We are a large family staying in a villa near Montaione (near Castelfiorentino), and we're hoping to buy a larger quantity of wine to consume during the week. Alternatively, I'm looking for recommendations on wine- an organic winery somewhere nearby would be ideal. I know there are many, and the research leaves me feeling overwhelmed. I like a good glass of wine, but we don't need/want to break the bank. I appreciate your input, thanks!
Robert in Montreal
To be honest, I can't help with your specific question, but to narrow down what you are looking for, it is somewhat common for a producing vineyard to sell wine in bulk, sometimes their container, often bring your own, but you would not likely buy a "keg". I have bought wine in gallon jugs, 2 liter soft drink bottles, filled empty water bottles, all for just a few euros.
You might take the tact of just stopping in at some nearby smaller wineries and trying a tasting and inquiring, maybe have some jugs in the car. I probably would not bother with a larger winery or one that is set up to entertain tourists, they want to sell bottles.
Otherwise, there are plenty of very good table wines and lower cost options available in many stores in jugs and boxes, even wine by the bottle can be had for a couple euro.
This may sound impossibly vague, but a few years ago, we stayed at a villa in the same area. Along the road and pretty close to Castellina in Chianti, there was a winery or co-op that sold wine by the jug (bring your own). Most of the others in the group were a hard drinking crew, so it was good to have source for inexpensive wine. I think the manager of the property was the one who put us on to that.
Thanks guys, I'm still listening, but I now have an additional question- would the 'empty jugs' be easy to buy? Where would that happen?
Thanks again, Robert
I have not done it but have been in wine shops where they sold from large casks in bulk and the jug to put it in. Like any good merchant if they want to sell in bulk, I am sure they will have the containers also.
In Florence there were place you just brought your old bottles and they filled them cheaply. Buy a jug or large bottle or two of wine and then use those bottles for refills.
Just buy the bottles/jugs that come with the plastic stopper or if buying wines make sure it is a screw top because you need to be able to close the bottle.
Don't know any in particular near Montaione. My father used to buy wine in bulk in Montespertoli a lot and usually he would buy 100 liters at the time using plastic tanks, but as soon as we got home we would bottle it in empty bottles we saved and kept in the garage. 100 liters would last us almost a year since only my father and I drank, and I was only 12-14, so my father allowed me to drink only a glass a meal. We also had a special tool to cork the bottles and preserve it. Another way to do it, in the absence of a corker, was to add some olive oil (1/2 centimeter) at the end. The oil would float on top and isolate the wine from the oxigen in the air. Then when you are ready to drink first you remove the oil by using a siphoning tool. For a week you won't need that as the wine will hold. When you are there ask around. There will be various farms/wineries around who sell it. Just look for VENDITA DIRETTA VINO (direct sale of wine) or VENDITA VINO SFUSO (SFUSO means unbottled) The Italian word for winery/farm is FATTORIA or AZIENDA VINICOLA.
However wine at grocery stores is very cheap, therefore if saving money is your goal I don't know if I would bother with your plan for buying wine for just a week. I don't know how large your family is, but unless your family is a bunch of alcoholics, I doubt each drinking person in your party can drink more than 3 liters of wine in the whole week. Assuming there are 6 drinkers in your party, at most you can kill 15-18 liters. You can buy that much wine at a regular grocery store for less than €25, unless you are looking for something more expensive. You'll probably spend more in the cost of a jug plus the gasoline to drive to the winery.
I second Roberto's opinion. Unless you are a party of 20 persons, buying bottles of wine at any supermarket is going to be much easier and just marginally more expensive. You may also try different wines and labels.
Thanks Roberto (and all), that's perfect information. I didn't really know how big a 'keg' of wine was, and we're not big drinkers, so I think a variety of bottles from the grocery or wine store will work just fine.
Robert
Generally if the place sells "sfuso" - filling bottles from a vat, you can 'buy' the bottles and keep bringing them back to be filled again. We paid 50 cents a bottle at one place. It may also be possible to get a bag in a box - the sfuso wine store we used had 5 litre bags which were then put into a box for easy dispensing. But as we were warned, you drink a lot more wine that way because you can't see the wine level going down!
I visited Salcheto in Southern Tuscany. The way they setup the winery for sustainability was pretty impressive.
