SMALL GROUP Experience Cheese & Chianti visit dairy & 3 wineries

Had a fabulous time on the Wine & Cheese tour with Ben as our host. The first winery, Sala, was very serious about producing high quality wines and treated us to a very nice private tasting experience. Lorenzo was an amazing advocate for their winery and land. The second stop was to La Ginestra which, in addition to a very interesting and unique selection of wines for the area, made an outstanding lunch with seasonal ingredients. I forget the name of the third visit but Zoe gave us a private tour of their cheese-production facility and then Ben led the tasting of their Chianti and Super Tuscan offerings. Overall, it was a great experience and Ben was very knowledgeable and accommodating. I was particularly impressed at Ben’s ability to teach and drive the van through Florence traffic and Tuscany’s side roads at the same time. That takes serious skill. What a pro.

A day trip to taste wine from Firenze? Yes! This was the first time we haven’t had a car in Italy to explore on our own, so a wine tour sounded perfect. You meet at their wine store which is a great place to pin in your google maps for wine and cheese. Plus it’s where the tour begins. They use vans, not big busses, which is a deal breaker for us. There were 4 other people who joined our tour, for 7 people including our guide/driver Gabriele. Gabriele knows the area, wine, speaks great English plus he’s friendly too. It was less than an hour to get to the first winery (La Sala). The drive was beautiful and Gabriele talked about the wine region while in route. La Sala is not open to the public, private tasting only! It was a wonderful stop with delicious wine and our favorite. We had a few bottles shipped home! It was just our group and the wine makers brother providing the tour and tasting, with cheese and olive oil in a lovely tasting room. It was an absolutely perfect stop! The next tasting included lunch, which they were happy to accommodate me with a vegetarian meal. The vegetable salad was my favorite at this stop. I don’t remember the name of the winery. At the next stop we learned about making sheep’s milk cheese and then we got to taste it in a wine and cheese pairing. If we weren’t traveling so much, we would have bought some cheese, it was delicious. This was a five star day thanks to the three stops, our group, Gabriele and Grape Tours. There was more than enough food, wine and fun. La Sala was the highlight for us!!! We understand the sell it in the US, and I will search it out back home.

This was my favorite part of our trip. Still dreaming of the wines, cheese, lunch, high quality olive oil, and gorgeous views. As someone who appreciates and is learning about organic/biodynamic wines, I loved our second stop at the second estate. The wine and food were delicious! Thanks, Paolo for being a fantastic guide!