WINE TOUR PLANNING IN ITALY

Do you love all or some of these wines? Barolo, barbaresco, Amarone, Brunello, Chianti Classico, Super Tuscan Style Wines, Soave, Prosecco, Collio, Nobile di Montepulciano, Aglianico, Sagrantino, Taurasi and the emerging juicy Sicilian wines?

Have you always dreamed to visit Italy's stunning Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque cities?

Did you fall in love with the postcard images of the Tuscan country-side?

Does your moth start watering when you think of truffles, saffron, fresh home made pastas, crispy vegetables and savory meats and fish?

Well, then it's time you start planning your wine and food holiday in Italy. But where should you start?

If you want to do everything your self you should stock-up on printed guides and do plenty of web searching. I would privilege guides as the internet can be tricky. 

PICKING THE REGIONS

This is the part where things get tough. Italy has so much to see!!!!! If you have one week or less you should focus one one region/area only, especially if you have a wine and food focus. Here are the major areas you might want to visit and the way you can aggregate them well in one week:

- Northen: Venetia and Venice with Amarone, Soave, Prosecco and Collio

- Piedmont: Barolo and Barbaresco are musts for all wine lovers. Give piedmont space for cheese, chocolate in Turin and fine dining. It's a paradise. Depending on your available time, you might want to add in a two day stopover in Liguria (Cnqueterre, POrtofino, Genova)

- Tuscany: One week is barely enough to get a snapshot of the major points of interest: Florence, Siena, Chianti Classico, Brunello, Nobile di Montepulciano, San Gimignano with saffron and Vernaccia, the Super Tuscan wine region... never mind al the rest you should see...

- Rome and Central Italy: TO BE FINISHED

If you use trip advisor for your hotel reviews that's fine. Keep in mind that negative comments can always occur no and then, even in the best places. Also remember that there is quite a bit of nasty competition out there and that a lot of reviews will be false, both negative and positive. You should sign-up and check a traveler's profile before you decide if you will keep his-her comments in mind. Travelers that post only one or a few comments are likely to be false. If a traveler has less than 15-20 reviews and a poor profile do not keep that comment in to account, it's probably not real. Reviewers with complete profiles and may posts are probably real. Reading the profiles will also help you understand their affinity with your tastes, hence how much you should weigh their comment.

Forums can also be helpful, but again the same considerations as above apply.

SPRING: THE PERFECT TIME FOR WINE TOURING AND WINE TRAVEL

This is definitely the best time to travel to Italy. Places are not over crowded, the level of services is higher, prices are reasonable. The countryside and the wine regions in May and early June reach their peak of beauty. Vineyards are sprouting, the fields are a wonderful bright green thanks to the rains of the past weeks that has made all colors come out vividly. Montalcino and the Chianti Classico wine regions are stunning this time of the year. A wine tour is highly recommended. Last but not least, temperatures are mild.   

GOING CRAZY WITH WINE TRAVEL VIDEOS

Ok, I know. You guys all know how to do it. But for me it was a mess.... All I wanted to do was make sense of a whole load of footage we have of Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto and other amazing Italian wine and food regions. So what did I do? I took my clips, cut, pasted, found music...It all sounds easy but it wasn't. I worked on a film of an Ultra luxury wine tour by helicopter. The footage is not particularly good but the Tuscan Landscape and the memories of that wine tour....Wow! Anyway, in the end I managed to make something acceptable. Nothing to be particularly proud of but hei, it's a start! So all you wine and food lovers can go to youtube and digit "Italy Tuscany Luxury Wine Tour" and se my work of art :-)

I'm hoping to do more soon. I want to film a cheese producer here in the Chianti that makes the most amazing pecorino cheeses. There's also a Saffron farm I have to film...O well I'll get around to it...Sooner or later.

 

GOOD RESTAURANTS IN TAVARNELLE VAL DI PESA

OSTERIA LA GRAMOLA: Very good traditional Tuscan foods. The pastas are excellent. Pretty good wine list. They have several bottles at good value for money. Good quality ingredients and extra virgin olive oils. Avoid bistecca, the meat is good but you need to go to a place with a serious fire grill, they have an electric one. Service can be very slow if the have a lot of people, unfortunately sometimes even if they only have a few :-)

Osteria style environment, pleasant. 

