While we were staying in Florence we took a day out to go to Tuscany. My brother-in-law, Ken, rented a car and took us all for an amazing drive. He had researched wineries and had booked us two tasting tours. One to taste Chianti and the other Brunello wines.

Before heading to the first winery we took a side journey into the town of San Gimignano. Ray and I had heard that this was a a charming Tuscan town from a Dutch couple earlier in our trip. It was a beautiful little town. We, however, hadn’t quite accounted for how long it would take us to get there! We quickly went down the main street, entered the plaza, looked into a well, found some of their famous wild boar sausage to eat and ran back to the car.

Our little side journey caused us to miss our first tasting tour. When we arrived at Castello di Verrazzano, Hanna asked if there was any chance a later tour was available. The front host could not say for sure but advised us to stay for a few minutes to see if any guests in the next tour did not arrive. The waiting area had a wonderful view and a patio that was covered with vines and grapes! We took turns taking photos and looked around a bit while we waited.

The basic tour ended up being full but there happened to be room in the five course tasting tour. Wow, was this amazing!! After a wonderful tour through the gardens and historical cellars we sat down to five delicious courses of food paired with the winery’s wines. This winery and region is famous for its Chianti Classico. These wines were a far cry from the basket wrapped Chianti my grandma used to buy! This was a experience to be remembered.

Because we had not planned on a 3 hour tasting we also missed our second tasting tour! We decided to go to CAPANNA winery anyways and, lo and behold, they apologized because they were running very behind! We were amazed how the day was just continuing to flow as freely as the areas wine.

It was hard to compare the two wineries after having such an experience at the first. It was later in the day and the kind winery guide had already had a long shift. (We found out later that the reason they were running behind was that one woman had wine tasted just a bit too much and had decided to take a nap on the cellar floor)! Besides all this Capanna was a great choice to visit. Capanna is known for its Brunello di Montalcino wine . It is a family run farm and winery that is now being run by the fourth generation of the Cencioni family. The farm is beautiful, the staff kind and the wines were very good. They even have a charming Suites and Spa vacation spot if you’d like to spend more time in the area.

I am so glad we decided to take time to visit Tuscany. I’m forever grateful to Ken and Hanna for planning such an outing. Tuscany’s beautiful countryside and charming towns are magical. Don’t miss visiting if you have the chance❤️