Private Chianti Wine Tour: San Gimignano & Siena Lunch + Tastings

Wonderful day trip to Tuscany!

Andrea was our guide/driver for our day trip to Tuscany. He was early for our pick up and we found him to be immediately friendly and welcoming. To be honest, I really did not know all the details about this tour other than were supposed to visit Siena first, have lunch, then visit San Gimignano. My travel advisor Fabio Ilardi from "Italy Bespoke Tours" highly recommended that if you visit Florence, you have to have a day trip to Tuscany. I am sure glad I went with his suggestion! The drive to Siena was very easy and pleasant from our hotel in Florence. Along the way, Andrea would point out certain landmarks not to miss. He then dropped us off at Siena. We did have tickets to see the Siena Cathedral at 10:30am. We were there nice and early for our entrance time. What was really helpful was that Andrea gave us a sheet of paper with a suggested itinerary of how to walk around Siena to hit the major highlights of the town. We had a good amount of free time to explore Siena before meeting up with him so he can then take us to where we would have lunch. On arrival to the site for lunch, we were pleasantly surprised to see a gorgeous Tuscany home at Agriturismo Rocca in Castellina in Chianti. The flowers were bursting with color all around the front yard. We were then greeted by Martina. She immediately made us feel welcomed and toured us around the winery. We went outside behind the house and she showed us the land her family owned. The views were so breathtaking and she kindly took pics of me and my family with the beautiful backdrop. She then presented us to the area we would have lunch which was outside near some olive trees and more beautiful flowers. It honestly was out of dream. The place settings were so cute on the dining table. Truth be told, my husband and I are really not wine drinkers, but we were happy to do the wine tasting. We enjoyed all the wine tasting, but our favorite was the Chianti Classico. Lunch was absolutely amazing and hands down, the best meal we had our entire Italy vacation. We went to a lot of wonderful restaurants in Rome, Amalfi Coast, and Florence, but this Tuscany meal was simply the best. The ingredients were so fresh and the portions were just perfect with cured meats, cheeses, dips, and tomato salsas. The tomato pasta was just perfection (I forget the name of the actual style of pasta). Dessert was some type of biscotti ice cream with an espresso. It was all followed up with Grappa. My husband and I had no choice but to order 4 bottles of Chianti Classico, 1 bottle of their olive oil, and 1 bottle of Grappa to be shipped to our home in the US because it was just all amazing! We were able to meet Martina's parents who were so kind. We took some group shots with my selfie stick since I wanted to remember it all! Andrea told me that his love for Tuscany runs deep. As a child he would visit the countryside with his grandfather. He had fond memories of wonderful meals and time spent on the countryside. I felt grateful that he and his company have made these opportunities available to us tourists. I would later come to find out that Martina has very limited bookings since she strives to keep these experiences very exclusive and private. In a way I realized I won the lottery with this booking! I have always been a big follower of quality over quantity. I am glad she does not tailor to the masses. After the wonderful lunch that I did not want to end, Andrea then brought us to San Gimignano. He gave us another sheet of a suggested itinerary to walk around San Gimignano so as not to miss the highlights of the town. We saw more beautiful Tuscany views. We saw the many towers. On my bucket list was Gelateria Dondoli. We were fortunate as we only waited about 10 minutes to get our gelato since the line was not long. We then returned to the meeting point to get back in the car with Andrea to return to our hotel in Florence. It was a perfect introduction to Tuscany and I am inspired to return one day to spend more time there. Thanks to Andrea for sharing his love for the countryside and his passion to share it with others. Thanks to Martina and her parents for welcoming us to their home and to her mother for preparing the best meal we had in Italy. Thanks to Fabio in making sure we did not miss this golden opportunity! Grazie mille!

via Tripadvisor