Everyone knows when you go to Tuscany, you drink wine and lots of it! Read below to find out how to get the best wine tasting, straight from the locals! Follow our lead and you’ll experience the best one, guaranteed 😉

Usually, wine tours and tastings are booked in advance and can range anywhere from €40 to €150 per person, depending on the included services. We, however, decided to take the impromptu route and book one the day-of, while hoping for the best. We thought it would be cool to check out the vineyard that produces the wine we were planning to serve at our wedding, so we called up a Frescobaldi vineyard nearby, Castello di Nipozzano.

We got incredibly lucky! We were told that on Saturday they don’t have tours, but we were more than welcome to stop by the shop and purchase and/or taste any open bottles they might have available! So, we hopped in our rental car and drove 20 minutes to the winery and were blown away with what happened next.

We walked in and were shocked to find the store COMPLETELY EMPTY! I mean, it was a Saturday after all so we thought it would be packed! We introduced ourselves and were told to sit down; next thing we know we were served with wine glasses, then the bottles started coming!

Over the next 2 hours, we chatted with our “guide” and tasted 9 different wines, from the cheapest to most expensive and learned all about the production and differences of the wines. It had turned into a full-on tasting (she even apologized for not having any hors-d’oeuvres available, which we of course were not expecting!)

We ended up leaving with 4 bottles for the remainder of our trip, and even sent 6 bottles back to America!! It was still daylight, so once we left, we walked off the buzz and explored the grounds which is home to a castle as well. It was a perfect evening and was SO much more than we ever thought we would experience!

Moral of the story, Italians love their wine and are proud to share it, so even something as simple as picking out wine from the shop turns into an experience where you are shown the delicious wines. The best part- it cost us $0, if you don’t include the wine we purchased!!!! 😉

OH, and we also found our wedding wine 🙂 Prego!

Be sure to check out the gallery below…And if you’re looking for other things to do in Italy, read this info about Rome.