A wine tour in north-east Italy: From Milan to Venice. Italy’s best sparkling wines, plus Valpolicella!
— This trip combines the best of Italy’s sparkling wines – Franciacorta and Prosecco from Conegliano-Valdobbiadene – with the powerful red wines of Valpolicella. It will be an exciting journey starting in Milan and ending in Venice. With overnight stays in Brescia, Verona, Conegliano and in Venice. It will be intense but fun. We will enjoy delicious lunches with bubbles all through the meals as well as top quality valpolicella and amarone.
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Next wine tour to bubbly Italy:
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This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
- This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour program: “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours”, or
- It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.
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We meet in Milan on Wednesday afternoon. From there our comfortable bus takes us to Franciacorta to get to know their excellent sparkling wines. Our first night will be in the small charming city of Brescia.
We spend Thursday in Franciacorta. This district is in the region of Lombardy and was until a few years ago quite unknown. Today, the wines are celebrated as equals of champagne. But you should not simply compare them with champagne. Franciacorta has its own special style and character, unique and worth discovering.
From here we continue on to Veneto. We spend the night in beautiful Verona, an amazing city with its well-preserved Roman amphitheatre, many Renaissance palaces and narrow winding alleys.
On the Friday we will leave the sparkling wines for a short moment. We will spend the day in Valpolicella. Her it will be red wines all the way around.
Valpolicella is a very exciting wine district today. It has gone from production of unpretentious juicy wines to complex, rich wines, often with good ageing potential. Not least the great successes with Amarone della Valpolicella has put the Veneto region in the spotlight. Both “normal” valpolicella and amarone are today much sought after by wine enthusiasts around the world.
We continue east and Friday night we check in at our hotel in Conegliano in the eastern part of Veneto, the heart of Prosecco.
On Saturday we will immerse in bubbles again. We will discover the prosecco wine in the beautiful district of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. Prosecco has seen an incredible success in recent years. And the quality of the wine has developed enormously. Today there is a wide variety of different proseccos, both in terms of style and character. We visit some very interesting producers.
You can see more pictures from Valdobbiadene-Conegliano Prosecco, with wine, food and bubbles in our image gallery.
Late afternoon on Saturday we drive down to Venice where we will have our last overnight stay. If you have never been to Venice then it will be an extraordinary experience to come here. You should take the opportunity to stay a few extra days. And have you already been here, well, then you’re welcome back! Venice will not disappoint you. The city lives up to all expectations you might have.
We eat three gastronomic and luxurious lunches together with wine producers on this tour. The evenings are free for you to explore the cities where we stay.
The tour is led by BKWine’s own Italian expert. The detailed program follows below.
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More travel information
Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:
Even more info
We have written a lot about Italy and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.
Here you can find more about travelling in the Italy’s wine regions.
You can also find more information on the wines from Italy on BKWine Magazine.
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Program — wine tour to Italy’s sparkling wine regions Franciacorta and Prosecco, and Valpolicella
This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
Preliminary programme.
Contact BKWine for more details.
Program overview
- Day 1, Wednesday – Arrival in Milan
- Day 2, Thursday – Franciacorta, Italy’s famous sparkling wine
- Day 3, Friday – Valpolicella, Amarone, wines around Verona
- Day 4, Saturday – Prosecco and Venice
- Day 5, Sunday – Heading back home
Wednesday, day 1 — Arrival in Milan
We pick you up at 5 PM with our bus at the Milan Central Station, Stazione Centrale, perhaps the world’s most imposing railway station. Once settled in the bus we drive east through the northern Italian countryside.
We head to the Franciacorta district in Lombardy where the best Italian sparkling wine is made. In just a few years, Franciacorta has moved from being a relatively unknown wine district to becoming a real celebrity. The wine is made on 2,800 hectares located approximately between Bergamo and Brescia. The grapes grow on clay and limestone and on slopes up to 500 meters altitude.
It is a small wine region but there are more than 100 different producers. 14 million bottles are produced each year. There has been a great demand for Franciacorta wines in Italy. So far, exports account only for 20% of production but it increases every year. The wines have become much sought after among the connoisseurs.
The trip takes about 2 hours. When we arrive we will check in at our hotel in the small and historic city of Brescia. The evening is free to stretch your legs and to look for a nice neighbourhood Italian restaurant.
Thursday, day 2 — Franciacorta, the best bubbly of Italy
Today we will explore Franciacorta and taste the sparkling wines made in this 2800 hectare big region at the foot of the Alps.
