Luxury wine-tasting holiday in Chianti
This four-night luxury wine-tasting holiday to Chianti classico in Tuscany based at the Borgo San Felice hotel on the wine estate near Castelnuovo Berardenga includes a tour of their vineyards with oenologist, a wine-tasting of three of their wines and an olive oil tasting. This holiday allows you to appreciate both the land of Tuscany and one of its most famous products: wine. Tuscany’s classical landscape of rolling hills and vineyards dotted with olive and cypress trees, its misty green-grey mountains that are never too far distant, and perched hill towns of rich brown and golden stone harbouring priceless works of art that have defined western civilisation, creates a blend of natural earthiness and human endeavour that has lasted for centuries. In terms of wine production, Tuscany is incredibly important, offering a variety of different types of wine that reflect the variety of soil, altitude and climate (the terroir) of this region but also in terms of quality of wine produced and innovations in recent years. Whilst Chianti Classico is one of the oldest delimited wine regions in the world, having been established some 300 years ago by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III, Tuscany also has given birth to some of the most prestigious and sought-after ‘new’ wines, the Super Tuscans, dating in significant numbers only since the 1970s. As well as the wine and food, there is time to soak up the atmosphere in the small hilltop town of Radda-in-Chianti, explore Montalcino with its fortress and visit the mediaeval town of towers, San Gimignano.
Highlights
Olive oil tasting at the Borgo San Felice • Tour of the vineyards at Borgo San Felice • Wine-tasting of three regional wines at the Borgo San Felice
I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,920
Holiday Code FHIT13
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury wine-tasting holiday in Chianti
Arrive at Pisa airport, collect your hire-car and drive to your hotel at San Felice. The exquisite Hotel Borgo San Felice, situated in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, has its own prestigious 650-hectare wine-producing estate and is the perfect location for a wine tasting holiday in Tuscany. Its sought-after labels include Poggio Rosso and Vigorella – one of the new Super Tuscan wines. The estate also has land in the Montalcino and Maremma wine-growing areas, producing fine Brunello wines as well as Vin Santo and Grappa – all delicious and distinctive wines from Tuscany that should be tasted to be appreciated. Olive oils are also produced on the estate which equally merit the guided tasting session which we include during your stay. The hotel has a Michelin-starred restaurant and a more rustic restaurant offering regional specialities.
During your three full days in Chianti, there will be a guided tour of the vineyard and wine-tasting of three regional wines at your hotel and an olive oil tasting session. There are many opportunities for wine tasting in the region of Tuscany thanks to the abundance of many different Chianti wine producers in the area. Whilst the heart of the Chianti wine-producing region is centred around Gaiole, Radda and Castellina, nowadays there are opportunities for wine tasting and vineyard tours much further afield throughout Tuscany, including Brunello near Montalcino and Bolgheri on the coast near Livorno. Your wine-tasting experience in Tuscany should include a visit to the nearby Castello di Brolio, one of the original Chianti producers, as well as the Felsina winery at Castelnuovo Berardenga, the Badia a Coltibuono and the Castello di Fonterutoli wineries – all of which are just short distances from the hotel by car.
Depending on the time of your flight back to London, spend more time exploring Tuscany or drive to the airport and return your hire-car ready for the flight back.
I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,920
Holiday Code FHIT13
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
● Scheduled flights with British Airways London to Pisa return, economy
● 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Superior double room at Borgo San Felice, near Castelnuovo Berardenga
● Hire of a Group B car for the duration of holiday
● Olive oil tasting at the Borgo San Felice
● Tour of the vineyards at Borgo San Felice
● Wine-tasting of three regional wines at the Borgo San Felice
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
Call us on 01392 441245
I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,920
Holiday Code FHIT13
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled flights with British Airways London to Pisa return, economy
• 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Superior double room at Borgo San Felice, near Castelnuovo Berardenga
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of holiday
• Olive oil tasting at the Borgo San Felice
• Tour of the vineyards at Borgo San Felice
• Wine-tasting of three regional wines at the Borgo San Felice
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are scheduled flights with British Airways from London Heathrow to Pisa, usually twice a day. You collect a hire-car at Pisa airport and the drive to San Felice is just over 2 hours.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury wine-tasting holiday in Chianti
Special offers
Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.
