Every September, for a few short weeks, the hills of Montalcino come alive with the most important moment of the wine year: the harvest of Sangiovese grapes for Brunello di Montalcino. This is when everything happens.
A whole year of work comes down to these few days: the long hours of winter pruning in the cold, the spring thinning of the clusters so the vine can focus its energy on fewer and better grapes, the endless walks through the rows under the scorching summer sun checking every leaf for signs of disease or parasites. Twelve months of care, fatigue and patience – and then, in September, the moment of truth. The vineyards glow gold under the late summer light, the cellars fill with the sweet smell of fresh must, and the whole town moves to the rhythm of the harvest.
This 4-day experience is your chance to be part of it. Not watching from a tasting room, not listening to a lecture but working in the vineyard with the owner, picking the grapes with your hands, carrying the baskets to the cellar, pressing the clusters and seeing the must flow into the tanks for the first time. You will understand with your body what no book or wine course can teach you: what it takes to make one of the greatest wines on Earth.
Brunello Harvest is our most immersive experience: four days and three nights based in Montalcino during the September harvest, the most exciting and critical moment of the wine year.
You will stay at a boutique hotel in the heart of the medieval old town, with the vineyards and the Val d’Orcia just below you. From here everything is within reach – the wineries, the restaurants, the enotecas, the evening passeggiata along the town walls at sunset.
The experience revolves around three pillars. The first is the harvest itself: a full morning working in the vineyard alongside the winemaker, picking Sangiovese grapes, bringing them to the cellar, pressing them and learning about the winemaking process from the inside. The second is the deep dive into Brunello: private visits to family wineries, barrel tastings of different vintages, and a grand comparative tasting of different Brunello wines with a local wine expert to understand how soil, exposure and philosophy shape the character of this extraordinary wine. The third is the table: harvest lunches with the family of the estate, a farewell dinner at a countryside farm with local winemakers opening old vintages of Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino, and free evenings to explore the trattorias and enotecas of Montalcino Old Town at your own pace.
Everything is taken care of. A private Mercedes vehicle and an English-speaking food and wine expert guide are with you throughout the tour. All lunches are included, the welcome and farewell dinners are included, and for the free evenings your guide will recommend the best spots in town and make the reservations for you. You just need to arrive in Montalcino on Thursday and we handle the rest.
The tour runs on two fixed dates next September and is limited to a small group of twelve guests maximum, with a guaranteed departure from four participants. This is not a private tour on demand – it is a seasonal experience tied to the actual harvest calendar, which makes it unique and unrepeatable. Once the grapes are picked, the moment is gone.
What's included
– Accommodation for 3 nights in an excellent boutique hotel with breakfast
– Private Mercedes Benz luxury vehicle
– English speaking food&wine expert guide-driver
– the harvest experience with the winemaker
– the barrel tasting experience
– the grand comparative Brunello tasting with Alessandro
– the tasting fees
– all the lunches (Friday harvest lunch + Saturday winery lunch)
– the welcome dinner with us
– the farewell tasting dinner with us and the the winemakers
– suggestions for the eventual dinner on your own on day 2
– all the taxes
– our consultancy and help before and during the tour
What's not included
– dinner on Day 2 (we will suggest a few options if interested)
– transfers to/from Montalcino (available on previous request)
Brunello Harvest 2026
BENVENUTI A MONTALCINO!
Welcome to Montalcino, the hilltop medieval town that produces one of the greatest wines on Earth: Brunello di Montalcino. You arrive at your own pace and check in at our boutique hotel in the heart of the old town.
The afternoon is yours to explore the narrow stone streets, the ancient fortress, the small wine shops where locals pour you a glass without rush. Take a walk along the town walls: from here you can see the entire valley, the vineyards turning gold in the September light, the rolling hills of Val d’Orcia stretching south towards Monte Amiata.
This is harvest time, and you can feel the energy in the air: tractors coming and going, the sweet smell of ripe grapes, winemakers with purple-stained hands greeting each other in the piazza.
