti with dinner...looks great! Thanks. Now, I'm imagining myself there...