I’m going to be there for a week in July. Suggestions for wineries to visit? Villa we are staying at is a few miles east of Lucca.
Thanks in advance.
Not quite close to where you’ll be, but if you get down to Chianti, we really enjoyed lunch at
Tenuta di Valgiano - Lucca
Tenuta di Capezzana - Carmignano
Tenuta Pierazzuoli - Chianti Montalbano
Montesecondo - Chianti Classico
Tenuta Castelvecchio - Chianti Fiorentini
These seem to be close. There are lots of options further afield.
RT
Though I haven’t been there since the late 90s, I remember having a wonderful lunch and visit at Poggio Antico - beautiful grounds as I recall as well. Unfortunately, I think it is quite a ride…also unfortunately, I think many of the wineries that people will suggest will be pretty far south/southeast…
Poggio Antico is a beautiful winery, and supposedly a nice place to eat (the restaurant wasn’t open the day we visited there, but there are so many truly outstanding restaurants to eat at in and around Montalcino, most of which are modestly priced, that it’s not really a problem). But it’s pretty much as though you’ve been transported to Napa Valley – it’s a large, modern, glossy winery, with a tour guide to take you around and all, and a tasting bar. It feels like it could be anywhere in the world.
I think a lot of tourists would appreciate that, maybe more than visiting the small and sometimes quirky family producers around Montalcino, so I guess it’s sort of a question of what you’re looking for.
In that latter category, I’d highly recommend visiting Uccelliera and Lisini in the Montalcino area, though you have to be a bit adventurous – they’re on a dirt road and a bit hard to find. I also recommend Fuligni, which is just outside of town and much easier to find.
In the Chianti region, we had a most excellent visit at Castello della Paneretta. Great hospitality and wines, and a truly amazing setting in a century-old castle with ancient caves underneath.
Just bookmarking the thread. We’ll be there this August.
Thanks. Yeah, looking for something distinctly local in nature.
We drove down from Florence and hit up Fontodi and Felsia. Stayed a couple days in Sienna and went to Montalcino. Was probably one of the most beautiful regions I’ve ever been to. I can’t wait to return.
Paul, Bolgheri, all of Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano are pretty much within 2 hours drive of Lucca. My initial list provided a few options closer to Lucca. There are a staggering number of potential winery visits further afield.
Castello Paneretta provides a nice slice of history (old Castello, outdoor frescoes, very old cellar). The friendly staff serves meats, cheeses and bread as part of the tasting (there’s a fee) as well as their own honey and olive oil. The wines are decent. Monsanto is just across from it, with Isole e Olena up the road a mile or two.
I was given a very strong recommendation for lunch at the Osteria at Badia Passignano. Sadly it was closed when we were last in Tuscany. On the completely opposite side of the spectrum was the small, affordable, tough to find, completely devoid of tourists: La Galleria restaurant in Poggiobonsi. With only a minor amount of research, you’ll find some great food.
RT
Here is an option that is relatively close to Lucca. Drive towards Empoli and start off in San miniato, It’s a “slow” town wiht many options for real farm to table food.
Then drive towards Gambassi Terme and look for Villa Pillo. This winery is owned by the person who owns Millbrook in NY and Williams Seylem in CA. They make a wide variety of wines, ship directly to the US and amazing olive oil. Villa pillo has been in existence for centuries.
Thanks everyone. You guys are awesome.
This is my fav producer. Makes a really elegant non woody version of Sangio… and the price is $35-$40 US
You probably know this already, but the way to set up your tastings is two in a day, one in the mid morning and one in the mid afternoon, with a lot of time in between for a leisurely lunch (and exploring the excellent and quite reasonably priced wine lists at many restaurants) and maybe a bit of looking around a nearby town.
That is usually all you can fit into one day, or maybe you can fit in a third if it’s somewhere very close to one of the others and it’s a walk-in type of tasting rather than an appointment.
And you need to allow a lot more time than it looks like on the map to get places, between how slow, windy and indirect the roads are, the high probability of getting lost a bit passing through the ancient towns and/or trying to find the (usually unmarked) winery properties out in the countryside.
