Touring the Tuscan wineries
 

HELP!!! I have read past messages on which wineries to go to in tuscany and there were great suggestions. I was wondering if any of you that were going or are going have any more information on the route to take and where the best places to go are. We are taking a car from Rome and want to go drive around for 3 days. Is there a website that helps with this??? I am only familiar with the Napa Valley and am now really confused on how it works over here. Any help would be great!!!

We only went to one winery in Tuscany, Badia a Coltibuono in Chianiti, northeast of Siena, and loved it.

http://www.coltibuono.com/0index.asp?lingua=ing

OFten mentioned here, this remains a great website resource: http://www.kilkelly.com/Chianti.html

And if you search on "kilkelly" here on this forum, you will retrieve many pertinent previous threads, reflecting a variety of others' experiences.

Best wishes,

Rex

Since we were without car in Montepulciano, we sort of reluctantly signed up at the tourist office for a "three winery" tour. It was fantastic. A guide took us a mini van to local growers (8 people total). At one place we sampled the wines on the back patio of the owners, along with their local cheese and their own "sausages". We walked in the vineyards with a fifth or sixth generation grower who was probably the proudest man I ever met. We visited cellars, vineyards, and the wineries themselves. I've never approached having anywhere so neat an experience in Napa or Sonoma! By the way, these were wineries you'd never find and that aren't open to the public. I brought home a couple of bottles of truly wonderful Vino Nobile that I'd never find in the US.

Patrick, how much did that tour cost. My wife does not drink wine. Will she enjoy such a tour? ((b))

Hey thanks everyone for the info. Patrick if you have the name of that company or tour and how much it was that would really be graet to know.

topping for Patrick

Patrick? ((b))

Sorry, guess I wasn't revisiting this thread.
I can't tell you the name of the tour, but it was the one organized by the main tourist office right up at the main square. It was only offered on Thursdays I think this summer.
It cost 23 euro per person.
Budman, I felt that the actual wine tasting was the least of the tour.

I would strongly suggest that you skip the Chianti tours that tend to be mobbed with Americans and Brits in tour busses and spend your time south of Sienna in the Montalcino area. This is where some of the really great Super Tuscans and all the Brunellos come from. The two best I have found are Argiano (Dr. Pepe Schibb is the marketing director, and this is a wonderful place) and also Altesino. These are within 20 minutes drive of Montalcino. Unlike Napa, you'll need a reservation to tour these very high quality wineries, but it is well worth it. Usually it will be you and maybe 4 - 6 other people and they show you everything, and let you taste everything.

I would also strongly suggest that you consider staying in Montalcino at least 2 nights and sampling wine at several of the enoteca's (wine shops) there. they have some of the very best wines from wineries that don't offer tours. My favorite is BD Enoteco, just outside the walled ciy of Montalcino - Contact Silvia Gallucci at ([email protected]). They can also arrange winery tours for you and make suggestions on restaurants. This is a first class operation.

Hope that helps

Patrick, thanks for the info.

rrast, thanks for the very informative post. I'm mostly interested in the Brunellos and Super Tuscans. I'm interested though in just wine tasting, and not really touring. Something along the lines of stopping by the small wineries, tasting, maybe having lunch or snacks -- that sort of thing. Do I need reservations? Can I just do a drive by shooting? Can Silvia Gallucci set something like this up for me?

Thanks for the email address. I'll drop him a line to see what he can arrange. We're spending a week in Montepulciano, just down the road from Montalcino. ((b))

Patrick was one of the wineries you went to on your tour to the Torciano winery Its sounds just like this place .They have some great Super Tuscans (Baldasara) , Vin Santos , WWW.torciano.com San Gimigano Tuscany Italy. they give a nice tour and tasting.

This might be the tour Patrick took:

It's on Thursday, costs 23 Euros and is booked at the Piazza Grande in Montepulciano:

http://www.stradavinonobile.it/winetour.uk.php#winetour

Yes, that is the site for the tour we did.
We didn't tour the winery mentioned in San Gimignano. The ones we visited, as I mentioned, offer no tours generally -- they were small private family vineyards. The wine I brought home was two bottles of gold medal winning 1997 Riserva Azienda Casale Nobile de Montepulciano, from the tiny Daviddi winery. They actually do export a limited amount to the US, but I don't think they usually export their Riservas. Signori Daviddi (I guess that was his name) was the wonderfully proud man who showed us the soil, the leaves, the young grapes, etc. all translated by our guide. His family has owned several vineyards in the area for generations. When we returned to their home for the tasting, he proudly brought out a baby granddaughter -- the newest member of this wine family.

Each week, two to three different wineries are selected from the membership of the association, so you never know which ones you'll visit. I can't vouch for them all being as interesting and wonderful as the ones we did.

Wow all this information is really great!!! But i agree with budman. We want to only tour a few of the top wineries, taste and buy. Then we just want ones that we can go to and just do the tastings. Anyone know of particular wineries where we can walk up and do this...or do we need to call ahead???

rrast...thanks for the info as well. I am definately a big fan of brunello's and super tuscan's. Montalcino definately sounds like the place we want to stay and then tour from there. Any suggestions??? Also would it be a big hassel to do chianti from here, or should we stay one night up there and then work our way back down?