We took our second Tuscan wine tour from Florence in October 2024. Our first Tuscan wine tour was back in 2016 and we had so much fun, we booked another when in Florence last October (2024). This year’s wine tour was similar to the 2016 tour but with some notable differences, which I will explain in this article. There are many, many wine tours from Florence through Tuscany at varying price points, so do your research before booking. I highly recommend a Tuscan wine tour from Florence if you have the time, and Grape Tours is a decent outfit offering such tours.

Like our 2016 tour, we met our tour guide and group in Oltrarno outside Grape Tours’ shop and wine bar, only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Santo Spirito and 20 minutes from the Duomo area. We arrived right on time, so we only had time to climb into the van before departing Florence for the Tuscan countryside. I suggest leaving extra time walking to the tour, as there are many beautiful panoramas to photo graph en route along the Arno River. Our first stop was about 30 minutes from Florence proper, at Fattoria Corzano e Paterno. This was also our first stop back in 2016! Our guide provided some information on Tuscany during our drive, but most people “shut their eyes” for the drive.

Everyone woke up as we pulled into the rocky driveway of Fattoria Crozano e Paterno. Fattoria means “farm” in Italian, and Fattoria Corzano e Paterno is a winery as well as a farm producing delicious cheese and olive oil. We began our visit at Corzano e Paterno with a walk to the edge of the vineyards. We didn’t go in as it had recently rained (and the ground was muddy), and it was harvest season, so workers were busy harvesting the grapes. It was cool to see large grapes on the vines and employees working with the grapes. We also walked through the barrel room and saw more grape harvesting in action after visiting the vineyards.

About 15 minutes later, we sat down for our first tasting of wine. Fattoria Corzano e Paterno served us 4 types of their wine (2 whites and 2 reds) and paired the tasting with 4 types of cheese, Tuscan bread, local honey, olive oil and local chutney, which is so, so good. I purchased the chutney and brought it home. And on that note, Fattoria Corzano e Paterno has a cute gift shop where you can purchase its wine, the honey, chutney and olive oil (when available, it was sold our on our visit) and a few gifty things. The tasting was very interesting and we learned a lot about Tuscan wine during our tasting, including that some less renowned wineries add food coloring to their wine to make it seem nicer that it is (wow, for shame!).

The second stop on our “wine tour” was a total departure from our 2016 trip. In fact, rather than a winery, it was lunch at the Chef’s Table-famous restaurant, Antica Macelleria Cecchini. Owned by butcher Dario Cecchini, Antica Macelleria Cecchini is located in the adorable hilltop town of Panzano, which was insanely crowded on an early November Saturday afternoon. I’m pretty certain the crowds were solely there for Dario.

Luckily, Grape Tours made us a lunch reservation and our guide navigated us through the slightly insane crowd, including securing us a snack of Tuscan bread spread with lard and a casual glass of Chianti while we waited. This was a nice touch. And if you have never had lard on bread, it is so good. Don’t skip it.

Our group was seated in the first floor of Antica Macelleria Cecchini’s beautifully modern restaurant in Panzano (no worries, there is an elevator too) named Solociccia. I was not expecting this stylish of a restaurant on this wine tour (especially compared to the very casual farm we dined at in 2016). The restaurant design was chic, clean and offered delightful views of Tuscany.

If you have not seen the Dario Cecchini Chef’s Table episode, Dario Cecchini is a butcher specializing in “nose to tail” butchering, meaning that he utilizes every part of the animal so that nothing goes to waste. This concept is quite popular in Italy, and not nearly as uncommon as many American tourists may think. Side note – if you are interested in this style of eating, there is a great Restaurant in Rome called Checchino dal 1887 that does great dishes with uncommon cuts of meat. In any case, Dario Cecchini left our group a note explaining this and his placemats explain exactly where the various cuts of meat come from on the animal.

We sat down to fresh bread, chianti wine and fresh vegetables to dip in local olive oil. The vegetables in olive oil were really wonderful. Aside from this, stuff continuous brought around family style platters offering all different types of meat, including beef brisket in green sauce, spicy meat ragu on bread, tuscan white beans, Panzanese steak, boiled beef with vegetables, braised meat and tomato stew. Some of it was a little unexpected, but most was not to out of the ordinary, and everything was really delicious. There was so much offered that I eventually had to stop eating, ha. Our meal ended with delicious Tuscan olive oil cake.

I would also point out that if you visit Solociccia on your own, this family-style prix fixe is the sole food option and its 40 euro per person. It was very good and more than enough food for lunch.

We departed Panzano about 10 minutes after our lunch ended, which left just enough time to wander into the Antica Macelleria Cecchini gift shop (yes, there is a whole gift shop, and you can visit without eating at the restaurant). We drove through the Tuscan hillside about 20 minutes, eventually arriving at our final stop on the wine tour, Poggio al Sole.

Meaning “small hill in the sun” in Italiano, Poggio al Sole is precisely that, a small hill in the sun, and sunny it was during our visit. Indeed, the sun was shining over the blue sky when we arrived. We took many pictures from that sunny hill before venturing inside Poggio al Sole.

The winery Poggio al Sole is owned by a Swiss family that has been producing wine in Switzerland since the 1970s. The family moved to the Chianti area in 1990 and have been making organic wine for the last several years. The estate has approximately 24 hectares of vine slopes face south-east to south-west and are approximately 320-480 meters above sea level. Poggio al Sole offers wine tastings, cellar tours and overnight stays. We began our tour with a glass of white wine, which we drank while we walked through the vineyards and the barrel rooms. Like Fattoria Corzano e Paterno, it was certainly prime harvest season at Poggio al Sole.

We walked with our wine through the barrel room and saw more active harvesting en route. We also learned the history of Poggio al Sole, and had an opportunity to ask any and all questions.  We ended our tour with an outside tasting of a few Poggio al Sole wines. Our wines were paired with Tuscan bread, balsamic and olive oil.

Reminiscing back on our wine tour, we had a fabulous day and the wine tour was a great way to see a bit of Tuscany and taste Tuscan wines without the hassle of renting a car or changing hotels.  This tour was quite different than our 2016 tour, including being more expensive and less wine-focused (especially with the addition of the restaurant). That being said, I would still take this tour again and recommend it to friends.

STEAL OUR TRIP

Grape Tours:  We did the Super Tuscan Wine Tour at 215 € per person, which included all tastings and lunch.  This tour runs frequently, including 2 on the day we went! Definitely book in advance.

Fattoria Corzano e Paterno: Via San Vito di Sopra, snc, 50020 San Casciano in Val di Pesa. I would email to schedule a wine tasting if interested – office@corzanoepaterno.it. Parking on site. Credit card accepted. 

Poggio al Sole: Str. Rignana, 2, 50028 Badia A Passignano FI, Italy. I would again email to schedule a wine tasting – info@poggioalsole.com. Parking on site. Credit card accepted.

Antica Macelleria Cecchini: Via XX Luglio, 11, 50022 Panzano In Chianti FI, Italy. Open daily 9 AM – 4 PM. Daily lunch seating at 12:30 with a prix fixe menu at 40 euro per person. I strongly suggest making a reservation.