Tuscany Wineries to visit

If you're staying around Cortona, the Baracchi winery might be perfect for you. It's a short drive from the city, easy to get to. I visited it this past summer, it's very lovely. Family owned by a couple and their son. The tour and tasting were both very nice. If you have some money to spare, they also have a hotel/spa/restaurant there (but it's expensive).

We enjoyed touring the impressive Banfi winery located near Montalcino. Also in that area is S'antimo Abbey-maybe visit both. BTW, I loved visiting wineries in your area-especially enjoyed Sonoma.

If you're in the wine industry, ask for introductions from your importer. Wineries in Tuscany are not as open for drop-by wine tastings as you're used to in the Alexander Valley or around Yountsville. There are a few, but not many.

As you're in the wine industry, I would suggest starting with your contacts there, and see which producers they recommend that are within a 1 hour drive of Cortona. From Cortona, both the Chianti regions and Montalcino (Brunellos, etc.) are about 1 1/2 hours, so producers in those areas are off the list. Montepulciano is about 44 minutes away (Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, etc.), so you might want to focus on producers in this area. As noted already, the tastings/tours in Italy aren't quite the same as in Sonoma/Napa, in that you can easily wander from producer to producer. Some places, the more mom-and-pop types, will have signs on the roads, and you can just stop in. In our experience, unlike in California, it's customary to buy a bottle if you do a tasting at a place like this. Other places, especially the high-end types, you'll need to arrange in advance. The best tastings that me or my husband have been to are smaller producers, such as Ciacci Picolomini (near Montalcino), so ask your contacts if they can arrange tastings at places like that. We had a fabulous visit to a very small producer (can't remember the name) of Barolo, one of not many females in the business, and we were basically doing a tasting (just us and two friends of ours) in a room off the side of her home. The owner of the B&B we were staying at set that up for us.

Thanks for the information. The company I work for owns many California wineries and brands, but nothing in the Tuscany region. But you have me thinking...... our cork suppliers also ship to wineries in Italy, so maybe they can set me up with some of their customers. And when we visit wineries locally, we buy at least one bottle, providing we enjoy the wine so that's not new to us. In Calfifornia we can bring a bottle of wine to dinner with us for a corkage fee at most restaurants. Is this common or acceptable in Italian restauranats? We want to make sure we are able to drink the wine we buy since we are not checking luggage.

Check with your cork supplier. I'd also bet that at a company that owns wineries, there are many employees who are into wine, and who may have contacts at Italian wineries, or know good producers in Arezzo (the region of Tuscany where Cortona is). Or ask the owners of the villa you're renting; they may have contacts at nearby wineries (similar to the owner of our B&B in Montforte d'Alba, in Barolo). Hmmm, good question about taking wine to a restaurant. We've never done that in Italy, so I don't know what Italian law is. I would hesitate to do that, though, just from the perspective of denying a business owner the legitimate chance to make some money from wine sales. Also, the only time we've taken our own bottle (now illegal in our state) is when we were sure the restaurant didn't own the bottle we wanted to drink; that would be difficult if you weren't already familiar with the restaurant. When we've bought bottles, we plan on a picnic lunch and drink it then. Or have a glass in the evening, before heading off to dinner. Another suggestion. In Italy, you can visit an enoteca,
which is a retail location where you can try different producers wines, often with small appetizers or at least bread. Usually they'll carry a number of local producers, but not necessarily all of them. It's kind of a wine store that has tastings. Often fun, because you can try multiple producers. And easy, because they're usually located within towns. I did a google search; here's one in Cortona: Enoteca Molesini Cortona, http://www.molesini-market.com/. I also came up with Avignonesi (big producer); their main vineyard is not too far from Cortona. Or Tienimenti D'Alessandro (small producer). I don't know anything about them; the names came up when I googled for enotecas in/near Cortona. Enjoy!