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Florence Wine & City
Thursday 6 - Sunday 9 November
This unusual long weekend is based in the wonderful city of Florence, in our favourite 4* hotel close to the banks of the River Arno and to the Boboli Gardens and Ponte Vecchio. Close to the city are the beautiful rolling hills of Chianti, studded with cypress and olive trees, and vineyards, of course. The Chianti region is divided into sub-regions and our visits on this day will be in both Chianti Classico and Chianti Ru½na. Chianti Classico is the heartland of the Chianti region, with its hill-top castles, villas and many vineyards. It arguably produces the top wines and was awarded DOCG status (Denominazione di Origine Controlata) in the mid 1990s. Chianti Ru½na is the smallest Chianti sub-region and produces some of the most elegant style of wines which can age incredibly well. We will learn about the complex classi½cation and how many of the best wines could only be labelled as Vino da Tavola, table wines. Dubbed Super-Tuscans, they seemed to make a mockery of the system so a new name was conjured up Indicazione Geographica Tipica. There was little geographically typical about them, but the term IGT stuck. Although there are more men in their 90s and 100s in the Chianti region than anywhere else in Europe, many of them still working their vines, there is a younger contingent of winemakers often made up of foreign winemakers, which normally means non-Tuscan, but can also mean from abroad. Without doubt they help to keep the region vibrant and innovative. The other day of wine touring will include a morning visit to the south to San Gimignano with its distinctive sky-line of medieval skyscrapers. Here the wine is white, Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG. It is easy to ½nd only dull wine made for the local and tourist markets here. However there are a handful of producers making classy wines including single vineyard and barrique aged examples. We will visit one of these estates, then taste a selection from further estates over lunch. After lunch there is time to stroll round the hilltop town and perhaps drop into one of the classic cafès to taste the delicious local cakes, or browse in the delicatessens where youll see a local delicacy, wild boar salami.
Chianti
Short Wine Breaks
We have been taking tours to this region since 1990, so have quite a few excellent estates to choose from to escort you to. As on all the Wine & City tours the Wine Guide will present an introductory tasting on the ½rst evening, then on this and the other evenings you make your own choice of restaurant, though as always our suggestions are available to help. If you are looking for a more intensive wine experience and a fully escorted tour, the Tuscan Academy is the following week.
Outline Itinerary
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Meet at hotel. Introductory tasting. 4* hotel central Florence. Chianti visits and lunch. San Gimignano visit and lunch. Depart at leisure.
Includes
3 nights 4* hotel, breakfasts, 2 meals with wines, visits & tastings. Wine Guide for ½rst evening tasting and the touring days. The maximum party size is 24.
Meet at
Price £pp
Sole occupancy
Deposit £ pp
River view Room
Florence
The River Arno from our hotel
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