Your favorite Tuscan winery for a daytime visit and superb lunch?
 

During our week staying in Siena, I'd love to do a winery tour. Of course the options are endless -- but since we love to eat, I'm thinking maybe to find a great place to drive to, tour the winery, sample some wines AND have a super lunch. We'd be driving to and from Siena so we don't want to make it too far.
I'm wondering about Castello Banfi in Montalicino. I know the wines are great, and the food is supposed to be as well, but is it kind of too "tour busses" and "mobs of people being rushed through"?

So what's been your favorite place you visited that gives a really great "impression" of Tuscan wineries?

Relatively close to Siena you can visit the Abbazia di Mount Oliveto Maggiore. There is a winery there, albeit with just a few wines, and you can have a tasting. The restaurant just outside the abbey walls (La Torre) had wonderful pasta in a garden area. The real treat, however, is to wander around the abbey and see the Signorelli frescoes, which are so brilliant that it's hard to believe they are from the 16th century.

My favorite is Castello di Banfi near Montalcino about an hour south of Siena. We have been there once and plan to have another dinner next month when we are back in Tsucany.
They have a wine bar and tasting room and 2400 acres of vines. They also offer a complete tasting 5 course dinner or lunch replete with Banfi made wine including Brunnelo.
See here for more info:
http://www.castellobanfi.com/tour/

http://www.avignonesi.it/ , one of the best all around tours and meals with pairings i have had. 5 star chefs. http://www.avignonesi.it/en/hospitality/info/#lunch
i would skip Banfi, USA owned and very commercialized.

What time of year is your trip? During the wine harvesting season, some of the best wineries are so involved in the harvest, it's not a great time to visit. During the summer, the "biggest" Tuscan reds only go with heavy foods that are unappetizing in the heat. And -- sorry! -- during the winter, you can get a great meal with good wine but it will probably be around a fireplace, not in a garden.

Finally, who is driving after lunch? It can be worth it to find an excellent wine guide for the region, have them take you to a small producer, and have a special lunch. They drive you "home" so you can drink the wine. Costs a fortune, but it might be worth it to you. To get the best of that experience, try looking at wine websites and magazines for private guide recommendations. Try asking your question here:

http://www.snooth.com/talk/category/wine-and-travel/

vespacurves, you have brought up the very issue which has us renting an apartment in the center of Siena instead of out in the countryside -- driving after dinner. For that reason we aren't looking for an evening event -- like dinner. My partner, who does the driving, is not a big drinker and would love to just "taste" some wines, have a nice lunch and return to Siena. We would prefer not to spend a fortune, which probably leaves out hiring a private guide/driver. And I suppose that leaves out UmoDeViaggio's suggestion with 5 star chefs, but I will check that out.

JoetheKay, although my spelling or name was a bit off, it was Castello di Banfi to which I was referring. The pictures make it look like a very commercial operation -- at least the meal with rows of people sitting at tables, and UmoDiViaggio's comment would seem to agree with that.

We will be staying in Montepulciano for a week starting 22 Sept and plan on having a nice tasting and "heavy" antipasti at Enoteca La Fortezza in Montalcino. We'd also looked at Castello de Banfi but decided that as great as their tasting menu looks, it's a little pricey and La Fortezza gets great reviews here and on Trip Advisor. We're hoping to enjoy the chanting at Sant' Antimo around noon, get back to Montalcino, have the tasting, etc., explore Montalcino a bit more and then return to our apartment in Montepulciano - after giving our bodies enough time for the essence of the grape to wear off a bit.

neopatrick,

I might suggest then that you choose a place for food first, winery second. I get it that you would like to taste some wines at a winery, but if you also eat at the winery, the focus will be on wines paired with the food, and a lot will be poured for you. Whereas if you pick a highly recommended restaurant in Chianti or around Montalcino, you have much more control over how much wine is poured for you.

If you and your partner would like to taste a lot of different wines of the region, Italy's national institute of wine is located in Siena and they have tastings. You can look up the institute on the internet. One of the advantages of doing tastings at the institute instead of a winery is that you get to taste more than one producer's wines. Plus, you get to taste wines whose makers don't open their doors to the public, rather than wine of a winemaker who has gone into the tourist business.

I agree with above comments.
The best food I have had at a winery is Poggio Antico only about 5 km south of Montalcino---much closer than Banfi.

neopatrick,

This might work for you

http://www.coltibuono.com/pagebase.asp?s=80

or this place

http://ristorodilamole.it/

Patrick,

My second trip included 5 days in the Chianti village of San Sano. One day we did a long lunch at La Badia di Coultibuono (Lorenza Medici's home). Our lunch was fabulous!

Reservation were required, dining was outside, but shaded and the views were lovely. Typical hilly Chianti. Their Chianti Reserva is excellent. Their tasting room is a bit down the road from their restaurant and gardens.

After lunch, we took a short tour of their cellars and gardens with an English speaking Swiss gal. We were the only ones and the gardens were beautiful. No wine making on the tour.

My best guestimate would be about a 40 min drive from Siena.

I've always wanted to try Poggio Antico, but missed it on my last trip when I stayed in Montalcino. Guess I'll just have to go back :-)

neopatrick: in addition to Avignonesi, i also did tour and a wine pairing with lunch at http://www.capannelle.it/english/kit...ting_room.html
they make a celebrated 50/50 wine with Avignosesi, the tour, meal and wine was equally as superb. you can watch the chefs prepare the food. dinning was indoor v. fresco @ Avignosesi.
the whole experiance of going to a winery is getting a tour, (if you have never done before) and seeing how it is made, etc.. also you are allowing expert chefs to pair the right food with the right wine. for this you will have a greater understanding and experiance that will last a life time. i also stopped at Badia a Coltibuono, only did a small tasting there no food, but grounds and views were stunning, but do not think they actually make wine at that site.

also may i suggest http://www.tuscanwineschool.com/wine_classes.htm if you are into wines,right in Siena.

My information is dreadfully out of date, but when we were in Tuscany, we had a lovely lunch, tour and tasting at Fattoria Barbi outside Montalcino.
http://www.fattoriadeibarbi.it/01_en-1-home.html

Perhaps someone has been there more recently and can say if the food is still good. i can say the wines are still good, as we buy them in the US occasionally.

Badia a Coltibuono gives tours of its cellars:

http://www.coltibuono.com/pagebase.asp?s=18&s2=79

China_cat,
Fattoria dei Barbi has had some problems, the restaurant closed last year and I have not heard if it has reopened.

IMO, not to knock Badia a Coltibuono, i do not think you are going to get the feel for a winery, the vineyard is over 15k away and IMO, the wines; althought drinkable are an unbalanced Chianti.
i too was at the Barbi estate, yummy Brunellos, but that was few trips ago and only did tour and tasting no food.

The Barbi site says something about the restaurant being a separate venture under separate management.

Despite the ad embedded in this thread above, I don't think we'll choose to stay at a hotel in either Rajasthan or Gujarat. Thanks, Fodors, but that just seems a tad inconvenient for our visit to Tuscany!

Has anyone been to Poggio Antico recently? I've read about a change in the chef there and wonder if it's still as good as in the past. Thanks and aloha.