Annie

I've seen messages concerning the possible need to make a reservation to visit a winery. Also, some wineries evidently have restaurants attached to them. My question is this: when you do make a reservation, can you expect to be charged for the wine tasting? Is there anyone who explains things, or do they just pour you a few sips to sample? In general, are tastings and sippings free?

deb

We went to a few tastings in Tuscany. No reservations on a Thursday or Friday. Most were larger wineries and found that the cost for tastings was posted by each wine bar within the winery. Most didn't charge for the tastings if we purchased a few bottles.

Carrie

I went into the vin italy site, (don't happen to have it handy but I'll try to look it up) and emailed a few wineries.<BR>Two did not charge a fee when we arrived, they were small wineries but very informative and so nice to us. We went to Campanelle and did not know there would be a fee (they didn't mention it) they served us cheese and crackers and Barbara the owner was very gracious, but they also handed us a bill at the end for almost $25 so that was a surprise. So you might ask when emailing. There are wine tasting places in the small towns in the Chianti area that we did tastings at for no fee.

Rhonda

Driving around near San Gimignano last Oct there were a no. of vineyards with signs by the road. We stopped in at one and tasted both wines and olive oil totally free of charge, just like at home. The winery in fact was run by a lovely older couple who reminded me of my own parents who did the same thing here in Oz.

barbara

Do I need to research a little bit before going to Italy or is it easy just to ask in Florence or in the Tuscan towns for a winery (or winery tour)?