We'll have a car but would rather not drink and drive. Any suggestions for a local wine tour that's fun and relaxing? Would prefer not going with a large group or bus. Would love to have wine tasting and a lunch somewhere along the way. Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8045 posts
I'll mention the two wineries we ate at the restaurants of, 25 minutes or less from Montepulciano. Our favorite, Avigonesi, had a magnificent, airy, white tented pavilion with absolutely superb dining, maybe 50 Euros per person for lunch, with ABUNDANT tastings, if not unlimited, during the meal. We had to pay in advance for the tours and the meals. This had a really high end but personal feel.
Our first such afternoon was at Poggio Antico, which might be even closer. They were nice, but not as nice as above. They also seemed to have outsourced their lunch to a (swell) white-tablecloth place next door, but they served mainly P.A. wines.
In case you can't tell, we decided to make lunch our main meal, and have minimal small plates back at the hotel - avoiding late nights. My reply DOES NOT address your drinking and driving. I solved that problem by tasting sensibly, and not going to the Aviognesi shop until we had finished lunch. MAYBE you can schedule your tour after lunch, but I don't know the hours they offer. Although Aviognesi does not make a sparkling wine, they are so classy that if you come early for the tour, they serve you sparkling wine in the outdoor, umbrella-ed waiting room. (Their red wines tend to be around 100 Euros ... But, "free" shipping for cases to the U.S., FedEx.)
I don't see how a tour company could make money taking groups to a restaurant and only one winery. That's really a car service, and there are lots of those. I confess that I relied on our small luxury hotel's (in Sinalunga) concierge to select our three wineries for us. But it worked out great - although we were really disappointed with the Antinori experience.