Italy Wine Tasting Trip

[konapoppy]

Hello! 

We are planning a last minute trip to Italy with my parents at the end of September. We want to go for up to 9 days. The focus will be wine tasting; we don't need to see any of the major cities/museums/etc. (I have already done that and the others aren't interested). We don't want to be in areas that are too touristy (e.g., Cinque Terre).

We want to stay in up to two villas as a home base for day trips to wine tasting and sight seeing. 

Any recommendations? I looked through some of the other Italy threads, but they aren't quite hitting the mark of what we are looking through.

Thanks!

[majesty318]

Sicily! Specifically near Mt. Etna. We spent 3 nights at Agriturismo San Leonardello last year and loved it.

[marytini]

I don't know if I'll be much help as we aren't wine people. But I know the Chianti region is known for their wine. On a recent trip to Tuscany, we stayed in a Podere outside Certaldo. It isn't a villa, but has various sized apartments. We loved it as a base for touring Tuscany. It's called Podere Benintendi. We did go to a castle/winery one afternoon for a tasting. Sorry, not sure if that's helpful.

[cheezer]

We went to the Piedmont region and it was fantastic. We stayed at a hotel called La Villa in the Piedmont. One of the owners took us wine tasting for the day. I know they also work with a tour operator in the area. The wine tasting was great. We went to one winery that is decently large and popular in the U.S. (I have seen their wines at several restaurants) and we were the only people there at the time. The person giving the tour said it was a busy day. We found wine tasting in that region to be very personal and not touristy at all. We were able to meet with several winemakers personally on our tour.

It seems like an area where you should definitely hire a guide of some sort though. Not like the U.S. just walking into a tasting room.

Here's the info on where we stayed: www.lavillahotel.net/foodwine.htm

We loved the wine tasting in the region so much that we're thinking of going back next year.

[majesty318]

konapoppy, just wanted to give a little more detail now that I am at a computer instead of the app! We absolutely loved Sicily so I like to recommend it.

There are tons of agriturismos all over the island. While staying at San Leonardello, we took a tour to Mt. Etna with This is Etna (though there are many other well-reviewed companies on Trip Advisor) which included hiking and also a visit to a vineyard. The wines were fantastic.

Not too far from there (maybe an hour drive)is Avola where they make Nero d'Avola. We didn't have a chance to go there but this could be another possibility for you.