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Tuscany wine tours and driving

My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy in March and it will include approx 4 days in Tuscany. We are interested in visiting a few wineries, learning and tasting at various wineries in the area. 2 questions:

1) Are the wineries open for visits/tours in March (not sure of the "season", and
2) Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to visit the wineries, enjoy some wine and meals, and yet not have to drive? I am looking forward to driving in Tuscany and we expect to have a car, but I am not going to have a few glasses of wine and then get behind the wheel - so what advice have others found that works? Private drivers, or a small bus tour leaving from Florence or Siena, or just have a designated driver (my wife or I) , or some other solution? Would love to experience the charm of Italy, but drinking and then driving is simply a no. Thanks -

Posted by
15043 posts

There are a lot of tour Companies in Florence or Siena that organize wine tasting tours in the Chianti, also in small groups, with a private driver. I don’t have one to recommend because I’ve always driven my own car, however you can find many online.

Just Google “wine tours” or “wine tasting tours” in Florence or in Chianti and you’ll get many hits.
If you want try to Google in Italian too, wine tasting in Italian is DEGUSTAZIONE VINI, add the words TOUR (same in Italian) and CHIANTI and you’ll have more hits. If you are interested more on Brunello, use the location name Montalcino.

Posted by
23177 posts

If you are going to drive the better wineries require a reservation and a fee. And our experience is that they are strict on the reservation. Trying to remember the winery where "supposedly" the Mona Lisa was painted -- they had five course, wine paring luncheon that was terrific and expensive but really memorable under a tent on a hill side overlooking the hills of Tuscany.

Posted by
2097 posts

Here’s what we did. We stayed at https://www.verrazzano.com/ (Castillo di Verrazzano). They have comfortable rooms at the base of the hill with the winery on top. We used it as our Tuscany base of operations. We set aside one day just to do their winery tour and food and wine pairing. We started the day with their wonderful breakfast, then explored the grounds on our own. The tour started at 11:00 (varies by season). It ran to 11:45, then we were seated for the pairing at 1:00. Visit their site for a description.

The food was amazing and the wines were wonderful. We were there mid-December so there were only two other couples there. The owner and the wine makers were tasting their newest vintage and he kept bringing over unmarked bottles for us to try and offer comments. We were made to feel like family. We didn’t finish until nearly 4:00! We were the last to leave, but the staff wasn’t busy and we got to know them all. I felt it was a true Italian meal with great food, wine and company.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ground more, then drove down the hill to our room, where we read and made plans for the next day. It was our only true wine tour, but the experience was so magical we went with quality over quantity. That freed up our time for more exploring. We did have some other great local wine at lunch and dinner during the rest of the trip.