Castello di Verrazzano

Beautiful location, but it’s a bit of an off road from the main road. Once we got there, we learned it was closed. My suggestion? Start at the tasting room right off the main road, then head in if it’s open. The wines were good — make sure to also try the bubbles. Chat with the person in the tasting room to get other suggestions about places to eat or drink– the guy we met with was very friendly!

Best tour and wine tasting I’ve ever had. If I were to have the same exact tour back at home, in the Temecula wine valley, the tour would easily cost over $ 100 per person, when we only paid 34 euros ea. Let me begin with our guide, an English woman that’s lived in Italy for over 30 yrs. and it sounded to me that she thought of herself as Italian. It was amazing; her love and passion for that land was contagious. Seeming that the Italians are so welcoming, maybe there is hope for my hubby and I to also call this region our home… some day. Back to the review, the tour is great at teaching you the history behind the region, the wine making and classification process. Learning how vin santo and grappa are made helped me appreciate them more when they were served at the end of the tasting. We sampled their house cured meats, balsamic vinegar, agrio dulce, vin santo, grappa and of course their delicious chiantis. We then proceded to purchase several bottles of each product and had them shipped home. The bottles arrived a little over three weeks later, which is excellent shipping time. I truly recommend this tour; I will definetely come back the next time I visit this region.

Great wine tour. Jillian our guide was excellent. The History of the family and wine was a tale for the ages. If you are from NY and want to know about the Verrazano bridge story cone here.
Of the wine tours, I took in the region, this was by far my favorite.
The Chianti reserve, the super Tuscan were special.

Absolutely amazing! You MUST do this tour!

1−10…a 10! Truly one of the best, if not «the» best winery i’ve ever been to. Let me begin by saying the full tour with wine tasting and a huge cheese/​salami/​ham platter, all for 34 €…like what! Beautiful estate with a marvelous setting of the valley and hills covered with vineyards and surrounding olive trees. The tour guide was absolutely amazing; she was a walking encyclopedia with so much knowledge about the estate it was just so entertaining to listen and watch her. It was so interesting to learn the history behind the estate’s family and the vineyard. We were lucky to have been present to view the live October collection of white grapes hanging on wooden walls to lose the excess of water. That’s an incredible sight to admire. Apparently they are to stay hanged for about 2 – 3 months to intensify in sweetness and then will be made into dessert wine. In general, the place offers reasonable prices for shopping their wine bottles/​balsamic vinegar/​olive oil; and also good deals for shipping across to the US. This place is top notch, totally recommend people to come here.

Castellina di Verizano.
I made a reservation a couple of months in advance but not sure it was needed. We had a 12pm wine tasting with lunch and let me tell you, one of the best experiences of my life! We were a few minutes late as our GPS placed just 100 feet before the turn into the winery. After going further down the road you can’t miss it, there is a huge sign with the name of the winery. Situated on top ad a hill it offers the meat spectacular views of the valley and hills nearby. The grounds are immaculate, beautiful, magical even! Lots of flowers and fruit trees everywhere. Fountains and buildings all over.
The hosts and your guides were wonderful. Right at the beginning they offer a nice glass of prossecco, unlimited really, as they just kept on pouring. To get well with a piece of crusty bread and some charcuterie. The guides offered history of the winery in a very casual and even funny at times manner. After this, they proceeded to ice us a tour of various rooms and facilities. Although there wasn’t really much of an explanation of the grape harvest and actual wine making, we did see the barrels in where wine was kept. There was explanation of varies forms of barrels for type of wine intended. Very lovely all over. At the end of the tour there was a showing of all the ones that the winery offers as well as grappa and balsamic.
The tour, which must have been close to two hours, concluded with lunch. Served indoors in a wonderful cozy large rooms. They set up long tables and lunch was served very much family style. Here we were also offered three different types of wine offered by the winery. At the end of each pour, the bottles were places on the table and in reality we helped ourselves to as much wine as we wanted. The lunch itself was surprisingly wonderful and tasty. Prepared by the mothers and grandmothers that spent their whole life in the winery with local vegetables and herbs grown in the organic garden right on premises. First course, charcuterie offered 5 or 6 types of meat. With plenty of bread. There were a few more courses that I do not recall. Only other one I remember was pasta with tomato sauce with was wonderful!
We finished off with plenty of grappa and sweet dessert wine. A large basket of the most amazingly fresh biscotti was served as well. I could not stop eating them. The whole time we had conversations and laughter with our table (8people total) and the hosts were making toasts and being wonderful. The owner of the winery came at the end and made a speech.
The whole experience which lasted about 4 hours was $ 58 which I though was extremely reasonable! Almost cheap considering everything that was offered.
We ended up buying a half of case of the wines which even with shopping to the states would be cheaper that it is in the states.
My husband and I loved this winery and would recommend it in the heart beat.

