Sipping wine while looking through the Tuscan countryside is a bit like living a dream. This dream became a reality during one of our many trips to Italy when we extended our stay on the Amalfi coast three days in the south of Tuscany. Since we have been wine aficionados, we knew that Tuscany’s wines were going to be the main objective of our visit.
While I was looking for our options, some important points have become clear. Mainly, the tasting of Tuscany wines is very different from what Americans are used to American vineyards, in particular those used to making wines in California
If you plan to visit Tuscany and want to visit Tuscany wine, be sure to read this before leaving! I shared some of my learning, as well as my recommendations for an excellent Tuscan wine tour and our favorite cellars.
If you visit other regions of Italy, also consult my recommendations for an incredible food and wine trip to Foothills in northern Italy.
5 things to know about Tuscany’s wines visits
Note: Our tour was organized by Tuscan organic tours. All opinions are mine.
Request required
Tuscany cellars are generally not open to the public. There are exceptions, in particular certain tasting rooms in cities like Montepulciano, where you can enter and do a tasting. However, if you want to visit the vineyards, most will need to make an appointment.
Apart from the largest commercial vineyards, Tuscan tasting rooms are modest. However, this offers a more private and personalized experience. Instead of talking to someone behind a bar, you might have a chance to meet the winemaker.
This is why it is important to do a Tuscany wine tour with someone who really knows the region and has links to provide this personalized level of service. In addition, there are so many vineyards to choose. There are more than 200 vineyards in Montalcino. It can be difficult to know which to visit without someone to guide you.
We did a wine tour with a day with Tuscan organic visits. What I like about Tuscan organic visits is that they really focus on smaller, organic and biodynamic cellars. For their food visits, they also work with organic farms and have options for visiting goat farms, looking at cheese making, discovering bees and working with providers who support the Slow Food movement.
The owner, Giacomo, is also very well informed about the history and landscape of the region, which makes it much more than a Tuscan visit to wine and food.
Driving is not recommended
Obviously, whenever there is alcohol consumption, driving is not a good idea. However, it is very difficult in Tuscany. First of all, finding some of the cellars can be difficult if you don’t know where you are going.
In addition, many vineyards will, by nature, be narrow and winding roads of earth. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy to sit down and let an expert sail in these roads. In addition, you never know what you will find around the corner.
Tuscan Organic Tours uses the latest Ford Vans model to adapt comfortably to a small group, and they have several vehicles to manage larger groups. If you want to bring the family, Giacomo is also a father and can provide car seats for the little ones.
Know your grape varieties
Tuscany is not only a wine country. There is the Chianti region, which does a good Florence wine tour. Then, in the south of Tuscany, you have the wine regions of Montepulciano and Montalcino. It is a bit far for an excursion of a day of Florence, but perfect if you stay in the region.
Just understand that each region focuses on its specific grape variety. All can use blood grapes, but each region has its own micro-climates and subclimates, as well as regulations around what can be certified.
Before booking a wine visit to Tuscany, it will be useful to understand what you prefer. I would recommend sample at home. Especially the Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile de Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. You will also find that everyone has their Rosso wines, a red wine which is either a mixture or not, but which is not qualified as Vino Nobile or Brunello. These are more entry -level wines for tasting, then you head to Risseva.
Go vertical
If you really want to have a common sense for the wines of a particular vineyard, ask for a vertical tasting. This means that you will all taste the same wines, but of different vintages. If you do this, it is useful to have a separate glass for each taste. In this way, you can go back and forth to decide what you really prefer because they are so similar that it can sometimes be difficult to know your preference without comparison.
Keep in mind that, unlike the American vineyards, which generally produce a variety of wines that is both red and white, and sometimes sweet or sparkling, you will probably taste the same grape varieties, so make sure you love them before leaving.
Be ready to ship
You are not allowed to transport only one liter of wine per person when you return to the United States. Therefore, for many reasons, it is easier to send any wine than you buy at home.
Shipping a box will likely cost around 90 euros. Most vineyards will send half a job, one or more. You can mix and match different wines to compensate for a case or half a cass. It is much easier to have the vineyards shipped because they take care of all packaging and customs forms. It was a much easier process than we discovered Wine tasting in France.
Our wine visit with Tuscan organic visits
Our wine visit with Tuscan organic visits was one today favorite in Italy. Giacomo came to seek us at our Holiday rental apartment in Montalcino. Since we were in Montalcino, I have chosen to concentrate our wine tour on Montepulciano. Tuscan Organic Tours also offers a Brunello biodynamic tour in Montalcino.
During our 45 minutes by car until our first stop of the cellar, Giacomo explained the magnificent landscape of the Val d’Orcia region in the south of Tuscany (who knew they always find shells in the ground from the moment this whole region was under the sea!)
Our first stop was at Poderi BosarelliA boutique cellar in Montepulciano. We started with a visit to the vineyards and the barrel room with one of the winegrowers, before heading for a vertical tasting of their Vino de Montepulciano Nobile.
Their tasting room is not sophisticated, more like a corner of their offices, but that did not have an impact on our experience. We spent two hours to taste at two hours and learn the differences between Tuscan wines. For example, did you know that Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is not manufactured in Montepulciano, but in abruze in the center-east of Italy?
It’s confusing because as cheaper wine, the Abruzzo Montepulciano is better known in the United States. However, the wine that put Montepulciano on the map is the Vino Nobile. And Boscarelli does so well that we ended up ordering a case to ship to the house!
After our first wine tasting, we stopped in the small village of Monticchiello for lunch at the charming and delicious Osteria the porta. This restaurant just inside the village doors focuses on Tuscan cuisine and wines. Although there are seats inside and outside, you may want to request a reservation. By the way, they also offer cooking lessons!
When we finished lunch, we headed for the city of Montepulciano for our second tasting at Talosa. There are a number of vineyards inside the walls of Montepulciano which have wine cellars built in the hill and Talosa is one of them. They have a small store and a tasting room upstairs and you can visit their wine cellars for free. However, I would recommend setting up a visit and tasting if you visit yourself and not by a wine visit.
We descend downwards, below, in the cellar, the temperature falling at each stage. However, you can only go so low, because the cellars have found some Etruscan artifacts, as you will often find in the lasagna layers that make up the Italian soil.
After our visit to the cellars, we entered their lower tasting room to taste some of their wines. I really appreciated the contrast between tasting in the Bosarelli vineyard countryside and the experience of the wine cellar in Talosa.
Some people may ask to do three or four tastings in one day, but allow me to advise you that two is the ideal number. Beyond that, you will not have the same appreciation for the tour and the differences between the wines you taste.
We ended our day with a short visit to the city, with free time to explore by ourselves before returning to Montalcino. If you plan to tour Tuscany, I strongly recommend that you take a look at Tuscan organic visits.
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Tamara Gruber is the founder and publisher of We3Travel. Former director of marketing and travel advisor, Tamara is a award -winning and expert travel writer recognized in family trips. Tamara is a member of Satw, Natja, Ifwtwa and Adventure Travel Trade Association, and headquarters to the Board of Directors of the Family Travel Association. She is also the publisher of YourTimeTofly.com and the co-host of the Mavens Travel Podcast Podcast.