What are the must-see wineries?

J

jennifer-peak

New member
Hello,

My husband and I are planning to get a private driver on a Saturday in November for a full day of visiting different wineries. What are some “must-see” wineries? Whether it be in the Chianti area or areas with the best Brunello. We are staying in Greve and ok with driving.

Thank you!
 
Are you looking for small boutique wineries of the large ones that attract lots of people? Because as far as the "must-see" one that is Chianti, for the architectural, modern look, the one you would need to go to is the Antinori winery in Bargino. As far as smaller wineries but that we recommend, take a look at Viticcio just outside Greve as well as La Lastra. There are a few more recommendations here: https://www.chianti.com/wine-tasting/
As far as the area of Brunello, I would recommend Altesino as well as Castello di Banfi. You can find more recommended wineries here: https://www.discovertuscany.com/what-to-do-in-tuscany/wine-tasting/montalcino-wine-itinerary.html
 
Hi Lourdes, I am planning a 5 night stay in Montalcino for my honeymoon this October and read your Montalcino wine tasting post. In my own desktop research, I found a number of wineries not noted in that article. Do you have opinions on any of the below? I would ideally like to go to four at least.

Castiglion del Bosco
Capanna
Argiano
Col d'Orcia
Tenuta Le Potazzine
Fattoria dei Barbi
San Polino
 
Ciao Caroline and welcome to our forum!

Congrats on your upcoming honeymoon trip, 5 nights in Montalcino are perfect for a wine lover!
The wineries on that post are definitely just a selection from a variety, from small family owned to larger estates, with some that have a lot of years of wine making and others that are pushing the limits on innovation within the set standards for local wines. So take them just as suggestions on where to get started.

Keep in mind there are over 200 wineries around Montalcino, so everyone will come up with a different list :D

From your list, Fattoria dei Barbi is the only one that comes to mind right away because it also has a museum dedicated to wine-making in the region: https://www.fattoriadeibarbi.it/en/hospitality/brunello-museum/

Castiglion del Bosco seems to be an estate bought by the Ferragamo in the early 2000s that a century before belonged to the Biondi-Santi family, which are the original creators of the Brunello. This is one (the Biondi-Santi estate) I would recommend you add to your list, maybe as one of the first you visit so that you can then compare others to it. See what you think of the differences ;).

In any case, Castiglion seems to be pretty big and a luxury resort now, it really depends on what kind of experience are you looking for.
Small, boutique and family-run? Or something larger, more commercial? Keep in mind the vast majority of the brands and estates you might encounter are likely ones that either don't bother with commercializing or marketing overseas because of smaller production (so they concentrate on specific markets) or are so small they can't compete on the marketing budgets. It doesn't mean they are lesser in quality. Take the Bartoli Giusti brand, they are pretty well known but their website is very very "homey" and old-style, the estate is run by brother/sister. But they have been making wines for DECADES! They don't even seem to have an English version of the website :confused: Ok, don't choose them, they don't even try a little bit! :ROFLMAO:

I am sure there are particular aspects of the wineries on your list that called to you, so make note of what appeals to you and then make the hard decision of just choosing 4! ;)
 
Thank you so much for your response! When I'm on the Bondi Santi website, it says that not tours or tastings are offered at the estate. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Also, because there are so many incredible wineries, do you recommend waiting until I am there to schedule tastings? Do I need to schedule tastings or is roaming around better? I do not want to be rude / presumptuous.
 
I'm sorry I led you astray with Biondi Santi, they have taken away the wine tastings and tours at the winery! I have to update our article to reflect that.

I would make a list of the ones you're interested in, check if there are set times and days of tastings. If there are, you generally don't have to make reservations and just go to those times. If, however, there are a few that don't have the times at all or hours that work with the schedule you'd like to follow, I'd suggest to contact them ahead of time and see if they're willing to offer a tour/tasting outside those hours. If you don't want to follow any set schedule, then definitely the way to go is to remain flexible, not book ahead and just arrive at set times when they winery is open for tours and tastings. The other thing is that you're coming in October -- and that is when they are busy making new wine. So if you have a list of places, I'd recommend you just contact them and see whether the times they have are for October too. You might have to set up bookings for some of them, just because it isn't summer any more, when they are for sure open all the time and longer.
 
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