Italian Wine tasting in a wine cellar in a vineyard in Tuscany!!!  Sounds like something out of a movie?  Yes it does, but this was the real experience for us while staying in Bagni di Lucca

We chose the DeLuxe Tasting with Fattoria del Teso in Montecarlo. The wine tasting was coupled with the local cheeses and salami

We were met by our tour guide at the gates in Lucca and taken on the short trip through beautifully landscaped hills to the property.

We then drove down a beautiful driveway to the building which houses the cellars where we were to experience the local wines, the olive oils and the local salami.

This vineyard could easily earn an award of excellence. The setting is stunning

If someone were to ask wine lovers regarding their favorite Italian wine regions, Tuscany would likely come out at the top. Besides making Italy’s most famous wine , Chianti, Tuscany is home to Italy’s many prestigious wines.
After visiting the cellar and the Vin Santo attics and hearing about the history of the Fattoria (farm) we were ready for our amazing tasting.  Our guide described the methods used on the farm, manual vs mechanical, the history of their wine and the olive oil production in the region and technical terms of wine manufacture in layman’s terms.

The first tasting was the Vermentino which incidentally is my favourite white wine and then we tasted the Montecarlo Bianco – both were served with a selection of cheeses.

These were then followed by the Montecarlo Rosso and Anfidiamante IGT  which were served with the homemade salami and Altopascio bread with extra-virgin olive oil.

All the wines which were produced on site were superb and the oils that they made had excellent flavour.

We loved the food and the wines and purchased several bottles to enjoy back at our apartment and also for gifts.

The grand finale was the homemade “cantuccini” biscuits with the Vin Santo D.O.C Fattoria del Teso which is aged at least 10 years. We dipped our Cantuccini in to this divine dessert wine. And savoured every bite.

Heaven.