The wine tour in Tuscany, with Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino, and the Tuscan gastronomy
— Tuscany enchants you with its beautiful landscape, the wines, the olive oil and not least the gastronomy. The wine is always the main thing on our tours but here in Tuscany the local gastronomy also has a front seat. Our gourmet lunches give us an insight into the secrets of Tuscan cuisine. Prepare yourself for a few days in Tuscany filled with excellent wines, delicious Italian food and beautiful scenery.
Tour Highlights
- 4 nights
- Private tastings, approx. 10
- Florence and Siena
- Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino
- Price: [sample programme]
- Innovative winemakers
- Traditional Tuscan gastronomy
- Michelin star restaurant
- Organics and biodynamics
Please Note: This Is A Sample Programme
This is a sample programme, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the programme, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
- This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour programme
- It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.
Next Wine Tour To Tuscany
- This tour is currently not on our tour schedule. Contact us for information about future dates or to discuss a custom tour.
The word Tuscany evokes rolling hills, cypress-lined country roads, olive groves, renaissance palaces surrounded by vineyards. And the wines are just as delicious as the landscape is beautiful. This tour starts in Florence, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and takes you to the wine regions of Chianti and Montalcino, famous names and great wines. This is the heart of vinous Italy and has long been at the forefront of high-quality Italian wine production.
Tuscany is a very dynamic wine region these days. A number of small, new producers have appeared on the wine scene with very high ambition. It is no longer a question of the three or four old and familiar “famous names”. Today, it is a question of finding the winegrowers that make wines with a unique personality and style.
Wine is not the only focus on this tour. There will be ample opportunities to explore the Tuscan gastronomy, genuinely Italian. Another important, and fun, aspect is how to pair the food with the wines. Our lunches, often together with the winemakers, will give us good opportunities to practice and discuss. There will be many different gastronomic specialities to try during the three days: charcuterie, pasta, delicious Tuscan casserole, cheeses and more.
One of the lunches will be at a famous Michelin star restaurant.
We will stay in Florence with all its art treasures the first and last night of this tour. The second and third night we will be in Siena. It is a real delight to stroll around in these fantastically beautiful cities with their narrow alleys, beautiful old buildings, cafés and restaurants.
The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.
Programme — Tuscany wine tour
Preliminary programme.
Contact BKWine for more details.
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Programme overview
- Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Florence
- Day 2, Thursday — Chianti
- Day 3, Friday — Montalcino
- Day 4, Saturday — Chianti and Michelin-star restaurant
- Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home
Wednesday, day 1 — Arrival in Florence
Arrival in Florence and check-in at our centrally located, four-star hotel.
Florence is a magic city. The city centre has kept much of its medieval and renaissance character with narrow alleys and winding streets. There are innumerable restaurants and cafés. Museums that contain immeasurable art treasures. The Duomo cathedral, brilliant white in the sunshine as if sugar-coated. The Piazza Michelangelo with a breath-taking views of the city.
And there is, of course, Ponte Vecchio that stretches across the river Arno. Along the bridge, you have gold and jewellery shops that display amazing gems in their windows. Each evening they are closed with ancient wooden shutters.
Enjoy a few our pictures from Florence, Tuscany, here.
The evening is free for you to explore the city and its cafés and restaurants.
Thursday, day 2 — Chianti
Our driver picks us up in the morning at the hotel in Florence and we start our tour midst the rolling hills, the vineyards, and the olive groves. We are in the heart of Chianti, in the Chianti Classico appellation.
Chianti was among the first wine regions in Italy to be awarded the highest quality designation DOCG. The wine styles vary tremendously. You can find light and fruity wines to be drunk young as well as powerful barrel-aged wines to lay down for many years. During our days in Tuscany, we will see a lot of olive trees. Many winemakers in Chianti have olive trees on their property and some make their own high-quality extra virgin oil. If you can, buy a bottle to bring back home.
The morning visit will be in the small village of Greve in Chianti at a small, interesting new winery. It is exciting to hear about this new project and what it is like to start a winery and to try to find a place on the market. The winery is owned by a very talented winemaker. So we will taste some superb wines.
We will have a lovely lunch at the beautiful Querceto di Castellina. Their vineyards extend over two villages, Castellina and Radda in Chianti. It is a family-owned estate with almost 27 hectares of vineyards and 7 hectares of olive trees. Great emphasis is placed on finding the right clones of sangiovese for their terroir. The wines are organic since a few years back.