Franciacorta was awarded its DOCG, the highest of the Italian wine classifications, in 1995. The wines are made using the traditional method, ie a second fermentation in the bottle. The grapes are chardonnay, pinot bianco (pinot blanc) and pinot nero (pinot noir). The wines are kept for a long time on the lees.
We will do three visits here in Franciacorta. We visit, among others, the impressive cellars of Ca’ del Bosco and the family estate Cavalleri, which makes extremely elegant blanc des blancs. We eat a typical Italian gastronomic lunch with bubbles all through the meal (of course) at one of the producers that we visit.
Late afternoon we continue east to Veneto. We will spend the night in Verona. We check in at our centrally located, 3-star hotel, located just a few minutes’ walk from the very well-preserved Roman arena and Piazza Bra, and there is also a nice wine bar just around the corner.
Verona is an elegant and thriving typical northern Italian city. It is full of history and sights: the Roman arena and the theatre, the castle on the river, the two major squares that are the city’s two hubs, Piazza Bra and Piazza delle Erbe and much more. You can walk for hours on the small streets and constantly discover new things.
The evening is free for your own explorations of Verona.
Friday, day 3 — Valpolicella and amarone around Verona
We spend the day enjoying the amazing wines of Valpolicella. We will of course also try amarone. The grapes for these wines are grown near Verona.
The region has a perfect climate beneficial not only to get mature grapes but also to dry them in the fall and winter, the so-called appassimento method to make amarone and the sweet recioto. The grapes can be left to dry for a few months in shallow crates.
We will visit Massimago, an interesting producer. This is a beautiful property in the equally beautiful Mezzane valley, which, they say, is the most rural part of Valpolicella. We also visit Musella that has recently moved to biodynamic wine production.
We enjoy lunch with several local specialities at another producer’s, the well-known Bertani.
In the afternoon we continue on to Conegliano in the north of Veneto. This is a lively and pleasant city with an old, charming city centre. We check in at our hotel and then the evening is free. We recommend an aperitif at Piazza Cima to be part of the evening bustle and admire the beautiful arcades.
Saturday, day 4 — The record-breaking Prosecco, and Venice
Today is one more day of bubbles through and through. Prosecco has become incredibly popular. For many, Prosecco is today an obvious alternative to champagne.
Many a bottle of prosecco is made every year and the quality varies. Today we will taste the best, from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene district Prosecco Superiore DOCG.
Originally, prosecco was a fairly simple wine, floral, light and fresh, often with some residual sweets. As the wine has become more and more popular, it has also evolved. The light style is of course still there but we can also find much more “serious” and ambitious versions of prosecco, dry, full-bodied and complex.
Usually Prosecco is a made with a second fermentation in tank but today there are some producers who instead use the “traditional” method, with the second fermentation in bottle.
However, it is an open debate which is best. Some of the best producers consider the tank method to be best for achieving prosecco’s typical style. You will judge for yourself!
We will visit some of the leading prosecco producers in Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. This is a sub-district that received its DOCG, the highest Italian quality classification, a few years ago, to distinguish it from the “common” prosecco that is classified as DOC.
We will enjoy a great lunch with a lot of prosecco at one of the producers’.
We are close to Venice and this is where we will have our last overnight stay. We will arrive there late afternoon and we check in at our three-star hotel. Our bus takes us to Il Tronchetto and from there we have a private motorboat waiting for us to take us to the hotel.
The evening is free to stroll around in this incredible city.
See more pictures from Valdobbiadene-Conegliano Prosecco, with wine, food and bubbles in our image gallery.
Sunday, day 5 — Return home
The program ends after breakfast and you return home of stay a few extra days.
The program may be subject to minor modifications.
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Tour Details — North-east Italy with Franciacorta, Prosecco, Valpolicella, wine tour
Dates: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.
Price per person: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.
Included in the price:
- 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
- One night each in Brescia, Verona, Conegliano, and Venice
- Meals as described in the program above (*):
- 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches with local specialities, including tasting of several wines, as guests at wineries or in a restaurant
- Start: in Milan
- End: Venice
- Bus transport during the whole trip
- All vineyard and winery visits
- Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 visits per day
- Interpretation from Italian as needed, some visits may be in English
- Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide
(*) See below for more important information on our meals.
Not included:
- Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.
You organise your travel to Milan and from Venice yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.
We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.
For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.
Book This Tour
Book before: [this is a sample programme]
Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of [sample programme, this varies by trip]. Full payment should be received at the latest [sample programme, usually one month or 60 days, depending on the trip] before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.
It is important that you read our travel booking terms and conditions.
