Grandot

My husband and I are leaving for Italy in a week. We will be in Tuscany for 3 days and Umbria for 3 days. We would like to visit some wineries, do some tasting, and compare with Sonoma and Napa. Anyone have any favorite wineries?
Also, what is the best way to do this? Is a tour best or can we just go individually? Do we need to arrange for this in advance?
Thanks in advance for any information you can give me.
Grandot

starbuck1105

If you don't mind me asking, when are you going to be in Italy? I'll be in Umbria and Tuscany each for a few days in October.

I'm hoping to visit some wineries, but more or less planning to "wing it" and just ask for recommendations from hotel and B&B owners, etc. Not sure if this is advised/wise or not.

Grandot

We plan to be in Umbria from September 21st for three days and Tuscany for three days after that. Actually, we're starting in Florence on the 18 until we go to Umbria, so that is also Tuscany. But we do not plan to leave Florence for the three days that we are there.

Unless someone has a good idea for making advance arrangements, we will probably wing it as well. But that's why I started this thread.

starbuck1105

I'm bumping this thread for our mutual benefit.

sunsetbay

We are going to be in Tuscany for 3 nights in the beginning of October, staying at the Relais Vignale right in the Chianti region. When I booked the room, I asked about making wine visit/wine tasting reservations and this is exactly what the lady wrote back to my email:
"About wine tastings in our region, here in Chianti we are surrounded by wineries and castles where you can visit the cellars and taste their own wine. In some of them we need to reserve but we can do this once you are here, reservations are very easy to make same day or next day."

Hope this helps.