Tuscan wine tours

That probably works if you have a day or less. Wine touring and taste is a touch more complicated than Napa Valley. About four years ago we did it on our own with a car -- critical. We had a week and did one in the am and one or two in the pm. Wine Spectator had published a list of top wineries in the Tuscan area around Florence. That was our starting point. All the wineries required an advance reservation and a fee - not always cheap. Some of the wineries have restaurants associated with them and offered a multi-course meal with wine parings. Again, not cheap but outstanding experiences. We did a couple of lunches that way. If you can call a five course meal with six parings a lunch. It was obvious that some of the wineries catered to bus tours because of the size of the parking lots, tasting areas etc. and others were lucky to find a parking space for ten cars.

My parents have done all four of Grape Tours Elite day tours - San Gimignano, Chianti, Montepulciano and Montalcino. This was 5+ years ago and they still rave about them to this day. My husband and I are thankful to have been able to fit 3 of 4 of their Elite tours into our upcoming trip to Italy.

We did a day trip to two wineries that we had selected based on my son's desire to visit these two (he is a wine sommelier at a restaurant in the US): Cantina de' Ricci in Montepulciano, where the tasting included a tour of the cellars and a sampling of meats and cheeses. We enjoyed spending some time walking around the town as well, where there were some great spots to photograph the beautiful vistas. Then we travelled to Ciacci Piccolomini in Montalcino, which was more remote, and located on the grounds of their vineyard, which we toured before the tasting. Lots of beautiful countryside to view along the way. We hired a private driver through Filippo of Tuscany Car Tours. He can recommend a schedule if you don't have any particular places in mind like we did.

How did you like the Catina de Ricci? I have that one booked.

@KB, we really liked Cantina de Ricci. Staff was great, as were the wines and accompanying charcuterie. They even gave my son several of their wooden crates which they usually charge for (we did buy a lot of wine to ship home!). Enjoyed walking around the hilly, little town with beautiful views of the countryside.