We also invite you to read more on why you should travel with BKWine, about customer protection, and about what you can expect from our wine tours in the section below “More on our wine tours”.
You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:
- phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
- Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
- email: info@bkwine.com, or use the contact form below
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More on our wine tours
Why travel with BKWine?
We are Britt and Per Karlsson. We are specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also experts in wine in general. We are internationally published wine writers and have written ten award-winning wine books.
No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tourism and gourmet travel.
We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours, and this is what we love to do. We take it very seriously – it is not a sideline or a hobby – and what we want more than anything is to share all these wonderful experiences with you.
All our tours are led and managed by guides who have in-depth wine knowledge, and in many cases we lead the tours ourselves.
Read more on why you should choose BKWine for your wine and food tour.
Thousands of happy customers
Over the years, thousands of wine lovers have travelled with us. Many come back to tour again and again with BKWine to new wine regions. Our record-breaking client has been on more than ten BKWine tours. We are happy and proud to have such faithful customers.
Read more on what travellers have said about our tours.
Awards and Mentions
We’re pleased and proud to have received many accolades, including:
- “World’s Top Wine Tours”, Travel+Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
- “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
- “Recommended Wine Tours”, Munskänkarna, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year”, Gourmand International awards, and many other book prizes
- Three OIV book awards, International Organisation of Vine and Wine
- “Wine Personality of the Year”, an honour bestowed on Britt Karlsson by Munskänkarna in 2011, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- Inclusion on the Wine Media Power List, by Wine Business International magazine
About the wine producers and wineries we visit
Our aim is for you to experience some of the very best and most interesting aspects of the wine world, in terms of wine and food.
We put great effort into creating outstanding winery visits, and in this way we are quite different to many wine tour organisers. It is not always the most renowned, internationally known estates that offer the best experiences. Organising a wine tour featuring famous names of the wine world is relatively easy: it is merely a question of making lists and ticking boxes. On those kind of “bucket list” wine tours, you rarely meet the winemaker or the owner. You will simply be one of thousands of visitors they receive each year.
We do things differently. With BKWine Tours, you will meet the people behind the label, often the winemakers and/or the owners. Thanks to them, you will have a unique, truly personal experience and an insight into the wine world that no one else can offer. When you travel with BKWine, you are more like a special guest than a tourist.
We have personal connections and unparalleled knowledge thanks to more than 20 years as wine journalists, with 10 wine books published, and as wine tour organisers with more than 30 years’ experience. You can be sure of getting the best wine travel experiences with BKWine Tours.
Read more on the wine producers and wineries we visit.
A true gourmet experience: food and gastronomy
For us, wine and food are intimately linked, and this is a fundamental part of our wine travel philosophy. For this reason, a wine tour with BKWine is always an outstanding culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A BKWine tour is a gastronomic voyage that explores the deep relationship between food and wine.
Read more On Meals: Food and Gastronomy on Our Tours.
Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee, and Terms and Conditions
You can always feel safe when you book your tour with BKWine. BKWine has a bonded bank guarantee that gives full protection according to EU and Swedish law. BKWine is a Swedish limited company and as such is regulated by strict rules.
Read more on Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee. and our Terms and Conditions.
When you book a tour it is important that you read the terms and conditions. BKWine’s booking terms and conditions follow the guidelines developed by the Consumer Protection Agency.
Health, vaccination and allergies
Our tours have no particular health requirements although inevitably we will be walking a certain amount in wine cellars and vineyards. Sensible footwear is a must.
Most of our travel destinations have no particular health guidelines or requirements for vaccinations or medical certificates, but if in doubt, you should always consult a medical professional, vaccination centre or relevant embassy in your country of origin.
We can always accommodate food allergies. However, in order for us to manage such requests you must let us know about any allergies before the tour starts.
Read more in our FAQ and in our Terms and Conditions.
Travel insurance
BKWine does not sell travel insurance. If you want travel insurance, check if your regular home insurance policy includes some kind of travel insurance, or contact your regular insurance company or a travel insurance specialist.
Custom Tours
We also offer custom wine and food tours if you want to travel on different dates, or if you want something different to what we currently offer on our scheduled tours. This tailor-made service can be offered for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.
Important information
Our groups are always small. The number of people in the group may vary. The maximum can range from 8 to around 20; check the details in each programme. But our groups are always modest in size. This is important because it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.
Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!
You are expected to organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours, but once you are at the location, we take care of everything.
For more inspiration
Read our wine travel blog. For more, read our online wine magazine the BKWine Magazine with articles from all over the wine world.
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