I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,920
Holiday Code FHIT13
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled flights with British Airways London to Pisa return, economy
• 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Superior double room at Borgo San Felice, near Castelnuovo Berardenga
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of holiday
• Olive oil tasting at the Borgo San Felice
• Tour of the vineyards at Borgo San Felice
• Wine-tasting of three regional wines at the Borgo San Felice
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are scheduled flights with British Airways from London Heathrow to Pisa, usually twice a day. You collect a hire-car at Pisa airport and the drive to San Felice is just over 2 hours.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury wine-tasting holiday in Chianti
About Tuscany
An Expressions tailor-made holiday in Tuscany allows you to appreciate its classical landscape of rolling hills and vineyards dotted with olive and cypress trees, its misty green-grey mountains that are never too far distant, and hill-top towns of rich brown and gold stone houses. This combines with the beauty of the works of art contained in the towns and villages throughout Tuscany to create an inspirational union of the spirit and the senses. There is an intrinsic comfort in the supposed contrast between the delicacy of a Botticelli and the heartiness of Ribollita soup, yet both are typical of this fascinating region. As birthplace of the Renaissance, the impact of Tuscan and particularly Florentine traditions and culture on European heritage is fundamental to our way of life. In addition to the obvious attractions of the scenery of Chianti and the art cities of Florence and Siena, there are the less well-known regions south of Siena with its moon-like landscape of hills, the patchwork vineyards of Montalcino, the coastal marshlands of the Maremma, the spas of Montecatini and Saturnia, the islands of Elba and Giglio, and the Casentino with the source of the Arno and abundant mushroom crops. Wherever you travel on holiday in Tuscany, you will be inspired by the beauty of your surroundings and the way of life, which is quintessentially that of Italy too.
Highlights of Tuscany
Famous vineyards producing wines of Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Alabaster is produced in Volterra. Gold and silver are worked in Florence and the Ponte Vecchio is lined with jewellery shops. Marbled paper and stationery is a speciality of Florence. Ceramics and hand-painted majolica from raw terracotta from Impruneta to the glazed pottery of Siena are to be found throughout Tuscany. Lucca has traditionally produced silk and hand-woven fabrics. Leather goods including shoes, handbags and belts are to be found from market stalls to designer shops such as Gucci and Ferragamo. Interesting markets include the Mercato dell' Antiquariato which sells furniture from antiques to bric-a-brac in Arezzo on the first weekend of every month, in Pisa on the second weekend and in Lucca on the third weekend. The 'wild' Maremma is known for its long-horned white cattle and cowboys (butteri) and natural springs including Saturnia.
Cultural highlights of Tuscany
As birthplace of the Renaissance, Tuscany contains a wealth of treasures: Giotto`s Campanile and Brunelleschi`s Dome in Florence, the Tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo in Florence`s Santa Croce, Botticelli`s `Birth of Venus` and `Primavera` and the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi, Michelangelo`s `David` in the Accademia, the architecture of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, `The Tuscan Maremma` painting by Giovanni Fattori in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, `The Legend of the Cross` frescoes by Piero della Francesco in Arezzo, `The Creation` fresco by Bartolo di Fredi in the Collegiata in San Gimignano, Romanesque church of the Collegiata in San Quirico d`Orcia, 14th Century Fortezza of Montalcino, Renaissance masterpiece of the church of Madonna di San Biagio at Montepulciano, the abbey-church of Sant`Antimo, mediaeval Lucignano and the towers of San Gimignano, the Etruscan Museum in Cortona.
Festivals in Tuscany
Many of Tuscany`s festivals resound with the flamboyance of the Renaissance and keep Tuscans and visitors alike in touch with the region`s rich history. Others are linked to Tuscany`s hearty traditions of eating and drinking. The most famous is Siena`s Palio which takes place on 2 July and 16 August each year. Others include the Sagra del Tordo (Festival of the Thrush) in Montalcino on the last Sunday in October when there is an archery contest and charcoal-grilled thrush are a delicacy. In Florence, Calcio in Costume (a football match played in mediaeval costume) takes place in June. Pisa has the Giocco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge), a mock battle in Renaissance dress also held in June. Viareggio celebrates Carnival on Shrove Tuesday with a huge display of flamboyant floats. In May and August Massa Marittima holds the Falcon Contest.
Gastronomy in Tuscany
Simple country food is at the heart of Tuscan cooking. Regional dishes include Bruschetta (bread or ciabatta toasted and rubbed with garlic, olive oil and salt), Ribollita (bean, cabbage and bread soup), Pasta with hare or wild boar sauce, Porcini mushroom and truffle dishes, Bistecca all Fiorentina (thick cut of sirloin and fillet beef), Cantucci (almond and honey biscuits) served dipped in Vin Santo, Panforte (chocolate, nut and spice cake). Pecorino cheese made from sheep's milk. Local wines include the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano and the Bianco di Pitigliano. Famous reds include Chanti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Vin Santo made from semi-crushed grapes left for several months is an excellent dessert wine.
