florence - chianti help

[craig_v]

Also interested in if anyone has visited… Stella Compalto & Pian Del Orino in BdM? Or Montevertine & Felsina in Chianti. I won’t touch Banfi.

[Ian_Sutton]

@craig v

Thanks again, interested in any restaurant, apartment or villa recs for Florence, Cortona & Lucca. I have our air booked and am working on the details now. Still be something like; 2-3 nights in Lucca, 2-3 nights in Cortona or maybe a winery villa instead of Cortona and ending with 3 -4 nights in Florence before we fly out super early the next morning. I’m pretty sure about Lucca and still up in the air about Cortona vs staying at a Chianti or Brunello winery for 2-3 nights.

Hi Craig
I think you’ve done very well on keeping the distances down, yet still giving yourself 3 different aspects of Tuscany to experience. I like the combination. Two decent options for the wine part, with Cortona being quite dynamic but often with international varieties, whereas Chianti and Montalcino are establishment.

For logistics, I’d consider a car for the winery section, however if you take location / public transport into account, you may be able to do without. For buses, they’re often on the tourist office site, but otherwise search for autobus + the two places you’re travelling between and the bus companies should appear in the 1st page of hits.

For apartments, I tend to use the following as sources:

• Local tourist office website
• Specialplacestostay website (Alisdair Sawday guides - specialists in quirky)
• Agriturismo.it for farmstays, some with apartments, often excellent and those that do food have been universally excellent.
• websearch for appartamento/I + vacanza/e (plus maybe Affiti, but that term is more for longstay)
• I’ve not used Air B&B, but it’s clearly a strong resource
• Halldis, a nationwide holiday rental place - by their nature, not the cheapest, but sometimes they’ll have what we want

regards
Ian

[Ian_Sutton]

p.s. a very good wine shop in Lucca with a strong aged cellar out back (‘Enoteca Vanni’). Some of the older wines are a little pricey, but definitely not all, and there are plenty of nuggets of fine value to dig out.

[Stephen_Pepe]

Felsina is an excellent winery to visit. We have been there three or four times over the years. Lots of history. Also make sure you try their olive oil and ask to tour their mill.

[craig_v]

Ian, thanks very helpful!

@Ian Sutton

@craig v

Thanks again, interested in any restaurant, apartment or villa recs for Florence, Cortona & Lucca. I have our air booked and am working on the details now. Still be something like; 2-3 nights in Lucca, 2-3 nights in Cortona or maybe a winery villa instead of Cortona and ending with 3 -4 nights in Florence before we fly out super early the next morning. I’m pretty sure about Lucca and still up in the air about Cortona vs staying at a Chianti or Brunello winery for 2-3 nights.

Hi Craig
I think you’ve done very well on keeping the distances down, yet still giving yourself 3 different aspects of Tuscany to experience. I like the combination. Two decent options for the wine part, with Cortona being quite dynamic but often with international varieties, whereas Chianti and Montalcino are establishment.

For logistics, I’d consider a car for the winery section, however if you take location / public transport into account, you may be able to do without. For buses, they’re often on the tourist office site, but otherwise search for autobus + the two places you’re travelling between and the bus companies should appear in the 1st page of hits.

For apartments, I tend to use the following as sources:

• Local tourist office website
• Specialplacestostay website (Alisdair Sawday guides - specialists in quirky)
• Agriturismo.it for farmstays, some with apartments, often excellent and those that do food have been universally excellent.
• websearch for appartamento/I + vacanza/e (plus maybe Affiti, but that term is more for longstay)
• I’ve not used Air B&B, but it’s clearly a strong resource
• Halldis, a nationwide holiday rental place - by their nature, not the cheapest, but sometimes they’ll have what we want

regards
Ian

[craig_v]

Thanks Stephen, good to know!

@Stephen Pepe

Felsina is an excellent winery to visit. We have been there three or four times over the years. Lots of history. Also make sure you try their olive oil and ask to tour their mill.

[craig_v]

Yea, that place looks really cool and some neat wines.

@Ian Sutton

p.s. a very good wine shop in Lucca with a strong aged cellar out back (‘Enoteca Vanni’). Some of the older wines are a little pricey, but definitely not all, and there are plenty of nuggets of fine value to dig out.

[jan.brekke]

@craig v

Also interested in if anyone has visited… Stella Compalto & Pian Del Orino in BdM? Or Montevertine & Felsina in Chianti. I won’t touch Banfi.

