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We've compiled the best of the best in Italy - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Right in the town of Barolo, this wine estate makes an easy, if touristy, option for getting to know the local wines. In the estate’s user-friendly enoteca you can taste wine, buy some of the thousands of bottles from vintages going way back, and look at display bottles, including an 1859 Barolo. Marchesi di Barolo’s cantine (wine cellars), at Via Roma 1, are open daily; book tours and tastings in advance online.
At this family-run and -operated establishment, you can do a simple wine tasting, or taste while eating lunch or dinner at the rather fine restaurant. It's also possible to stay on the estate in restored farmhouses.
A good, accessible example of the new school of Barolo wine making (concrete tanks, blended wines) is this estate, about 6 km (4 miles) south of Barolo. Rocche dei Manzoni’s reds include Barolo, dolcetto, Langhe Rosso, and barbera. Visits take about two hours and include a guided tour of the wine cellar plus a tasting of three wines; reserve in advance online.
The same contemporary craftsmanship that went into Tenuta di Castellaro’s eco-wine resort design also applies to their wine making, as they use advanced methods that link to centuries-old traditions that have been used to make some of the oldest wines of the Aeolian archipelago. You’ll have the opportunity to try their incredible range of wines that stem from a seriously impressive system of cultivation and planting (also featuring a few new natural wines), whether you are a guest in the winery's hotel or not. And the wine-tasting and vineyard tour is worth the trip based on its cantina visit alone. This zero-impact winery is seriously unlike any other.
This winery, in the shadow of San Nicolò, takes a decidedly biological approach to grape growing. Olive and fruit trees (kiwi, lemon, and orange) abound, and they alternate row crops between the vines to enrich the soil. Inside the winery and tasting room, you can see the stratification of Etna’s lava, with flows from 50,000 years ago and 3,000 years ago, and where plant roots continue growing down into the stone. In the old palmento, you can book a private wine-making experience with barefoot grape stomping and all.
