Pick the Olives. Press Them.
Take the Oil Home.

In late September and Early October, harvest season is in full swing in Tuscany and Umbria. Many of our friends are wine growers, and when they are ready to harvest their grapes, we get a phone call!

Once we get that call, we make some quick alterations to our schedule and head down to the vineyard.

We spend a morning with our guests at the vineyard harvesting the grapes (we try to harvest more than we eat), filling the baskets, and bringing them up to the winery. Once we have done so for an hour or two, we have the opportunity to get an in-depth visit to a working winery during the winemaking process. This is something our guests never forget!

We'll have lunch together, then we are on our way. We'll always bring a little of the "Must" (fermenting wine) with us, which we will then use in a spur of the moment dessert recipe at our next cooking class, of course!

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We seek out some of the most wonderful wineries in Italy for wine tasting. For us, the vineyards we choose are as much about the wines produced as they are about the winemakers themselves.

We tend to avoid the large corporate wineries (unless you choose to do so on a custom tour), instead, we choose smaller, family-run operations where we have the opportunity to spend time with the owners and winemakers themselves.

We get to know the people because, for us, the people that make the wine are a huge part of the story. After all, you may have a greater appreciation for a certain wine if you have visited the place it is produced, but you will have an infinitely greater appreciation when you can say you have broken bread with the person that is behind the wine.

Our guests will go home having visited the wineries, tasted the wine, and they will have befriended the people behind it. Our guests uncork that bottle with their friends back home and tell stories about Leonardo, and why he chose that particular blend. They tell stories about the lunch they had with Fiorella, and how she made her name in the male-dominated world of Brunello wines in Montalcino, Tuscany.

We further strike a balance between the big names you probably know already, like Brunello, Vino Nobile, and Marsala and the amazing unknown wines that most foreigners have never heard of like Sagrantino, Forcone, and Ruffiano.

You will go home, having not only had some of Italy's most prestigious wines, but you will bring home new discoveries to share.... new friendships to cherish... Incredible experiences that form lifelong memories.

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Montepulciano is a beautiful medieval and Renaissance hill town in southern Tuscany, but it is most famous as the home of Vino Nobile, one of Italy's most coveted wines. Besides the wonderful wine, Montepulciano is a stunning town, filled with interesting shops and beautiful scenery. It is a must-stop location for anyone visiting the southern Tuscany wine towns along the Orcia Valley Wine Trail, which is the part of Tuscany where most images we have of the region originate.

Vino Nobile

For those seeking wine tasting, Montepulciano will never disappoint. The streets are lined with wine shops (Enoteca), all offering tastings. Many of these shops have wine cellars below that they will happily show you. The most striking and awe-inspiring of these cellars is one that very few visitors ever discover, as it is difficult to find. It sits underneath the Ricci Palace, just off of the Piazza Grande, and is the town's original wine cellar from the 14th century. It is, quite literally, the birthplace of Vino Nobile.

What to See

The 'Piazza Grande' is an incredible sight, especially for those that know Florence. You will find that it looks like a miniature version of Piazza della Sigoria. Here you will find the city hall and the duomo. Followers of the 'Twilight' Saga will recognize this piazza instantly from the movie New Moon.

Just outside of town, you will find the unmistakable 'San Biagio' church, and simply walking around Montepulciano is a sight in and of itself.

Getting There

This is a destination on almost all of our tours. When we visit Montepulciano, we are granted a private tour and tasting of the Vino Nobile cellar noted above (and pictured here), and we stroll the town.

If you are not coming on one of our tours, you will find Montepulciano about 20 minutes off the A1 Autostrada. If coming from south, you will take the Chiusi exit and follow the signs. If coming from the north, take the Montepulciano exit.

Need to Know

For those with trouble walking, keep in mind that you cannot avoid hills and cobblestone streets here.

For our tour guests with trouble walking, if they feel that it will be too much for them, they have the option to be taken to our meeting point. There they can visit the San Biagio Church and relax in a cafe. They will, however, miss the Vino Nobile tasting. Unfortunately, walking uphill cannot be avoided as vehicle traffic is highly restricted here.

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Visit Castiglione and you will certainly wonder why we would have a page dedicated to it. It is tiny and doesn't seem to offer much of anything if you drive through. However, Castiglione is all about wine and oil, and the reason we love it so much is that outside of Central Italy, it is virtually unknown. The reason is that it is on the wrong side of a political boundary. Drive a few thousand feet past Castiglione, and you are not only in Umbria, but you are in "Orvieto Wine Territory".

But being on the "wrong" side of that border means that not only can they not say their wines are Orvieto wine, but they cannot be designated as "Umbrian" wines. The result is that there is no commercial market for them beyond the locals. The quality is fantastic, but the prices are rock bottom.

In addition to wine, Castiglione produces some of the finest olive oil in Italy. The volcanic rock content in their soil contributes to what is considered to be absolute premium olive oil, much better than most Tuscan oils.

We visit Castiglione in Teverina on almost every one of our cooking & culinary vacations based out of Soriano nel Cimino. When we go to Castiglione, we visit a small family-run winery & olive mill. The wines are out of this world, and the olive oil is made with their own antique traditional cold-press method. While there, we have lunch with the family, visit the cellar, and of course taste all of the wine and oil!

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