In the evening we will all meet for a welcome dinner at one of our favourite spots in town, pairing great wines of Montalcino with local Tuscan dishes. This is where we get to know each other, share stories and start this adventure together.
THE HARVEST OF BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO
This is the day you came for! Early in the morning we pick you up and drive a few minutes into the countryside to reach the vineyard. The winemaker is waiting for us among the rows of Sangiovese vines, heavy with dark clusters of grapes ready to be picked. After a brief introduction to the tools and the technique, we get to work: hands in the leaves, clippers cutting the stems, filling the baskets one by one under the warm Tuscan sun. This is not a staged experience for tourists: this is the real harvest, and you are part of the crew today.
By late morning we carry the baskets to the cellar. Here the magic begins: we press the clusters, watch the must flow into the tanks, and the winemaker explains how fermentation will transform these sugars into alcohol over the coming weeks. You will understand with your hands what no book or tasting room can teach you.
Then comes the reward: a long, generous harvest lunch under the pergola with the family and friends of the estate, as tradition commands. The table is full of homemade Tuscan food, cured meats, pecorino cheese, fresh bread and olive oil. And the wines… the owner opens several old vintages of Brunello for the occasion, bottles that rarely leave the family cellar. You will drink wines that money cannot buy, sitting where the grapes were picked just hours before, looking at the same hills that gave life to what is in your glass. After a morning of honest work, this lunch will taste like nothing you have ever experienced.
We drive you back to the hotel in the afternoon for a well deserved rest. The evening is free for you to wander around Montalcino Old Town at sunset, maybe a glass of wine in the piazza, maybe a quiet dinner at one of the trattorias we will recommend, all within a short walk from your hotel.
BRUNELLO DEEP DIVE
Today we go deeper into the world of Brunello. In the morning we visit a great family winery for a private guided tour of the property: the vineyards, the olive groves, and most importantly the cellar, where rows of large Slavonian oak barrels and French barriques hold the future vintages of Brunello. Here we do something special: a barrel tasting of different vintages, drawing wine directly from the casks at different stages of ageing. You will taste the same wine after one year, after three years, after five, and suddenly you understand how time, wood and patience transform a young, rough wine into the complex, elegant Brunello that the world loves.
We follow up with a tasting lunch at a boutique winery, pairing their wines with local delicacies and splendid extra virgin olive oil from their own trees. The Tuscan countryside in September is at its most beautiful: golden light, warm air, silence broken only by the cicadas and the occasional rumble of a tractor bringing grapes to the cellar.
In the late afternoon, after some time to rest, we meet again for the grand finale: a comparative Brunello wine tasting led by Alessandro, one of the most knowledgeable wine experts in Montalcino, at his historic enoteca. Several different Brunello wines, each from a different soil, a different micro-area, a different philosophy. North slope versus south slope. Clay versus galestro. Young producers versus historic estates. This is the tasting that will change the way you think about Brunello forever.
And then, the farewell dinner at Locanda Demetra, our family farm, with Chiara, Giovanni, Alessandro and two local winemakers who join us to share their passion, their struggles and their joy of making wine in this extraordinary land.
The chefs prepare a special menu with ingredients from our garden and the farms around us, while we open old vintages of Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino, bottles with stories to tell. It is a dinner you will remember for a very long time.
ARRIVEDERCI!
After these intense days together you will leave Montalcino with stained hands, a full heart and a new understanding of what Brunello di Montalcino truly is. Not just a wine, but a place, a community, a way of life.
After check-out we can help you with transfers to your next destination, whether it is Florence, Rome, the coast or another corner of Italy. Or perhaps you will want to stay a little longer… Montalcino has a way of not letting you go.
Pickup Points: Montalcino, ask for a different pickup.
Departures: September 17th and 24th, 2026
Season: Fall
Would you like to modify this tour or design your own experience in Tuscany?
Let us know your needs and wishes and we will tailor the perfect program for your trip to Italy.