You can set most of them up pretty easily by email, just don’t wait until the last minute, because often it takes awhile for someone to get back to you, and a few places will never get around to it.
Very few places I’ve visited to taste in Italy charge a fee (Paneretta did not when I was there, but that was 5 years ago), though I’m perfectly happy to pay one if asked. And most did not have wine to sell, much less expect that you will buy wines (as is often the subtext when tasting in the US), but I think the main things to do are be on time, be courteous, and act interested and appreciative, and definitely cancel in advance if your plans change. These aren’t generally like the tour at a Napa winery, where it doesn’t really matter if a few people more or less are along, it’s usually someone from the family that owns the estate and makes the wines, often driving over to meet you and having set a couple of hours aside, and it would be quite discourteous to blow it off without advanced notice. [I’m speaking of most of the places I’ve been to visit in Italy, though it’s probably different if you’re visiting large international estates like Antinori or Banfi.]
The old walled portion of Lucca is about as enjoyable a town as you can get. The 2+ mile walk around the top of the walls to check out what’s going on there and below in each section of town is extremely fun. As indicated above Valgiano is a very good Lucchese winery; their Palistorti red is delicious and matches the food perfectly.
+1 for Montalcino although it appears to be at least 2 hours by car.
La Rasina is great because the wines are outstanding but it basically is a one man show.
We had lunch at Enoteca Osticcio after we left La Rasina. Killer lunch and a great story.
+1 It’s a wonderful place to hang out – right up there with Sienna for me. And you can rent bikes to ride the massive, earthen ramparts. Napolean put his sister in charge of the area when he controlled Italy and she thoughtfully planted trees all around the wall. Brilliant!
Do some research on the best route if you’re heading to central Tuscany (Chianti, Montalcino). It may be fastest to take the Autostrada to Florence and then head south. I had a very tedious drive from San Gimignano through the Maremma to Lucca some years back. The Maremma – western slopes facing the sea – are rural and unspoiled. But when you get closer to Pisa and Lucca, where it’s flatter and more built up, the roads become much more congested and unscenic. That’s a problem everywhere in Italy.
My favorite wine tasting memory in Tuscany was, after having a bottle of Fattoi Brunello at dinner in Montalcino, we decided to find the winery the next day. After figuring out the general direction we needed to go, we just followed the signs as we descended from the town. Conveniently, every intersection near Montalcino lists what wineries, restaurants, and towns you can find in every direction. We ended up on a dirt road that seemed to go on and on.
Finally we reached a small farmhouse, with a huge dog and an old Italian woman standing outside. Neither seemed too happy to see us. My wife asked in broken Italian “Wine tasting here?” and the older woman went in and found a younger woman, who didn’t really speak any more English, but who was happy to show us around and let us taste and buy a few bottles.
In Lucca definitely go to see Valgiano, you can also drive to the Suvereto area in a little over an hour (Montepeloso, Tua Rita etc…)
In CHianti I second Montevertine for their fantastic wines, if you want something off the beaten path look for Caparsa, Monteraponi or Val delle Corti in Radda. Also drive up to the village of Lamole.
In Montalcino you have plenty of options, pretty much everyone will see you if you make an appointment. Somebody suggested Fattoi, also Caprili and San Carlo in the same area make great wines and are definitely not touristy. Other names you might want to consider: Baricci, Tiezzi, Pietroso, Le Potazzine ( I could go on for minutes…) Have fun
We dropped in without an appointment at Casanova Di Neri and they were quite courteous. Fontodi was an interesting appointment, just an isolated table in their offices. But, the mother lode is if you get to Greve, to check out La Cantine, a tasting bar with more than 100 Sangiovese wines to taste through enomatic type machines.
In Lucca, we had our anniversary dinner at Bucca di’ SanAntonio. It lived up to the hype and was great.
I made an appointment to visit Casanova di Neri last time. It was just a tasting in a small tasting room, hosted by some employee of the winery, and it was perfectly nice. We also briefly got to meet Giacomo di Neri on our way out. We were probably only there for half an hour or something, but it was nice as far as that kind of quickie visit goes.