The afternoon visit will be on a beautiful estate in the Val d’Elsa Valley near San Gimignano. It is run by the Bianchi family in collaboration with a well-known winemaker who likes to experiment. The result is brilliant.
Late afternoon we check into our hotel in Siena. The hotel is very centrally located. After checking in, you have the evening free to explore this fantastic city. A visit to Piazza del Campo is a must.
Friday, day 3 — Brunello di Montalcino
Our bus picks us up in Siena in the morning and we make our way to Montalcino, home of one of the most exclusive Italian wines, the Brunello di Montalcino.
Brunello, just like Chianti, is made from the sangiovese grape, but from a special clone called sangiovese grosso. The clone was named “brunello” by the famous producer Biondi-Santi who, in 1888, was the first to identify and isolate this high-quality clone and to make wine from it. Today Biondi-Santi is not the only producer of course. We will visit a few of the top growers in Montalcino.
For example, SassodiSole, a small but very well-known and award-winning producer in Montalcino. The estate is owned by the Terzuoli family who has been farmers in the area for over a hundred years. The location in the Orcia Valley is stunning.
We will also visit Col d´Orcia where we will have a visit followed by a wonderful lunch. Col d ‘Orcia is one of the largest and most famous producers of Brunello. The owner, Francesco Marone Cinzano belongs to the Cinzano family that produces vermouth. The family invests a lot in research and development. Definitely a star of the region.
Late afternoon we will return to our hotel in Siena. Free evening to find a nice restaurant. There are many to choose from.
Saturday, day 4 — Chianti, Michelin star restaurant, back to Florence
We are heading north again, for a day of further immersion into the Chianti wines and the modern Tuscan gastronomy.
In the morning we will visit a small and very passionate biodynamic producer. The couple who owns the estate work as naturally as they possibly can. They ferment with the wild yeast and are great advocates for “minimal intervention” in the production process. A memorable visit and beautiful wines.
The lunch today will be a gastronomic experience. It will be in one of the small villages in the Chianti Classico region, at a Michelin starred restaurant. The location of the restaurant is magnificent and we will have an equally magnificent lunch, highlighting both the traditional and the modern Tuscan cuisine. We will end the afternoon with another winery visit.
Early evening, we are back in Florence. Check-in at our hotel and you have the evening free to further explore this beautiful city.
Sunday, day 5 — Heading back home
The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Go For It!
We’d love to have you with us.
More travel information
Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:
Even more info
We have written a lot about Tuscany and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.
- Read more about travelling in the Tuscan wine regions on our wine travel blog.
- You can also find more information on BKWine Magazine on the wines from Tuscany, our online wine magazine.
- Our YouTube videos on Tuscany.
The Tuscany Wine Book
One of the many internationally award winning wine books we, the BKWine Tours founders, have written is on Tuscany, but unfortunately it is not currently available in English.
As far as we know, no other wine tour operator has a track record of authoring ten or more wine books, so you can feel confident that you will get the most competent and high-quality wine tour with BKWine.
More wine books
We have written more than ten wine books. They have won both national and international wine writing awards.
No other wine tour organiser has a comparable knowledge, competence and experience.
Tour Details — Tuscany Wine Tour
Dates: [this is a sample programme]
Price per person: [this is a sample programme]
Single room supplement: [this is a sample programme]
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
ADJUST TOUR DETAILS AS NEEDED, LUNCHES DINNERS ETC ETC ETC
Included in the price:
- 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast in 4-star hotel in Florence and Siena
- Meals as described in the programme above (*):
- 1 gastronomic multi-course lunch at Michelin star restaurant including wines
- 2 gastronomic multi-course lunches including tasting of several wines, at wineries or local typical restaurant
- Start and end point: Florence
- Bus transport during the whole trip
- All vineyard and winery visits
- Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
- Interpretation from French as needed, though 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 etc) to the destination and back to your home location.
You are responsible for organising your travel to and from Florence yourself.
If you would like assistance 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 regular, non-wine related tourism too. We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights as needed.
For this tour to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered by the “book before” date. Maximum number of tour participants: 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
“I want to book this tour” or “I want more info”
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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.
And also:
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Newsletter on wine
Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month, it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. It will also keep you updated on forthcoming wine and food tours.
