Tuscan Wine Tours

We did a wine tasting at Castello di Verrazzano (http://www.verrazzano.com/). It was only a 30 min bus ride from Florence to the Chianti Region and was near the town of Greve. It was the highlight of our trip.

It was an approx. 1 hour tour of the grounds/wine making and then we did the lunch tour option (the Chianti tradition) which was fabulous. We sat on the terrace overlooking all of tuscany which was beautiful. Each person got a huge plate of a mix of meats and cheeses (there was a vegetarian version available). Then we sampled 4 wines, and after they poured they left the remaining bottles for the table to finish (and there were only 6 of us at each table). We also sampled a dessert wine and balsamic vinaigrette. And there was also bread with olive oil drizzled over it.

I would highly recommend this place. The views were amazing and the people were so friendly!

Have a great trip!

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Italy, and took an all day wine tour out of Siena on Sept 27th. I arranged for the tour online with Franco Fadda about eight months ago. I would not necessarily recommend a tour with him. You can get some great pictures and information about the area, but it was hard to get past his attitude toward Americans. And he did not take us to a couple of the places we had discussed during our emails before we arrived. He also begins tours out of Florence, but personally, I would not book a tour with him in the future. Just my opinion.

We did the Verrazzano wine/lunch tour last May. Absolutely loved it!

We also did Food & Wine Experience at Castello di Verrazzano a couple weeks ago. HIGHLY recommend ~ highlight of our trip to Tuscany

I also highly recommend Verrazzano. It is well worth the time and money. I recommend it just about every chance I get. Just make sure you have transportation from winery employees from the bottom of the hill to the top. We did and I'm glad as it is a long climb up to the winery. The tour and 4 course wine tasting lunch are wonderful. The scenery was gorgeous when we were there in November a couple of years ago. Enjoy!!

www.toursbyroberto.com. Took one last week and we went to a small, family operation inaccessible to the general public. He will build an itinerary for you. Check him out on Rick Steves' videos. Very fun!

We spent 6 nights in San Gimignano. Go there, and buy vernaccia di san gimignano for 6 Euros a bottle, or buy high-end stuff for 8 Euros a bottle. The different varieties taste different, and I'm not a wine person. Or go to restaurants and try their house wine. San Gimignano is a delightful town. The tourists are like the tide, flow in from the south gate in the morning, withdraw in the evening. 7,000 inhabitants, 4 millions tourists, and a few dozen varieties of wine.

We did a wine tour with Tuscan Wine Society and very much enjoyed the day. The format was very appealing with a small group and a decent price, and tastings in top wineries of the region.
We also took a day trip to Siena and stumbled upon the Tuscan Wine School and did a wine class there. The teacher was enthusiastic and it rubbed off. We enjoyed two hours of fun stories, useful info, anecdotes about Tuscany and its wines whilst sipping some fine wines.

I just went on the wine tasting/luncheon at Castello di Verrazzano last week and highly recommend it. Our tour guide, Gino, was amazing, as were the grounds, the tour, the meal and the wines. I also spent one night there and wish I had stayed longer. My room was large and beautifully decorated and the breakfast was delicious. The town of Greve in Chianti is very quaint, too.

I am probably a little late in responding but we just came back from Italy and took the Wine and Cooking tour with Accidental Tourist out of Florence. They could be done separately one in the morning and the other in the afternoon but we had a great day of both and if you want some pictures I can send them to you on your private e-mail.