Tuscany Wine
Tours
The hills around Lucca are a natural green amphitheatre, carefully cultivated by lucchesi since centuries..
Hilltop castels, stone farmhouses, vineyards following the undulating land: this is Chianti.
A more modern approach to wine-making in a world class location between land and sea and the wilderness of the Tuscan Maremma
..the soil is a complex and interesting one: once upon a time, the zone was covered by the sea and the terrain is still rich in marine fossils. There is sand and clay, iron and other minerals.
...the art of TASTING
A wine tour is a discovering experience that starts from the vineyard and ends into a glass.
Tuscany is rich in high quality wine areas, each one with its own story, more or less famous, but always enchanting.
You do not have but to slow down and begin your journey along Wine and Beauty.
The wineries we propose for our wine tours have been chosen according to the quality of their wines and to the friendly and welcoming nature of their owners and managers, mirroring the absolute passion for their work. This selection is still in progress because our work is to research always the best! This is what we love more, discovering and falling in love with our land again everyday, hoping to transmit this passion to you.
Our wine tours usually start in the morning from the place you require, according to the distance from the wine area you want to visit. You must know that most wineries are on hilltop and country roads to reach them are not always so smooth, so it takes some time to go from a geographic area to another one and we need to plan carefully a tour as to let you enjoy it.
Visits to wineries usually start with a panoramic view of the vineyards, passing by the vat room, where the process of de-stemming the grapes and vinification is passionately explained by an expert wine guide. Then, you visit the cellars, where wine ages in the oak barrels, and, some times, the bottling rooms, where the bottled wine reaches full refinement.
Each visit ends with a wine tasting, often coupled with oil tasting (because many farms produces both wine and oil) and then, if you want, you can buy some bottle of wine and oil. According to the schedule of a tour, you can have also lunch in a winery, a good chance to understand how coupling wine and food!
Anyway, each tour is carefully planned for you and according to your requests and needs and we will always be happy to realize your ideas!
other PROPOSALS concerning WINE
 BIKE & WINE
Three different kinds of bike tours around Lucca: one easier on a dirt road along Serchio river to reach a close winery where having wine and oil tasting; the other two longer and on a harder track, as in real bike tours, stopping finally in a winery or a farmhouse.
 WINE TOURS guided by a licensed WINE TASTER
Besides meeting a wine expert in each winery, you will be guided all the tour long by a licensed wine taster, who will explain Tuscany's wine secrets during your transfer and will show the art of tasting wines in the estate.
 LUXURY GOURMET HOLIDAYS
This year we offer a taste of Tuscany from a different point of view. From the sea to the land, from the kitchen to the table, you will be guided by gourmet experts and delighted by Chef Pardini's cookery.
What is wine? What is inside a bottle? How much work is hidden behind a label?
Each wine has got its own indipendent attitude and behaves in total unexpected ways from the fermentation to the bottling, from the aging cellar to the glass.
It story begins in the vineyard, where several elements contribute to its creation: land, whose chemical composition will give sapidity and character to a wine; climate, decisive factor for ripeness and harvest; grapevine, one of the strongest and most tenacious plants we know… During winter, when vineyards seem to be dead, the wine maker programs all work that will be done in the cellar from the harvest time on. Then, when harvest starts, grapes are welcome as a festivity!
Any detail is neglected in the wineries, because in that moment a whole year of work and projects could be ruined by a single little mistake. So, wine makers, cellar men and wine workers, watch over tubs, where grapes ferment, taking great care of temperature and any little change happening to must. They work like obstetricians, tring to extract the best from grapes, and do all what they can to support and assist a new born wine to grow and become a great drink!
But also when it is bottled, after the right time of fermentation and stabilization, a wine can act in a total unforseen way and wine makers can have unexpected good or bad surprises! There’s not a specific formula to obtain a good wine. Each wine maker has got and keeps his one, but none is definitive and certain, because wine expresses the nature strenght, out of men’s control.
