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Services Day Tours Chianti | Chianti day tour |
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When someone says “I want to visit Tuscany” they are really meaning Chianti. This by many is considered as "the most beautiful countryside in the world". Famous for the wines it enchants every visitor with the beauty of its mediaeval hill-towns, castles, stone farmhouses and breathtaking vistas. All of these elements are blended with each other and with the rolling hills so harmoniously that it would seems that a landscape architect designed the whole area, while this glorious scenery is just the result of centuries of the work of man on the land and in respect of the innovative environmental regulations applied here for the first time on the planet in the XVII century. Giving a list of things to see and do in Chianti, would be very reductive, with over 450 wineries producing Chianti Classico, over 70 monumental castles, hundreds of mediaeval farmhouses and a good dozen of ancient hill-towns, it would take at least a week to properly visit Chianti. Doubtfully there is any other part of Europe that concentrates so much beauty in such a small territory which does not even entirely fills the whole area located just in between Florence and Siena. Driving through the area with an expert driver or guide will allow you to discover and enjoy the most scenic routes, the quaintest villages which remained as they were in the 1300's preserved by being most off the beaten tracks, such that at times walking into one of them one could feel like he "trespassed the threshold of a mediaeval private home" by the evocative and well preserved they are. Needless to say that we advice to the wine lovers to enjoy a nice visit to a winery followed by a tasting of their best wines. This is the area from which some of the best red wines of the world come, including some Super Tuscans and naturally the Chianti Classico Riserva. While one could spend days in visiting different vineyards, we remind to the general traveller that while excellent wines exist in other parts of the world, no other countryside can be compared to the Chianti region, so it may sound odd when talking about Chianti, one of the most famous wine production region of the world, that the landscape itself is the main character of this day not the wine, but it's true! During the day we may visit the unique market square of Greve in Chianti, remained as it was designed in the XIV century; you may visit the largest wine tasting center in Italy where each day you may taste over 100 different wines; we can reach Montefioralle, Badia a Passignano surrounded by vineyards and olive groves or Castellina in Chianti with it's fortress and guards walkway... but these are just some examples, your driver according to what you enjoy the most will adapt the itinerary to making of this an unforgettable day. The experience of visiting this area, is particularly enhanced if the tour is carried out with an SUV since this will allow to reach sections of Chianti, not otherwise accessible by ordinary vehicles. Tour Photos:
Tour Map: 2010 Rates
Routes and LogisticsTo those wanting to visit Chianti, we would like to clarify something regarding the opportunities to do Wine Tastings versus Actual Winery Tours.The enjoyability of a tour in Chianti depends from the balance of the activities organized through the day. The worst thing a general travelled could do is to spend the whole day visiting wineries. One could start visit a small family owned farm producing only 30.000 bottles a year using the most traditional old style procedures, and continue with a world renowned estate with over one million of bottles produced with the most advanced and sophisticated techniques but unless one is a real wine lover and expert, most people at the second winery will feel they are "repeating an experience" as even if the variety of wineries in Chianti is very large their wines are made with the same types of grapes and same procedures therefore similar in structure and taste. By Wine Tasting (WT) we mean: Stopping at a winery, whether the actual wine cellars or their wine shop and taste several of their wines. This is something which may take form 15 to 30 minutes; it is not something which deserves to make specific arrangements for unless you absolutely want to taste wines of some specific estate. This has an average cost from 0 to 15 euro. By Estate Tour (ET) we mean: Going to a specific Wine Estate and tour it's premises, including fermentation plants, cellars and in some cases the actual vineyards and bottling plant. These tours are normally given by an employee of the estate or the owner for smaller wineries who explains the background and history of the estate, the peculiarities of their wines and how the wine is made, aged and sold. Finally you also taste their products, but the tasting is normally the final 15/20 minutes of a whole visit which lasts form 45 minutes to 1h30'. Therefore doing 2 or more of these visits in a day would normally get boring to an average person. If there are specific wineries clients want to visit please give us details as some estates are very famous and they would not take care of you if you have not made arrangements, but we are very friendly with most estates we enjoy bringing people to, therefore we are more at ease if the guide can get familiar with each client and according to their interests book on the spot the most suitable winery. This has an average cost from 10 to 30 euro. In some estates it's possible to only WT in other is only ET, in other you can do either of the options. Like for most things, there is not an “absolute best” best for someone can be the small and old style, which could be considered “decay” by another. Someone would enjoy a thorough explanation of over 1 hour, another would start yawning after 15 minutes… That’s why it’s always best to let our professional personnel meet clients and tailor make the day to them. In either case in most estates you can buy wines and in some cases they also can ship them. (It's worth to ship a minimum of 6 bottles, as long as you buy valuable wines, cost of shipping is roughly Euro 12 per bottle, therefore if you bought cheap wine the value of the shipment would be more of that of the wine.) Most of our guides and drivers are profound lovers of good wine and consider themselves gourmets, as far they are concerned they’d have most fun if they could take client to wine taste the whole day, but regretfully they will also share the following concept that going to Chianti does not only means to go Wine taste the whole day, there is nothing wrong with that, but Chianti has a lot more to offer than just wine in terms or history, architecture, landscapes as well as other products of the land: from olive oil to saffron, from meat to cheese. We often give Chianti tours to people who don't drink nor care about wine and yet they are often those who most enjoy the area as they sightsee with their eyes better disposed to absorb the beauty of the land at large versus the taste of just the wine! Therefore a good balance in between wine and sightseeing is ideal for those who care about both, we advice one Estate Tour a day and only to those particularly interested in wine possibly a second Wine Tasting. In terms of routes, there are simply endless ways to tackle Chianti, an expert guide who deserves his license should be able to fill many days in this area, always making the clients enjoy what they see without feeling they are repeating. The ability of a good guide or driver in an area such as this one is to always use different roads so as every travelled kilometer is a new experience. Therefore you should not ask to travel on a standard route since there should be nothing standardized or preset about a Chianti Tour, just like you could not ask a composer to describe before hand the sequence of the notes of the music he’s about to create.
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