White Wine Winery in Italy (Florence or Tuscany I feel are probably best bets)

[chattys82]

Is there someone who might be able to recommend a winery tour (preferably half day, but would do full day if that is all that's available) that is very heavy on WHITE wines? Not the biggest red wine fan, but would still love to be able to experience the winery experience in Italy!

Will be traveling to Florence, Rome, Bologna, and Venice in October.

Thanks so much!

[DavidT]

If you do not want to rent a car, I would highly recommend visiting the Pieropan winery, which has a tasting room in the center of Soave. Pieropan is one of the top white wine producers in the Veneto. Soave is a very pretty walled city that is easy to reach by train from Venice.

http://www.pieropan.it/en

[DavidT]

Further info on winery tours & tastings in the Soave area:

http://www.veronissima.com/sito_ingle...

[chattys82]

Thank you so much for the help. We're going to have limited timein Venice and Rome, but will have more time in Bologna and Florence. Are any of these places that you all mentioned day trips out of Florence?

[bob96]

Except for the wineries in and around San Gimignano, no. There's a well-developed network of wineries and tours (and a wine museum in the walled town itself) to taste the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano, as well as the area's reds. Here's a place to start: http://www.italyandwine.info/sangimig...

[chattys82]

Great, thank you so much. I'm okay with having some reds, but I'd just love some whites thrown in the mix, too. :) How far is San Gimignano from Florence? I'm assuming day trips are available to this area?

[barberinibee]

No personal experience, but you might take a look at this for some samples of what's available:

http://www.lebaccanti.com/site/smart-18-Vernaccia-San-Gimignano-Wine-Tour.html

http://www.italyandwine.net/sharedtours/sangimignano-chianti.htm

http://www.tuscan-wine-tours.com/San_Gimignano.htm

http://www.tuscanwinetour.net/vernacc...

[bob96]

Here's some useful info. The towns are 24 miles apart, and it looks like a wine tour from Florence is likely your best bet.http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-...

[chattys82]

Hi Bob, for some reason the link won't open for me...could you please send it again? Thank you!

[bob96]

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-...

[barberinibee]

If I'm not mistaken, it is about 35 miles from Florence to San Gimignano.

[Diva]

in tuscany, san gimignano makes our local white wine. I adore SOAVE outside of Venice-- Pierpan!
Rome Castelli Romani has whites too.

[vinoroma]

There is a company that offers wine tours from venice into friuli, at the moment the name escapes me but will look it up and write tomorrow. Of the areas you are visiting, friuli (from venice) is the ebst area for whites.

[allende]

@ bob96

I have no idea of where to head for in Friuli by train.

As I said in the post above yours, you need a car to get around (unless, obviously, you are taking a tour).

The Collio. The Collio Orientale? Both great places for wine. Lots of wineries to stop in to try. Lots and lots of enotecche to try, all of them with decent snacks as well.

One of my favorite places to go is Princic's winery, but there you definitely have to know someone to get it or at least you did a few years ago.

Wonderful area for 40 miles around, using either Udine or Cormons as a base. Great food, wine, and the friendliest of people. Great biking. As an added plus, going to the Slovenian border, you can see the remains of the fighting in World War I. But for all of this, IMO, you definitely need a car.

Soave is okay for wines (it is nothing re food compared to Friuli), but if someone is really interested in whites, Friuli is the place to go.

[bob96]

I agree, and would love to have a car and a few days roving through Friuli. If the OP can get a Venice-based tour, meno male. I thought of Soave only as a relatively easy out and back, maybe with a stop at Verona.

[allende]

Go to Friuli from Venice. Easy and short trip. Great, great area with wonderful food and very good whites. Plenty of tours.

[chattys82]

Thank you! How would we get there ? We're not renting a car. How long would it take to get there? Are there any particular tours you can recommend? Would 1 day there be enough? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on how many days would be enough in Bologna? I was thinking 3...

[allende]

Two hours by car. One day is enough but you need a car.

What do you want to do in Bologna. If it's eating, rent a car and eat in the countryside, around Parma (especially), Modena and Bologna. Much better than eating in Bologna.

[bob96]

Allende, where in the province of Friuli do you suggest the OP head for--by train, it's a rangy place, with many zones and subzones. Udine? San Daniele? The Collio? May I also suggest heading west 50 miles to the town of Soave, another historic center for white wine, midway between Verona and Vicenza. The train station is 5km away in San Bonifacio, but connections should be easy.

[vinoroma]

i finally found the site i was looking for: contact Nan at http://venetianvine.com/ i think they can help you