Hello! We leave for Italy next week and would like to do a couple of winery tours while we are in Tuscany. We are staying in Cortona but will be driving all over the area (especially Montepulciano, Montalcino etc). I have read that you generally need to make a reservation to tour a winery.... any advice on some good ones to visit? And, are there some wineries that we can just drop into if we see them while driving around? We plan to do Rick Steves' Heart of Tuscany Drive one day and hope to stop into some wineries along that route. If there are good ones we need to book in advance, I'd like to do it before we leave but if there are some we can just drop into, that would be even better!
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
368 posts
Avignonesi for vino nobile. We just dropped in for a tasting flight. Their 10 yr vin santo was sublime.
We also did Nostra Vita near Pienza through our stay at Cretaiole but you may need reservations for that one. Interesting artist/winemaker. Check out the hot springs in the area as well, Bagno Vignoni & Bagni San Filippo.
Posted by
OP
USA
41 posts
Just got back from our trip and had to say that Avignonesi was wonderful!! We had a great tour of the beautiful winery plus a wine tasting that was done seated at a long table, rather than standing at a bar. We had such a great time that we hung out with the others we met on our tour for 2 hours. A great experience.