Wine tour questions

Joined : 26 Mar 2008 Posts : 1

During my time in Tuscany, I would LOVE to do one of your wine tours of either a) Brunello di Montelcino and/or b) Chianti.

Questions:
1. My boyfriend and I plan to stay at a Bed & Breakfast called Le Camere di Bacco which was recommended by friends. Have you heard of it? Do you recommend it?

2. Is it possible to do a wine tasting tour with your company, and get picked up from the Montelcino bed & breakfast? Or would I have to be picked up from Florence?

3. Is it possible to walk to wineries from my bed & breakfast, or would I need to rent a car?
I have not been able to figure out how you do wine tasting in Tuscany -- do you need to make private reservations? Or can you simply arrive any time?

Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate your insights!

Angela

Subject: Re: Wine tour questions Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:21 am

Dear Angela,
Thanks for posting your questions on the forum.
I have to admit that I’m not familiar with the B&B that you are referring to, so maybe that would be a question to give other travellers on Tripadvisor.
As to visiting the wineries around Montalcino while you are there, you really do need a form of transportation. There are a few wineries that you can walk to, but if there is any winery in particular that you would like to visit it’s likely to be a winery that isn’t walking distance. Remember that the denomination of Brunello di Montalcino is 25 km long and 25 wide and the roads are not straight Exclamation

Montalcino is on the top of the hill, and so it is a good hike down the hill and then up if you want to walk anywhere. The best would be to have a car.
Plan ahead. Set up appointments in the wineries beforehand. Only a few wineries have tasting rooms where you can just stop by and be served a tasting and the ones that do are the most commercial. So if you want to visit any winery in specific, make appointments by email (you will find most of the emails on the web-site of the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino http://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it/). Remember that a visit usually takes from a half to a whole hour so try not to schedule your appointments too close to each other. Whereas in other regions (Burgundy, California) you will taste half a dozen wines during a tasting, in Montalcino you can expect to taste just two wines.
Wineries with dedicated tasting rooms usually will charge a small tasting fee, which might be refundable if you buy something. Wineries that go by appointment may also charge for a visit & tasting – make sure to ask when you make the appointment to avoid an unpleasant surprise. In my experience the fees can vary from 5 Euro to 50 Euro per person so make sure you know ahead so you can plan how much you want to spend What a Face

If you go without appointments and are just driving around from place to place, you will be welcomed all the same, but perhaps you will not receive a tour all depending on how busy the people are in the wineries. In this case make sure not to drop in between 12.30 am and 2.30 pm as it is lunch time – and lunch is sacred to the Italians.
I hope this helps you a little to figure out how to approach the winery touring in Montalcino. Remember that a lot of the wine shops in Montalcino (Enoteca) offer tastings of the Brunellos from the various wineries as in for example the Fortress Enoteca which has an impressive amount of Brunellos open for tasting.
Have fun Very Happy