A fabulous day in Italy's countryside with the best tour guide, Fabio! We visited 3 different wineries with a 3-course lunch that was delicious. Fabio was very knowledgeable about the wine and provided a brief background of each area that we visited. He was a wonderful tour guide. I would recommend this tour to anyone.
My family and I did this tour in August 2022. It is now February 2023 and to this day we still talk about this tour in Montalcino. Also, I have never written a review in my life, but I was thinking about this tour and I felt it would be an injustice if I didn't post a review!
So, here it is: IT WAS AMAZING. Authentic experience away from the usual touristy places and whatnot. Our guide's name was Martina (I still remember the name!) and she was friendly, informative, funny, and overall just perfect for the job.
We were picked up on time from the hotel, drove to Montalcino from Florence, and had a little stop for coffee. The first winery was just breathtaking. Felt like a dream. The interior road to the winery is a bit bumpy since it's not paved so at first we were like omg where are we going lol but once we got there we were like wow the ride was beyond worth it. My family is a little picky about places but literally we all just loved this place. We had a tour of the underground cave wine cellar and learned about the process. The wines that were selected were of a good variety. We tasted the brunello, the Rosso and also some grappa! I will say, all three of the places we went to def don't skimp on the tastings like they do in Napa Valley. We tasted some DOC's and DOCG's as well.
The second place, again amazing. We had a nice lunch with olive oil tasting along with the wine tasting. We had some dietary limitations, which we had communicated to earlier on and we were accommodated with no complaints. The food was good but the olive oil! SO GOOD! Like wow. Wine, again, really good selection. I recall these being lighter than the ones at the first winery so it was a nice balance.
Third place also just as beautiful and hospitable. We did a honey tasting from 20 different types of honey and a wine tasting, toured the cellars and took pictures with the huge barrels and learned more about their methods. The tasting area was really cute and different from the rest and they even had some light munchies like bread, cheese, and fresh tomatoes. The wines at this place were also nicely selected. Good balance of light, dry, rich, etc. Overall the wines at all the places were top noch. We got a crate shipped from each winery!
At the end of the day, my family was knocked out from all the wine since by now we'd had like 15 glasses so the ride back was quiet (aside from the snores LOL) but man we had an AMAZING day with this tour. For reference, in August, we were in Europe for a couple weeks and had gone to other places like Vienna, Munich and whatnot, but this tour was undoubtedly the highlight. From the time of pickup to dropoff, we felt taken care of and pampered. I honestly can't think of anything negative! I totally and whole heartedly not only recommend this tour, but STRONGLY ENCOURAGE it because it's honestly an experience that will stay with you for life. I would say the only thing I regret is not staying longer in Montalcino, seems like a really charming little town but I guess I gotta leave something to do next time :)