Wine Tasting - Wine Tours in Italy

Tuscany is mostly noted as the red wines land, where reds made primarily from the Sangiovese grape are produced.
However, also excellent whites are produced in this region and among them, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, deserves attention.

As you can deduce from the label, it is produced in the area surrounding San Gimignano, northwest of Siena, adjacent to the Chianti zone, the well known center, so called City of Towers for its skyline of ancient towers.
Vernaccia di San Gimignano, celebrates in these days its 40th anniversary as DOC wine - DOC wine since 1966 and DOCG since 1993, on the occasion of “Una città bella e buona”, event taking place in San Gimignano through Sunday May 7.

It’s a refreshing wine, dry, harmonious, with notes of citrus, and with 12% alcohol. From the same area is the “San Gimignano”, Doc since 1996, includes a still, dry red, a white Vin Santo, and a dry rosà¨.

A tour in the area gives you chances to combine wine tasting, the sightseeing of typical Tuscan landscapes with olive groves and vineyards, and historical itineraries linking the several medieval and reneissance centers located in the surroundings of San Gimignano.

Things to see in San Gimignano: Churches of Sant’Agostino and San Lorenzo, Piazza Duomo, Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo del Podestà , and the towers which are the icon of the town.

In the surroundings of San Gimignano you can also visit several interesting centers
- Volterra, things to see: ancient Etruscan city also famous for crafting alabaster. To not miss: Duomo, Etruscan museum, Etruscan arch, Palazzo d. Priori.
- Colle Val d’Elsa
- Certaldo
- Poggibonsi
- Siena, things to see: Piazza del Campo, Piazza del Duomo, Loggia della Mercanzia, Duomo, Battistero, Pinacoteca nazionale, Palazzo Buonsignori, Palazzo Tolomei, Palazzo Chigi-Saracini; Churches: S.Maria, S.Domenico and S.Francesco.
Siena is also known worldwide for the Palio, festivals taking place on July 2 and August 16.

See itinerary on the map
Browse accommodation in Siena and Chianti area.

Italian wines 2006 by Gambero Rosso, annual guide in English to the premium Italian wines, will be introduced on May 3 in Rome, at Città del gusto.

For the occasion, Gambero Rosso, has scheduled a tasting of a large selections of premium wines at 6.30 p.m. Ticket price: Euro 35.

It will be followed by two guided tasting of: Montevetrano wine (at Teatro del Vino) and Villa Bucci wine (at Teatro della Cucina).
The guide, work by Gambero Rosso, available in US bookstores, was already presented in March in New York and San Francisco. Source