Wine tour and lunch at this agriturismo was divine. The guide was adorable — he loved the land, his job, wine, and everything he had to tell us (Gino!). We sampled a few different wines (obviously mostly chiantis and super tuscans). The food that accompanied the wine was amazing — specifically the sweet tomato sauce, charcutterrie, and wild boar. They press their own olive oil, and cure their meat on the premises.

I had a wine and food tour at this place and it was simply great. We had a terrific tour guide (Gino) who I definitely recommend when booking. Gino shows you around the winery and gives you a great history. The wine is excellent and the food is great. They provide 2 – 4 courses during the lunch part when tasting the wine. The scenic views around the winery are beautiful and awe inspiring. I definitely recommend this place. Give a good 2 – 4 hours for this if you decide to do the food and wine tour.
Visited November 2013

After going on several group tours while on vacations in Europe, I’ve determined that there are 4 types of people on a group tour. Canadians, you can usually spot these 4 types easily as they are generally America. They are, in no particular order:
1) The Keener — This person has studied in advance of attending the tour and knows EVERYTHING about the subject. They can usually be seen raising their hand frequently to ask and/​or answer questions.
2) The Person that Doesn’t Care — This tourist could care less where they are, sometimes have no clue where they are or why it is of historical significance. Beware of this person if there is alcohol involved as they tend to get sloppy. Bonus points if the «Don’t Care» happens to be accompanied by «The Keener» — they make an interesting pair.
3) The Loudmouth — This person is a more obnoxious version of the «Don’t Care.» They may be somewhat interested in the subject, but really are more interested in tooting their own horn on where they went to law school, their extensive wine collection, or how great they are at life in general.
4) The Picture-​Taker — This person has no idea what they’re looking at, but they’re going to take a picture of it anyways, then play it for all of their friends in a rehearsed slideshow when they get home. For fun, try pointing at a speck of dust on the ground with great interest. You’ll quickly see this tourist rushing over to take a photo of it. Beware as this person can get aggressive, and their picture-​taking takes precedence over you or anyone else trying to enjoy the tour.
My boyfriend and I had the honour of going on a tour of Castello di Verrazzano with the most interesting collection of tourists: a group of loudmouth, drunk Americans, a Columbian family with a lot of plastic surgery, and 4 French Canadians. We were the odd people out and did not have strength in numbers to defend ourselves at the family-​style lunch — while the groups of 4 on either side of us heaped piles of delicious pasta onto their plates and chugged back large glasses of wine, eventually looking at us to share a few final bites. It wasn’t the tour’s fault — you would expect people to have some common courtesy no matter what country you’re from, but there was really no mechanism to ensure that the food was shared amongst all of the guests. The tour guide was engaging, friendly and funny. In the end, we had a fun afternoon and came home with a great story, and would definitely recommend the tour to others.

Best wine tour ever!!! Thank you Gino, with your Italian poetry and the love of the wine and the land. What a treat. Gino told us about the history of the Castello and the connections with the Brooklyn bridge. The tour was amazing, and the lunch was also amazing. Starting with 5 bottles of wine, prosciutto, pasta, and biscotti, plus salad, and desert wine. Yummy yummy yummy. This is a spendy tour, but well worth the price. You will not be disappointed.

