one of the things I wanted to do before leaving Firenze was to go on a wine tasting tour. TUscany is famous for it Chanti region which produces Chanti red wine (of course!,). There is also a Haiti wine called Vernaccia that is produced near a hilltown called San Gimignano. I found a tour that went to 2 wineries and then spent some time in San Gimignano. The tour advertised itself for 18-39 year olds on a budget. I was worried that we would be with some pretty drunk 20-30 year olds, but the tour went where I wanted to go.
We showed up and were the oldest by far! Most of the rest were in their 20s except a few folks closer to our age. again, I was worried that everyone would be really drunk by the end, and they hoped they would be. But the wineries controlled the drinks because they were doing wine tasting in hopes of selling wine.
The first winery had expensive wines, but very good. They did both red and white wines and a dessert wine called Vin Santo that Italians like to drink after dinner with biscotti. The man who explained the wines, Lilo, was hilarious, but really taught people how to taste wines properly. At our table was a man from Japan, Yaz, who is a sommelier in Japan and owns an Asian beef and wine bar. We really enjoyed getting to know him. Here are some pictures from the first winery:
We showed up and were the oldest by far! Most of the rest were in their 20s except a few folks closer to our age. again, I was worried that everyone would be really drunk by the end, and they hoped they would be. But the wineries controlled the drinks because they were doing wine tasting in hopes of selling wine.
The first winery had expensive wines, but very good. They did both red and white wines and a dessert wine called Vin Santo that Italians like to drink after dinner with biscotti. The man who explained the wines, Lilo, was hilarious, but really taught people how to taste wines properly. At our table was a man from Japan, Yaz, who is a sommelier in Japan and owns an Asian beef and wine bar. We really enjoyed getting to know him. Here are some pictures from the first winery:
The second winery was on a hilltop looking up to the hilltown of San Gimignano. It was a lovely winery with views that were beautiful. The wine was younger and a little rougher than the other winery, but also much less expensive. I loved the name of the winery: Pietra Serena (serene stones- Italians are very proud of their stone and marble). Here are pictures from that winery: