Here are the Destinations to Choose for a Special Wine Tasting.
Italy, wine country with a thousand-year tradition. The wine culture transmitted by Phoenicians and Greeks to the populations that inhabited the Italian lands, first of all the Romans who have always made wide use of wine, has been continually perfected up to the present day to become a standard of excellence recognized throughout the world. Wine is history and culture, a foundation for merriment, a friend of lightheartedness and also social status, source of intoxicated inspiration that gave life to great Hellenistic poems. Consumed in moderation, it possesses excellent antioxidant qualities for our body and also for the mind. In short, a panacea for body and soul within a wineglass!
If we talk about Italy as a wine country, what comes to mind? How about travelling through the Tuscan hills towards an unforgettable wine tasting in Italy? You don’t have to limit yourself to your imagination, you can actually live a regenerating and unique experience among the vineyards of this region where some of the best wines of the country come from. How to do it? It’s very easy, just book one of our special luxury tours of 15-days in Florence and in Tuscany and let yourself be lulled by the fruity or decisive notes of the excellent nectar that the valley of Chianti offers.
The Best Italian Wines
In the classification of the best Italian wines, most of them carry DOC labels (Controlled Denomination of Origin) or DOCG (Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin). And it could not be otherwise because we are talking about superior qualities like Chianti, Montalcino, Valpolicella in Veneto, and wines from Langhe, in Piedmont. We could go on for hours because each region has its own precious vines that offer products with sublime sensorial qualities, and that are often placed on the highest steps of the podium in international competitions. In the eternal struggle between wine-producing countries, Italy always manages to amaze with prize-winners of unparalleled quality. And in the wide range of our organized and made-to-measure Dragonfly tours, we have included personalized tasting itineraries, in selected cellars to let you immerse yourself among the notes of Bacchus.
The Major Tuscan Wineries
Among the main Italian towns famous for wine there are no undisputed winners because each region offers its own specialty to connoisseurs from north to south, from prosecco to passito. But today our virtual tour is dedicated to Tuscany and its vines. And so we will introduce you to three of the Tuscan wineries most renowned in Italy and abroad, where production linked to tradition has become a factor of fundamental importance for the economy and the reputation of this land.
The Capitals of Chianti
The territories that lay close to the magnificent Florence and the city of Siena, are with no doubt, the undisputed lands of the prized Chianti. Names like Val Pesa or the hills of Radda where the Castello della Volpaia stands are emblematic places of Italian wine production. Villages that are painted in the words of the poet Carducci, echoing in his “aspro odor di vino” (“bitter scent of wine”) which cheers the soul. Chianti is a territory to be savored, which accompanies its wine with its exceptionally tasty cuisine. Our experience tour in Chianti awaits you with a special visit to the Castle of Volpaia, a sophisticated and timeless place where you will discover one of the oldest wineries in Tuscany.
Petra Wine in Suvereto
The Petra Winery, designed by the Italian architect Mario Botta, faithfully follows the vision of its founders, Vittorio and Francesca. It is an enchanting structure, geometric and rational, that marries perfectly with the hilly terrain of the Val di Cornia. It is located in the heart of the Maremma, in Suvereto, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, included among the routes of the Cities of Wine, the Cities of Olive Oil, and the Slow Food enthusiasts. A destination for many tourists every year that seek the simplicity of the winemaking tradition, it offers fine wines, obtained from skillful mixtures of Merlot, Cabernet and Sangiovese. A vast assortment of red wines, but also of sweeter nectars, are included in the collection of the Petra Winery.
Le Mortelle Antinori in Castiglione della Pescaia
In Castiglione della Pescaia, a recently established structure that has collected the vinicultural heritage of these lands and its ancestors since 1863, is undoubtedly the Le Mortelle Antinori winery. A project as ambitious as it is successful. Here you will be introduced into a world of multisensory experiences, not just taste, through a special wine tasting that also includes the visual, olfactory, and tactile senses. A look back to the roots of the family yet at the same time surrounded by a world of cutting-edge food and wine. The simple materials used for its construction, glass, wood and stone, are in perfect symbiosis with the surrounding environment without disturbing the landscape with an overwhelming presence. The interiors are the highlight of this structure, built to be entirely ecological and designed to support clean energy and minimize its footprint on the natural territory.
Rocca di Frassinello at Gavorrano
Rocca di Frassinello in Gavorrano, near Grosseto in the Maremma territory, is the winery as defined by Renzo Piano. The world-famous Italian architect has enhanced the space of the cellar by adding functionality and aesthetics to the space designated to the entire production cycle. Not necessarily designed to be a museum for the customer, but an organic collection of spaces and premises that meet the needs of the production cycle, all the way to the heart of the winery, the barrel cellar. Nothing is left to chance in such a rational project. It is certainly worth booking a guided tour to taste an excellent barrelled wine, refined and velvety on the palate. Here it’s the Merlot, among the red wines, that reigns, skilfully blended, in some of its labels, from Syrah grapes.