Craig,
We visited Tuscany exactly one year ago. Spent one day in Montalcino and visited Pian Dell’Orino and Macioche. Jan and Caroline @ Pian are great hosts and make lovely wine. It was interesting to hear about their biodynamic process. I would recommend a visit.
We stayed in Siena and Greve, primarily. I would recommend Villa Bordoni (http://www.villabordoni.com/en/). Beautiful villa hotel, just outside of Greve. Very good restaurant with excellent service. A day trip to Florence is pretty easy from there.
Happy to answer any other questions.
Jan

[Keith_A_k_e_r_s]

@craig v

Also interested in if anyone has visited… Stella Compalto & Pian Del Orino in BdM? Or Montevertine & Felsina in Chianti. I won’t touch Banfi.

If you can get time with Stella, do it! I was there a week and a half ago and it was one of the better visits I had on the whole.

[craig_v]

Thank you for the B&B rec. I’m still to nail down that leg of my trip so good to have.

@jan.brekke

@craig v

Also interested in if anyone has visited… Stella Compalto & Pian Del Orino in BdM? Or Montevertine & Felsina in Chianti. I won’t touch Banfi.

Craig,
We visited Tuscany exactly one year ago. Spent one day in Montalcino and visited Pian Dell’Orino and Macioche. Jan and Caroline @ Pian are great hosts and make lovely wine. It was interesting to hear about their biodynamic process. I would recommend a visit.
We stayed in Siena and Greve, primarily. I would recommend Villa Bordoni (http://www.villabordoni.com/en/). Beautiful villa hotel, just outside of Greve. Very good restaurant with excellent service. A day trip to Florence is pretty easy from there.
Happy to answer any other questions.
Jan

[craig_v]

Thanks Keith, great to hear. She sounds like a character and the wines have been stellar so far. Even in 08. Where did you stay, how hard was it to find? So far I have Lucca booked for 2 nights / nothing for my middle 4 nights and 3 nights ending in Florence booked. Thinking of breaking up my middle 4 nites into two 2 nite stays but more likely will find a farm house near a good village for 4 nites.

@Keith A k e r s

@craig v

Also interested in if anyone has visited… Stella Compalto & Pian Del Orino in BdM? Or Montevertine & Felsina in Chianti. I won’t touch Banfi.

If you can get time with Stella, do it! I was there a week and a half ago and it was one of the better visits I had on the whole.

[Henry_Kiichli]

We were just in Lucca two weeks ago - loved it! Had a great lunch of local salami and cheeses, then tripe.

Flew to Pisa, stayed in Barga.

Hope you have a great trip!

[craig_v]

Thank you, no tripe for me! Never touch organs or the like. Any place in Lucca for dinner you liked? How was weather then? Think, we might try to do a quick day trip to pizza and back. Look at tower, turnaround and back to L ucca.

@Henry Kiichli

We were just in Lucca two weeks ago - loved it! Had a great lunch of local salami and cheeses, then tripe.

Flew to Pisa, stayed in Barga.

Hope you have a great trip!

[Henry_Kiichli]

Hi Craig,

Sorry for the delay. We had great weather : 26C and sunny. We just had day trips, so lunch and drinks, but no dinner.

Buon viaggio!

[Keith_A_k_e_r_s]

@craig v

Thanks Keith, great to hear. She sounds like a character and the wines have been stellar so far. Even in 08. Where did you stay, how hard was it to find? So far I have Lucca booked for 2 nights / nothing for my middle 4 nights and 3 nights ending in Florence booked. Thinking of breaking up my middle 4 nites into two 2 nite stays but more likely will find a farm house near a good village for 4 nites.

te]

I based myself in Siena, so the drive was certainly beautiful, but, annoying.

GPS was actually fairly accurate when using GoogleMaps. Just shoot her an email and hopefully she’all have time for you.

[craig_v]

Thanks my times don’t align with her availability but her assistant can meet with me. Looking forward to it! Just bought some 2010 BdMs from Envoyer.

@Keith A k e r s

@craig v

Thanks Keith, great to hear. She sounds like a character and the wines have been stellar so far. Even in 08. Where did you stay, how hard was it to find? So far I have Lucca booked for 2 nights / nothing for my middle 4 nights and 3 nights ending in Florence booked. Thinking of breaking up my middle 4 nites into two 2 nite stays but more likely will find a farm house near a good village for 4 nites.

te]

I based myself in Siena, so the drive was certainly beautiful, but, annoying.

GPS was actually fairly accurate when using GoogleMaps. Just shoot her an email and hopefully she’all have time for you.

[Diana_E]

I think we found mention of this place here on WB: Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina. Across from the Pitti Palace, oddly enough. Had our favorite meal there. We did not have the multi course “Dinner with an Owner”, but instead chose some items from the menu and asked for wine pairings. We had about five dishes I think, sharing the food and it was excellent. Wines were excellent too, and it seems the price of the food included the wine. Tiny place with some sidewalk seating, open for lunch, reservations recommended.