Itinerary

A Week of Tuscan Food and Wine Adventures

Mornings are spent roaming the countryside on foot to visit the bakery, or winery, or the local culinary herbalist.

Back in the kitchen, we prepare for the day's classes. A course each day, starting with antipasti, then primo piatto, secondo piatto, e dolce – dessert – to take us to the end of the week. Each of these comprehensive, hands-on classes
will end with an exciting meal, cooked with local ingredients and local authentic techniques. Sitting down to enjoy the food and wine choices together puts a finishing touch on the day.

We explore hill towns for tastings, as well as Florence, to visit some of its best wine and specialty food shops, and a few of the great winebars and trattorias.

We’ll eat at a local and very traditional agriturismo restaurant in the countryside, where everything comes from the farm and is prepared by the family who produces it.
Focus on Wine

Spend time with Laine and Bernardo to review the basics of tasting. We will discuss how to distinguish the profile of a wine based on its color, density in the glass, smell, and finally, taste. We will also learn the various characteristics of traditional grapes of the Tuscan region: Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Colorino, Ciliegiolo (representing the traditional contingent), and Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (representing the currently admitted international contingent), among the red varietals, as well as several whites, including Trebbiano, Vernaccia, Vermentino and Malvasia.

We will visit small and large wine growers and producers in the Chianti Classico region whose families have passed on, from generation to generation, the passion and tradition of winemaking. We will learn about the history of their family properties, visit vineyards and cellars that are generally inaccessible to the public, and, of course, taste their wines. Chianti Classico is located in the true heart of Tuscan wine country, and is one of the most celebrated growing areas in all of Tuscany, Italy, and the world.

Take a walking tour through olive groves and out into the countryside to gain a better understanding of the terroir. With a local guide, we can spend a few hours identifying herbs, fruits and other plants of the region to determine their olfactory presence in the wines we taste.

Visit Siena’s famous Enoteca Italiana, an Italian wine museum housed in a 16th century Fortezza Medicea. We will tour the grounds and see the 1200 different wine labels that are stored in the amazing cellar underneath. After our visit we can soak up a bit of Sienese sun with a glass of wine on the terrace.

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