A Tuscan Winery Experience – Castello di Verrazzano

Tuscany is the type of place you see in love stories, like Under the Tuscan Sun, and then dream about going to one day. It is undeniably a region full of postcard material. Famous in Italy for its rolling hills, food, and most significantly wine, there is so much to see and do in Tuscany.

Choosing A Tuscan Winery

For Valentine’s Day weekend, we traveled to the Chianti region of Tuscany. We stayed in Monteriggioni and decided to do our first winery tour and tasting just a few towns over in Greve in Chianti. Recommended by a friend who had been there recently, we chose Castello di Verrazzano as our winery of choice. Having heard such great reviews about this castle on a hill, I went online to do a little research and everything from ease of booking to the prices made it such a great experience. There were many wineries I found around the Chianti Region that were upwards of 100 euros per person, but we wanted to stick with something more budget-friendly, especially for our first experience. Greve in Chianti is a short 30-45 minute drive from Monteriggioni, where you will encounter many castles, amazing views, and plenty of vineyards along the route.

Castello di Verrazzano Tour

When we arrived at Castello di Verrazzano, I was swept off my feet at how beautiful and well preserved the castle is. Arriving right before our tour start time of 1500, we made our way to the restaurant to find our tour guide, Maria. She spoke wonderful English and was super friendly. No one else was booked for this tour time, so the five of us friends had somewhat of a private tour! Maria guided us to the Castle’s gardens while informing us of the history of the winery, the castle, and the surrounding area. Giovanni de Verrazzano was the native of the castle in the early days. Oddly enough, he helped discover the New World and there is a Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York dedicated to him. In fact, there are three stones from the bridge that are now part of the castle, and three stones from the castle that are now part of the bridge in New York. This was all very interesting to us as we had a New Yorker on our tour!

Among their many acres of farmland, they have vineyards, olive trees, and they breed wild boars. Most of the workers around the vineyard actually live in the castle and around the farm. The same people that plant the grapes, harvest and then store them to be processed into wine, versus hiring temporary workers throughout the season. There were some employees who were the third-generation of their family to work at the winery. After exploring the gardens and the views, we headed down to the cellars where the wine is stored in barrels. The number of acres, grapes, and manpower it takes to make just one bottle is fascinating. We were able to see where they hung the grapes during the season, and also where the dessert wine was stored which will sit for 15+ years.

The Tasting

Following a wonderful tour with tons of information about Castello di Verrazzano, Greve in Chianti, and Tuscany in general, we headed to the restaurant for our tasting. Among the selection was Verrazzano Rosso (my favorite), Chianti Classico DOCG, and Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva. You can view more of the wine selection online here. For most of our group, it was their first time on a wine tour and/or wine tasting. Maria was very patient with us and went over the correct ways to taste a wine, how to identify the flavors of the wine, and the best foods to pair with each. The cooks brought out Extra Virgin Olive Oil made by Castello di Verrazzano, which we dipped small pieces of bread into. The final tasting including their Balsamico Verrazzano on pecorino cheese. During our tour, Maria informed us that their balsamic vinegar was very different than the average. She said it was best to put it on cheesecake or gelato, instead of salads. We all kind of looked at each other like no way we would ever do that…but after we tried it, everyone was in full agreement! They make a much sweeter, thicker balsamico, meant to be used as a syrup or topping. It is quite pricey too! We all left more informed and immensely content with our first winery experience, and with purchases of our favorite wines plus a few bottles of balsamic vinegar.

More Tour Information

There are many guided tours to choose from, and I dare say they will all be just as fantastic as ours was! Below you will see a breakdown of pricing and description. For more information, just click on the tour name itself to see the flier.

Classic Wine Tour – tour & tasting – 21 € (we chose this)

Chianti Tradition – tour & tasting & gastronomic specialties – 32 €

The Wine & Food Experience – tour & tasting & lunch – 58 €

Saturday Special – tour & tasting & catering – 45 €

Sunday at Verrazzano – tour & tasting & catering – 48 €

Hosteria – the farm restaurant (open every day from 1230-1530) – Menu

Dinner at the Farm – tour & tasting & dinner – 65 €

Private Tour

If you are in the Tuscany area, you MUST visit a winery of some sort. If you’re in the Chianti Region, I definitely recommend Castello di Verrazzano. We had a wonderful time and will always remember our first winery in Europe!

Ciao for now! XOXO

Summer Rae

Castello di Verrazzano Contact Info

http://www.verrazzano.com/en/

tel. +39 055 854243

info@verrazzano.com