Wine enthusiasts visiting Tuscany often have to make a choice between a do-it-yourself wine tasting tour in Tuscany and an organised wine tasting tour in Tuscany conducted by a knowledgeable wine guide who also provides your transport.

All of these Tuscan wineries in the Chianti Classico wine territory of Tuscany have their own wines and usually also their own olive oil on sale. You may ask to taste a wine before buying and at the larger wineries vertical tastings of Tuscan wines can be arranged, especially if you are staying at a vacation rental on the same property.

Montepulciano is famous for not just one but two excellent wines, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Rosso di Montepulciano. However, it is often underestimated in terms of the interest of its art and architecture.

Organic food production and cooking is popular in Italy and, indeed, the home of the movements for Slow Food and Slow Cities is also the European leader in organic farming, with around 45,000 organic farms, 2,300 of them in Tuscany. Germany, where Bio-Produkte are enormously popular, comes in second.

If you are visiting Tuscany, don’t miss out on a chance to increase your experience of Italian cookery by having a personalised Tuscan cooking class at your vacation villa or agriturismo in Tuscany.

A very enjoyable part of your vacation in Tuscany can be to taste a range of Tuscan wines at the wineries that actually produce them. How to visit more than one winery, “taste” more than one wine, and still be able to get safely from one winery to the next? You could designate one of your group to not have any wine, but a great alternative is to hire a car with a driver-guide for a whole day.