Our favorites, in no particular order: Canalicchio di Sopra, Sesta di Sopra, Lisini, Poggio di Sotto, and Mastrojanni.
Andrew
Loved Costanti visit.
thanks for the help! will look into everything! i did request a winery visit at ciacci… so looks like well have 4 tastings during the 5 nights in montalcino… car is reserved… ready to go already!
Well, i made it! Were here now at Castello di Velona which is absolutely amazing, better than what we had imagined. You all were right about driving, was very relaxing not stressful which i had thought it would be. Today is our thirday day in Montalcino. First day was spent swimming all day in the thermal outdoor pools followed by dinner at the resort, only complaint is their wine selection sucks. Day two we drove out to Montalcino, did some shopping at their outdoor markets and then did our tour at Casanova di Neri. LOVED the 2010 brunello, bought 3 at 35euros a pop and their rosso at 12 euros. Was very impressed with their rosso, pretty dam structured for such an inexpensive wine. Got an opportunity to speak with the owner, exchanged thoughts on wine making styles in CA vs Montalcino which was fun, he was a pretty awesome humbled guy. Afterwards we drove off to Pienza which is abaolutely beautiful little village, saw lots of stinky cheese shops, pretty neat. Today were off to Ciacci in the next few hours, have tried to contact Stella but so far no answer, will keep trying.
Oh ya, our two days in florence were spent eating and drinking, really enjoyed Enoteca di Pitti? Awesome knowledgeable bartenders. Had a 1980 selvapiana chianti rufina which was amazing, tasted like dried up shriveled leaves. Anyways, still trying to choose an awesome restaurant for dinner, we do have 3 nights more so any suggeations would be great. Last night we just ordered burgers at the hotel pool bar, my wife was hung over all day from our splurge on wine and champagne from the night before she wanted something greasy haha
I’ll have to set up a photobucket gallery to show photos of the resort, its amazing. 360 deg views couple hundred feet above dozens of brunello vineyards including tenuta nuovo vineyard. The breakfast which is included is awesome, huge selection of meats, cheeses, smoked salmon, cakes pies, eggs anyway you want them, cereal, etc Again, totally recommend it. Just cant believe were here on our honeymoon
Great to hear you’re enjoying it Brandon.
I didn’t mention earlier, but if you like grazing food shops, then the Italian language (but easy to follow due to the amount of symbols) book ‘Golosario (di Paolo Massobrio)’ is a wonderful resource. It doesn’t miss many good shops and it’s very rare for a shop listed to be uninteresting. There is also a free app for android & apple that is simply the shops section of the book scanned - but easy to read.
regards
Ian
Brandon, if you are referencing Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina in Florence, we had a nice evening there in September. We have a friend whose daughter is married to Edo, one of the partners. Shannon runs their wine club. They have the rights to an interesting wine cellar that dates back many years. They also arranged a tour of Il Marroneto in Montalcino and gave us a few other winery contacts. As Ian said, great to hear about a good time in Italy.
Brandon,
Thanks for reporting back, glad to hear you enjoyed yourselves! We honeymooned in Tuscany as well.
Cheers,
Andrew
My apologies for dragging this thread back to the top…
We’re headed to Tuscany for a few days in early September, and by coincidence are also staying at Castello di Velona. Just wanted to check whether any of the recommendations for wineries in this thread are appropriate for non-Italian speakers. We’re also relative neophytes to Italian wine, so a balance of education and exploration might be nice. We’re not certainly not shy about exploring without being fluent, but we also want to be respectful of the hosts.
Thanks in advance for any re-hashing of the subject that might be applicable!
Hey Jeff, You are going to love Castello Di Velona! The grounds are beautiful! Breakfast is awesome along with their Restaurant! Will def go back again some day with my wife for sure! Regarding wineries, the few that we visited were great! No problems communicating in English with anybody to be honest when I was there, lots of English is spoken so don’t be intimidated.
Regarding wineries, I visited Casanova di Neri, Poggio di Sotto, Ciacci, and Stella di Campalto (its right next door to castello di velona, you could walk there, stella di campalto that is). I don’t think you could go wrong with any of those picks. You might want to book a tour at Casanova di neri since you have some guest whom are unfamiliar with Italian wine, I felt their wines showed a little more fruit/oak/soft tones compared to the others, more modern I guess you could say. Their rosso’s were delicious as well! Casanova was def a highlight for me, I thought it was going to be your typical big modern winery but was completely wrong! Met the owner and sat down with him and talked wine making (cost of fruit) … the guy was def down to earth, cool as hell.
Ciacci and poggio were excellent as well! Poggio is just… pricey… you try two wines, their rosso and brunello… so it was a quick tasting but very informative tour…
If you rent a car I recommend driving to Pienza… Beautiful drive! And eat at La Bandita Townhouse Café, man I had the best Filet there!
Oh ya, and if I could go back and add a winery to the list I would have visited Biondi Santi… for its history in the town of montalcino… along with San Fillipo… since I’ve tried their 2010 brunellos and they kick ass
Thanks for the info, Brandon. The boss has told me she wants to visit Banfi, if only to see the castle and have the experience. I know it really is an industrial winery, so perhaps we’ll balance that with something smaller and more personal like Stella di Campalto.
We stayed at Castelo Banfi Il-Borgo a few years ago. It is a spectacular place to stay. Can’t recommend it highly enough as a place to stay, regardless of one’s opinion about their wine.
Well, we ended up making a tasting appointment at Poggio Antico. We’re going late in the afternoon and staying for dinner at their restaurant. I’m looking forward to being able to taste through the same producer’s Rosso, Brunello, “modern” Brunello, and Riserva in a controlled setting. Since wine is not intended to be a focus of this trip (aside from at the dinner table), this should fulfill the need to sample the local viticultural, er, culture. As always, appreciate the knowledge and insight of this board!
Since the 2010 wines are special, and most were just released last winter, you are in for a treat. We had a great private tour at Il Marroneto last September.
Jeff,
You might get some ideas from my post here: Toscana (Tuscany) | Wine Travel Around The World
Marilyn