This is why, when we are in front of a glass of wine, we must have a great respect of that colored drink, because it has got a story to tell and it is our duty to stop and listen to it, drop after drop
our favorite WINERIES in Lucca and Pisa hills
Fattoria di Montechiari – Montecarlo (Lucca)
 The Montechiari estate is located on the summit of a hill within the town district of Montecarlo. This winery has been producing since 1978. Very little time considering the fact that in this area wine has been produced for many centuries. Their vineyards are spread over almost 66 acres; 25 acres of vineyards are divided into small plots to take advantage of the sheen and the opulence of the grounds. These alluviums soils are very distinctive and specific and represent a "speciality" of these hills as a conductor. The French grape varieties have always been an integral part of the tradition of Montecarlo, and this is why Montechiari estate decided to reintroduce them with the sole intention of producing innovating wines such as Chardonnay, Semillon, Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Merlot, which now are cultivated together with the Tuscan noble grape the "Sangiovese Grosso". Cellars are located at the centre of the Estate, under the owners’ mansion. After a meticulous selection, grapes are gently crushed and then left to ferment in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. After the fermentation has slowly finished, the new young wine is then left to mature into small French oak barrels, some of which are selected for their different size depending of the type of wine and the native character of the grape variety. The Chardonnay will remain in oak for a period of 6 months. The ageing process for our red wine will instead take more time; this time in much smaller oak cask , the typical French "Barriques" and can take up to 16 months. The malolactic fermentation will also be induced during these maturing periods and normally will end inside the casks. The final period of ageing for all of our wines takes place in the bottle .
(usually between 8 to 12 months before release.)
Fattoria Colle Verde – Matraia (Lucca)
  The Colle Verde Estate was assembled in the 16th century by Tomas Guinigi, a scion of one of the leading families of Lucca during the medieval and renaissance periods. Colle Verde produces 100% of the grapes used in its wines in its own vineyards located in Matraia, an area included in the appellation ‘Colline Lucchesi’ (Hills of Lucca). The 35-acres of vines lay on a wide valley dropping from 984 to 328 feet above sea level. Shielded by the Apennine Mountains from the harsh Tramonte winds blowing down from the North, the estate’s vineyards benefit from a distinctive microclimate further mitigated by mild breezes blowing off the Mediterranean sea which lies just 17 miles to the West. The present boundaries of the vineyard was first laid out in 1948, and it has since undergone 2 major replantings: currently the vineyard is planted primarily with S.Giovese and Trebbiano grapes which are both representative of Tuscany most traditional grape varietals. Additional varieties include Syrah and Chardonnay - grapes that have both become ‘traditional’ in the area since they were introduced to Lucca by Napoleon about 200 years ago - and Grechetto, a white grape whose origins go back to the Etruscan Age and is primarily used to produce our ‘Vinsanto’. The location for each variety is determined by the physical characteristics of the land: sandy and pebbly soils for the whites, clayey and loamy soils for the reds. The winery - built partly above ground and partly underground - dates back to the beginning of the 16th century: since then, every year for nearly 500 years, a new vintage wine has been nurtured within these walls
Azienda Agricola San Gervasio – San Gervasio (Pisa)
 SanGervasio is tucked in an enchanting corner 25 km East of Pisa, on the first gentle hills of the river Era valley. The proximity of the sea and its breezes contribute to clean the air from the haze and guarantee a constant and abundant illumination of the vineyards. Sangervasio produces wines with a contemporary style, made with the contribution of international varieties, but mostly with local grapes, which are the estate’s main focus: Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino and Trebbiano. Sangervasio’s cellars are situated in the historical buildings, in perfect harmony with the farm and the background. The technology respects architecture and the tradition.
Tenuta di Ghizzano – Ghizzano (Pisa)
 Ghizzano is a small hillside hamlet situated at 650 feet above sea level in the north western part of Tuscany, halfway between Florence and Pisa. This is the Colline Pisane production zone, a group of hills to the southeast of Pisa. None of these undulating hills is higher than 650 feet, the landscape is soft and gentle and the climate is mild, tempered by the sea breezes which protect the area from extreme temperatures and from spring frosts as well. The soil is a complex and interesting one: once upon a time, the zone was covered by the sea and the terrain is still rich in marine fossils. There is sand and clay, iron and other minerals. The owner family arrived at Ghizzano towards the end of the 14th century. Wine and oil were, from the very beginning, the centre of the agriculture of the various farms which  composed the estate. For centuries production went forward with a deep respect for tradition. In these last fifteen years they have tried hard to combine tradition and innovation and technology. The owner family’s goal is to continue to invest in vineyards in order to push the total surface under vines to 60-65 acres and produce a limited quantity of truly high level bottles for the market, respecting the character which the territory gives to the wines, maintaining and reinforcing the elegance and aromatic richness which these gently rolling hills give to the grapes.
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Not Ordinary Ways is part of Cicloturismo in Toscana T.O. - via Elisa 28, 55100 Lucca - ©2007-2010 All rights reserved. 
