Thank you all so much for the tips!
The Antinori idea is a good one, purely for easy access in Florence.
For a little more energy expended a shortish drive into Chianti is not a big deal - many great wineries within an hour or so. Like San Giusto a Rentennano, Fontodi, Montevertine, and many more. With a little planning visiting two would still be only a little busy, with lunch in a cute local Tuscan hill town thrown in. I have driven all around Tuscany and don’t think it’s that stressful, just give yourself plenty of time. And the views are wonderful!
Oh, on Pitti Gola Enoteca in Florence. I went there for dinner this past spring and was extremely disappointed. Any vestiges of a deep wine list has long been picked over. Plus service was really pitiful. There are many better restaurant experiences to be had in Florence, but I gave up on having excellent, top name wine. Instead I had to settle for absolutely glorious food and merely good local wine. Not a bad trade! But I really think that the combination of the last few decades of extreme tourist density plus the challenges of Covid (with restaurants seemingly mostly selling off their cellars) Florence is no longer a place to go for great wine.
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That’s a shame about Pitti.
I wouldn’t consider this a top name, but I assume these finds are gone as well from Pitti
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Sad to hear that about Pitti Gola. It was really amazing when we visited in 2019 and we also had a great experience at their steakhouse on that trip. There are several threads on Tuscany trips in the Travel forum that were immensely helpful for our trip planning so I’d check there too.
We enjoyed the mountanous nature of the Radda area where we stayed and had a nice visit to Volpaia which is basically a tiny mountain hamlet. It’s a fairly commercial tasting and you can sign up on their website easily. You should also check out Le Ragnaie in Montalcino. We drove down from Radda and did a late morning tasting there. Fantastic tasting experience and the owner Riccardo Campinoti is a member here. Add in a long lunch in town in Montalcino and some tasting in the Fortress enoteca and you have a pretty full day there.
We also had a memorable dinner in Castellina in Chianti at one michelin star Ristorante Albergaccio. It’s more traditional cuisine, but done very well. They had a lot of relatively cheap Le Pergole Torte on the list and we had an incredible bottle of the '12. Lastly, one visit we didn’t get to do but I’ve always heard good things about is Felsina.
Have fun!
Following. We’re going to Italy in April 2024.
We had a fantastic mid afternoon wine and food experience at Pitti Gola in Sept 2021. 2006 Monteraponi CC Riserva at less than retail here in the states with some excellent light bites. Service was fantastic from one of the owners as well. We’ll be back in October with friends.
A great experience in Montalcino is taking the cooking classes or having lunch at Locanda Demetra. A terrific family of 3 siblings run the business and our experience was a lot of fun and the food is very good. https://montalcinocookingschool.com/. You can skip the cooking class and do lunch or dinner. The location and view is also outstanding.
Here’s my write up from our trip if interested Italy Trip Report- Positano, Rome, Montalcino, Florence - #19 by F.Daner
Was at Pitti in May of this year. Had a tremendous meal and we did the 40 years of Chianti pairing. Was FANTASTIC!
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Montalcino: Second Costanti and Le Ragnaie, also Le Chiuse.
Chianti: Almost a golden age for smaller producers. Strongly recommend Istine, Le Boncie, Montesecondo, Monteraponi, Monte Bernardi, Montenidoli. Selvapiana is reasonably large in volume, but such a standout in Rufina. Most places are closed on Sundays, except Felsina, which has a really pleasant patio; also obviously not small.
Edited to add: Caparsa in Chianti, too.
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If that pairing is available, not sure what the complaint was from R Frankel. Pitti was always about Chianti for me.
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I’m glad other had good experiences at Pitti still. My evening there was certainly colored by weak service. I made a reservation 2 months in advance, then was asked to stand outside under an awning on a cold rainy night while we waited for a table. For over an hour. Then I asked for a few of the nicely aged Tuscan wines (mostly Brunello, then Pergole Torte) on their list and they kept coming back with ‘oh sorry our list is out of date.’ Then the 2006 Brunello Riserva they said they did have turned out to be a 2003 after they came back from the cellar. We passed. I felt like I had stumbled into a Florentine version of the Monty Python cheese shop sketch. We ended up with a 2019 Carleone il Guercio, which was fine but of course very young. The food was good though.
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Waiting outside for over an hour, for a pre-booking 
Whilst Italian service does differ from US, UK , Australia etc. That would count as sh!t service whichever country we were in.
For whatever reason that happened, it’s not acceptable. Considering how Italians despise being kept waiting, it’s a good job you weren’t Italians yourselves, or there might have been rather more of a scene!
That wines are missing from the list can happen anywhere, but you’re absolutely right to be upset that they tried to offload a 2003 on you when you’d ordered a 2006. The former a vintage I actively avoid without a specific recommendation, or the climate being ‘marginal’. The latter one of the better regarded recent vintages.
Perhaps they were victims of their own success, and got too busy to keep up? Perhaps a change of staff put them on the back foot? Perhaps they’ve got a little ‘fat, dumb and happy’ from becoming well-known to (wine) tourists, and are trying to squeeze too many sittings in, and letting things slide as a result? Whatever the reason, it’s not a surprise that it happened at somewhere very well known, and why it can be more rewarding to dig a little deeper into the alternatives and find somewhere that’s still a little under the radar.
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Indeed. I had some delightful meals in Florence, and not at the big name, well known tourist destinations. But that is so often the case in every big city.
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wow, I wonder what this costs now
Check the website. Maybe it’s on there
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Also bottle prices were higher than by the glass. i.e they were more than 5x the cost of a glass
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I checked with the tour guide listed above and she wouldnt allow me to request specific wineries
Does anyone have a recommended driver/service if going to specific wineries?
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Where are you staying ? There are plenty of driving services to choose from. Most can be quite pricey as most have new Mercedes vehicles and offer great service. You can choose whatever schedule you want. We used these folks for several parts of our first trip and had a great experience.
On our second visit I rented a car and drove but had to primarily spit on our tasting visits. You might also be able to use mydaytrip.com. They were about 20% less when we used them to go from Rome to Positano.
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Awesome thx!
Staying at St. Regis in Florence so likely will just do a chianti day trip this round. We have a friends wedding in the area in 2024 so will hope to get more time for montalcino/montepulciano at that time
Will look up the above, thx again
What specific wineries were on your list?
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Try the concierge? I know we think this is always the highest cost option, but I got better deal on a car rental through a concierge.
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