We booked the executive tour and it was AMAZING! We did it in 2009 (just two of us) and again in 2013 (with a party of 6). Gillian does a great job with this tour and you truly feel special and she is incredibly knowledgable. With the executive tour Gillian picks you up in Florence by van and takes you to the vineyard where you begin your tour of the grounds & learn the history behind the family and the vineyard. You see the beautiful spring and the boar (and boar babies, if you are lucky).
I think I love this vineyard because of how it ties back to the United States (and partially because Gillian is so awesome). They are fully sustainable and organic (waiting on their organic certification –Oct 2013). After the history lesson, you enter the cellars and learn about the wine, balsamic vinegar & olive oil.
Next, the amazing lunch with wine tasting. This is no 3 tastings only… you get a course of sliced meats & bread with olive oil paired with a table wine. Next is the pasta, paired with the Chianti Classico. The meats — pork ribs, sausage, etc — paired with the Chianti Classico Reserve. Cheese & balsamic is then served with a wine you choose from an older reserve, a supertuscan or the new Red label wine. They serve Vin Santo with cantuccini and then café with grappa, if you like.
You can ship wines, olive oil and balsamic direct from the vineyard, or you can take it with you. They also have the wine saver bags if you choose to put it in your suitcase (these are a must). Buy the wines you can’t get elsewhere, the olive oil is yummy and spicy, vin santo always finds it’s way in my bag & the balsamic is heaven.
Enjoy & tell Gillian I say «hi!». If you don’t book the executive tour, you can get there by car or bus and they have daily tours and tastings with or without lunch, just check the website.

During our vacation to Italy one of the many thing we had on our check list of things to do was take a vineyard tour while we where in Tuscany. After exploring Florence and getting some wonderful recommendations from the concierge at our hotel we decided to ask him for a suggestion for a vineyard we could stop at on our way to the agritourismo we where staying at in the Chianti region. He gave us one more great recommendation and made a reservation for us at Castello di Verranzzano. We were told of Gino the tour guide there and spotted him right away on our arrival. The tour was already in progress and Gino was like a passionate actor telling the story of the Verrazano Bridge and the vineyard. He showed the sign that was given to the vineyard from the city of New York and said the first stones used in the bridge were from Casstelo di Verranzzano. Gino took us through the cellars showed us the casks told all his stories with passion and told us how he was taken to the very top of the Verrazzano bridge as a gift from the people of NY and he drank a bottle of Verranzzano wine from 1885 as he perched high above the city of NY. The grounds and the cellars are interesting and beautiful the tour is not to long and it is very informative telling how the wine is made and showing the different stages of production plus some good history of wine making. After the tour we went to the tasting and choose to have the full menu, there is a larger and smaller menu we choose the larger one as its hard to resist wine and food in Italy. We were served in a large rustic dinning room at long wood tables which where set like a page from a gourmet food magazine. The dining room has big wood beams and views of the grape vines and the Tuscan country side out the windows, it’s a beautiful site. The tasting was very good we were served salami and aged meat to start next a pasta course followed by sliced pork in a balsamic sauce and ended with a salad and cheese with a aged balsamic. They also served caffe and grappa ouch I did not drink that earlier in the tour Gino said when you try the Grappa don’t light a match. He was right it was harsh and not to my liking. At the very end of the meal they served biscotti and sweet wine, which was a wonderful treat we learned about in Rome the first city we visited on our vacation. Sweet wine known as vin santo was my wife favorite so we bought a bottle in addition to a bottle of super Tuscan 2 bottles of Olive oil plus a Verrazzano polo shirt. This tour was a great experience in a beautiful setting both the food and wine where very good.

We came here on a tour. We had lunch there which was excellent. We also did wine tasting. I really enjoyed Chianti Classico. The location and viewed from the top of the hill were excellent.