Tuscan Winery(ies) - Day Trip from Florence

Wife and I will be visiting Florence in June, and while the trip does not include any stays in broader Tuscany, we are interested in a day trip out to a winery or two.

Looking for recommendations on tour guides/companies that may offer this, as well as any wineries that are within a reasonable commutable distance for a half-day trip.

Not sure if best to book through a company that does this, or book direct with a winery and then figure out the transportation separate (we will not have a vehicle to drive)

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We asked our hotel to recommend a driver for day trips from Florence. Their recommendation was excellent.

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We had a car so it mad it easy on us. However, if you can get a driver do it. Much more relaxing.

You’d be surprised how many wine areas you can get to in a day from Florence. Chianti (including the Antinori properties like Tignanello, Badia, etc…), Brunello di Montalcino, Bolgheri, etc… Pick one of your favorites and plan from there. Literally.

we had a great Montalcino tour with Grape Tours https://www.grape-tours.com. visited Donatella Cinelli, le Chiuse, and cava di onice, with dinner on site at the family house at Onice. a very nice day, a great tour with a really knowledgable guide (Matteo was our guide).

this June we are doing the trip again but we are going into Chianti Classico instead. Visiting Monsanto, Isole e Olena, and Casa Emma, which are all very close to one another.

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I have someone for you. She and her company are amazing and I have recommended multiple people her way and they all had a great time. Ask for Donatella at winetourintuscany. They have an IG page and a website. You will not be disappointed. They usually will have you meet them in Siena which is a quick bus ride from Florence. From Siena, you can choose montalcino, Chianti, etc.

You can let her know she came recommended if you end up going with them.

Enjoy!!

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Tour/Tasting/Lunch at Felsina was a blast

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Following this. Honeymoon in Septemember but we only have time for a day trip from Florence. I had https://www.grape-tours.com on my list.

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We booked a wine tasting/truffle hunting day trip with this company - https://www.underthetuscansun.it/florence-tours/wine-tour-truffle-hunting-experience-in-tuscany/

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If you’re in Florence, then just focus on Chianti. You can get to the northern areas of Montalcino, but it’ll be a drive.

I’m a little late but came to make this same recommendation. We used her for Chianti, did a virtual tasting with her and will be using her again when we visit next fall. She takes you to fantastic wineries, really knows her stuff and above all is just a great personality.

If you have time, book lunch at Antinori’s Osteria di Passignano Osteria di Passignano when you are near Casa Emma. We happened across it quite by accident when we were too early for our afternoon appt - since it was Nov we were able to snag a table for lunch. Food is amazing! We really enjoyed the tasting at Casa Emma as well - I find I prefer their simplest wines over the $$$ ones.

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Let’s hear how this tasting/truffle hunting went!

We did Felsina and would also recommend. On a whim we did Verrazzano and had a blast. Antinori is right off the freeway and is probably the easiest to get to–but wasn’t a favorite; cool architecture and history though.

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Unfortunately, I won’t know until next summer now :frowning:

We were supposed to leave two weeks ago - PHX-JFK-MXP but due to severe weather over the course of two days, our flight to NYC was canceled, along with every other flight (1,400 across all airlines) to the eastern seaboard. AA had no obligation to get us to Italy since to them, our final destination was NYC. Emirates, whom we were to fly to Milan aboard their A380, had no award availability the next day and thus we would’ve had to buy last minute full fare tickets ($15k in J) all whilst losing time on the trip.

We ultimately pulled the plug the day of travel and will look to rebook next year. Huge bummer and lesson learned - we will be taking AA all the way through to Italy and take the Emirates flight for the return

I’m so sorry to hear that David. That’s a huge bummer. Ironically and to add salt to the wound, I’m flying nearly the same route. OKC-LGA on AA and JFK-MXP on Emirates A380 J class. Although with a completely different return.

I booked with this guy since he was one of the very few that operates on Sundays and he’s been awesome to deal with so far. I’ll let you know if it’s a thumbs up or thumbs down in case you want to look at him for your trip. https://www.scenicwinetoursintuscany.com/

Big Bummer.

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Please keep us informed about how the Chianti Classico trip went when you are done. My wife and I are planning to go to Florence in October and are thinking of using Grape Tours based on recommendations here. We are trying to decide among the Super Chianti Tour, the Elite Chianti Classical Tour and the Elite Montalcino tour. They all sound good. HELP!!!

I’m back!

First off, I will say that my wife and I used Grape tours for our trip to Montalcino and very much enjoyed them. Our driver for the trip (Matteo was his name) was very knowledgable and easy to talk to. but that was Montalcino. For Chianti we just hired a driver and I planned the stops.

We went to Monsanto, Isole e Olena, and Casa Emma (the tasting at Casa Emma includes lunch).
Monsanto was hands down the group favorite, with a couple caveats. The main caveat is that the AC in our AirBNB in Florence had been unfunctional the night before, and its currently 96* in Florence, so none of us slept that night. The tour goes through the cellars under Castello Monsanto, including the private collection of the owners. There is an option to add on a tour through Il Poggio as well, but we opted against it for times sake. the tasting includes a plate of meats, cheeses, and crostini. The wines showed really nicely and the guide was great. she spoke great English, and my family were the only ones on the tour. the grounds of the castle are also lovely. Only downside was no spit bucket out, which came back to bite us later.
Isole e Olena was a bit of a letdown, but that had very little to do with Isole e Olena itself. First off, the day we were there, they had government auditors there going through their cellar and library to ensure that everything was as it was supposed to be for compliance and taxes, so we didnt get to go on a tour. Second, theyre currently building a new warehouse facility on the property, so back vintages weren’t available for purchase. Their estate was the prettiest of the three. they tasted the CC and the Cepparello, which I was happy about, and then also offered to pour their Syrah and cab as well.
Casa Emma was definitely an experience. first off, I had NO IDEA they made so many wines, since you don’t ever see them here. but the tasting included 4 courses of food, including dishes made with their EVOO and truffle EVOO, and balsamic and 20 year balsamic. each course had two wines, and several of the courses there were choices for which two wines we wanted. All in all, there was potential to taste something like 10 wines, 3 EVOOs, and 2 balsamics. the food was OK, the setting was nice (it was on a terrace that overlooks the estate), but considering the fact that Monsanto, Isole e Olena, and Casa Emma are all less that 10 minutes drive from each other, it was our third stop of the day, and none of us had slept the night before, we were all literally about to pass out by time we were done there. lol

We then went to Greve and walked around for a few minutes. The main thing I would have changed if doing it over would have been to do that between tastings to give us a few minutes of reprieve from drinking.

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Isole e Olena was sold in the beginning of June. Might be the reason for the disarray.

!!!

I didn’t know that. Do you know who the buyer was/is?

EPI EPI Acquires Isole E Olena, Iconic Chianti Classico Estate  - Wine Industry Advisor

Probably De Marchi want to concentrate on Lessona. End of an era, kind of sad about this.