Montalcino
 

In September we will spend a day in the town of Montalcino.Can anyone please recomend a place to eat , a winery tour or other event that you found special ? Thanks

What a great time for you to learn about the power of the search function above. I just did and got 50 hits with tons of info about Montalcino---you can too. Just put MONTALCINO IN THE SEARCH BOX and hit general interest and then search. You will be amazed.

Thanks for the response. I've already done this before asking for some personal experiences on this site. Any would be appreciated.

Hi Judge,

Loved dinner three nights in a row at Grappolo Blu. Luciano and Mariapia serve wonderful traditional Tuscan meals, made to go with brunello! If you are really lucky, Luciano will invite you to "drink the wine" with them after the taverna closes.

I liked tasting at the Fortezza Enoteca because they had a huge variety (although expensive). Other enoteca's tend to have just one or two wines made by their respective vineyards.

Buon viaggio!

You might want to check out the Brunello vineyards and winery, as well as the the Banfi Castle located on the vineyard. It is near Montalcino. The brunello wine tasting at the Castle is great and the winery is fantastic. www.castellobanfi.com/tour/castle.html. If this does not compute, just enter Banfi Castle, Italy in your search engine. Have a great visit.

We also enjoyed our meal at Grappo Blu.

We also had a very nice private tour of the Altesino Winery just a few minutes away from Montalcino. The owner takes appointments in advance. The tour and tasting was only 8.00 or 10.00 Euros per person (can't remember exact amount but it wasn't very much). We tried 3 different wines made onsite including the Brunello. The samples were substantial and she even left the bottle of Rosso di Montalcino on the table and invited for us to help ourselves while she helped a group that was arriving for a tour. The winery is in a lovely spot and the owners daughter speaks english which really enhanced our understanding of the process in making the Brunello wine.
http://www.altesino.it/

Very good input above--all of which was in the previous posts I mentioned.
Also search for:
Poggio Antico
Fattoria Barbi
Castello Banfi
Trattoria Sciame
We have been talking about that area for about 10 years now--welcome !

Trattoria Sciame is a favorite too. Simple decor, but the food is well prepared and the atmosphere is family-like. The "arista" (pork) is wonderful.
Easily found on one of the main streets up from the parcheggio.
Try to get to Sant Antimo just a few minutes south of the town. Beautiful setting.

judge,
Try Porto Cassero for lunch and Grappolo Blu for dinner. Climb the fortezza for the view then go downstairs for the wine. Drive to Sant'Antimo stopping at La Crociona and Barbi for wine tastings.

Sciame is now La Angelo.

Henry

Hi again Judge,

You also might enjoy your vist to Montalcino even more if you read Isabella Dusi's book "Vanilla Beans and Brodo". It's about her discovering Montalcino with her Italian heritage husband and settling down there. I understand she is a real estate agent there now, many years later.

Grappolo Blu has copies of her book, plus the sequel, in the taverna. Luciano and Maria Pia, Grappolo Blu, are more than mentioned in the book.