Prices: Four course meal at about 30 euros per person + drinks

PIZZERIA LA FORNACE: Good Neapolitan style pizza. Staff can be quite rude, especially if you have kids with you. Service is fast, price reasonable about 20-25 euros per person +drinks

OSTERIA DI PASSIGNANO: Very good superior category restaurant on the Antinori estate (Michelin starred). Stunning location. Traditional cuisine well reinterpreted and presented. Good, friendly service althogh some staff mmbers tend to be a little "stiff". Excellent wine list although prices are a little steep due to high numbers of fist-class tourists. Very pleasant country style ambiance. 

Prices: Four course meal at about 50-60 euros per person + drinks. Tasting menu with paired fine wines at 95.

PALAZZO PRETORIO: Good pizzeria and fairly good restaurant located in lovely little Medieva town (San Donato in Poggio). Environment tries to be stylish but doesn't quite make it. The charming terrace is a big plus in summer time.

Prices are reasonable: Four course meal at about 25-30 euros per person + drinks. Pizza dinner 15-20

LA FATTORIA: Super traditional, to the point that cuisine can be a bit too "rough"....the bistecca is very good. Big fireplace with grill. If you are a big meat eater it's a good place to go to. Wine list has the usual stuff. No particular care. In summer dining in the courtyard is nice.

Prices are average: Four course meal at about 35-45 euros per person + drinks. Bistecca will take you on the higher of the price range.

IL MACERETO: mmm we haven't been there in a while. Will check in again. 

ITALY WINE TRAVEL AND TOURS: WHAT TO EXPECT?

Italy is a paradise when it comes to wine and food, and most people know that. Wine touring is a big thing and it's growing constantly, however what you can see, find, do and taste is very variable.

First, be sure to really do your homework about the wineries.
- the quality of the wines
- the location (believe me, some wineries are really hard to find!)
- who will be receiving you
- what will you do and taste once you are at the winery.

A lot of places are tourist traps. Even some important wineries often do all they can to get packs of tourists visiting and buying wine. Drivers get tipped or earn commissions on sales for taking visitors to the winery. Unfortunately this is also true about many wine guides and wine tour companies, especially the cheaper ones. Fine, you'll probably get to taste some acceptable, and sometimes even good wines... but forget about personal experience. If you can't afford a good quality wine tour with a reputable company, save money and do it your self...but don't pick an affordable tour! In the next posts I'll give you some advice on how to manage your own Tuscany wine tour

WHAT ARE LE BACCANTI WORKING AT?

...so What happened Today in Tuscany at Le Baccanti's office? 

Late start due to problems with our door lock, but yes, in the end we managed to get to work. Friday in Tavarnelle is quiet. How else could a little Chianti village surrounded by rolling Tuscan hills and vineyards be? Our office however is as usual super active.

Projects we've been working on today

1) Organizing exclusive wine tours in Tuscany for some of our guests  

2) An amazing wedding party in a winery chateau taking place soon 

3) New projects related to extra virgin olive oil in the hills around Pisa.

4) Organizing an amazing  private dinner with an excellent ched in a stunning chateau...don't tell anyone..he's going to pop the question :-)

5) Helping out a journalist with info she needs about Florence and culinary travel

6) Selecting 30 luxury sedans for a Gourmet parade!

 

Planning you trip to Italy

Ten good suggestions:
1. Do not undervaluate distances. Italy looks small on the map but going from one place to another can be very time consuming
2. Visit less and take time to understand what you are seeing
3. Go to the smaller towns, not just the big cities
4. Unless wine is really not your thing, don't miss out on a wine tour in Tuscany, Piedmont or Veneto. 

5. Make sure you are working with legal operators. Unfortunately illegal guides, drivers and tour companies are very common, beware!!

6. By all means do spent the money to have a guide at least on a small part of your trip, it will give you a totally different insight!

7. Check holidays and closing hours carefully

8. Plan well or rely on a specialist to plan you whole trip. 

9. Learn basic terms to be polite to people

10 Get in touch with Le Baccanti www.lebaccanti.com