November 1-7, 2026: a week from North to Central Italy discovering our two most important wines
Barolo & Brunello. Two wines. Two regions. One unforgettable week. This tour takes you from the gentle hills of the Langhe, where Nebbiolo becomes Barolo, to the rolling countryside of Montalcino, where Sangiovese becomes Brunello. In between, a passage through the food paradise of Emilia Romagna. It is a journey through the very heart of Italian winemaking, and we will be by your side from start to finish.
You will visit eight outstanding wineries in the most prestigious communes of Barolo and Montalcino, taste wines directly with the people who make them, eat at tables where the food speaks the same language as the wine, and walk through vineyards that have been producing great bottles for over a century.
We designed this tour for wine lovers who want more than a tasting room. If you have ever dreamed of comparing Barolo and Brunello side by side through its most beautiful landscapes, of drinking wines you cannot find at home, this is your chance. Come with us!
Join us November 1-7, 2026 –> Book Now
or GO PRIVATE! Contact us to reserve a custom departure on your preferred dates
Accommodation: Nice central hotels in the city of Alba in Piedmont and in the Old Town of Montalcino in Tuscany
HIGHLIGHTS
- Visit some of the best wineries in Piedmont and in Tuscany
- Taste prestigious Barolo and Brunello wines directly with the producers
- Our expert escorting guidance during the week
- Enjoy the beauty of Italian countryside in the fall
- Great regional dishes in both regions
- Access some of the best wines in the world with expert winery guide
- Private luxury vehicle with English-speaking guide for entire week
What's included
- accommodation for 6 nights with breakfast: boutique luxury central hotels in the city of Alba in Piedmont and in the Old Town of Montalcino in Tuscany
- transportation by luxury Mercedes Benz vehicles
- English speaking food and wine expert tour leader
- 8 private tours and seated tastings in the best cellars of Piedmont and Montalcino
- all the 5 lunches with wine
- 3 dinners with great Barolo and Brunello wines
- the guided wine tasting by the shop in Montalcino
- reservations for dinner in selected top restaurants (order a la carte and pay directly on spot)
- eventual personalized assistance for buying and safely shipping wines back home
- reservations, taxes, programs and our pampering care!
What's not included
- any additional services to extend the trip
- tips
Barolo & Brunello 2026
Day 1, Sunday – BENVENUTI!
Welcome to Alba, the charming capital of the Langhe and the gateway to one of the most prestigious wine regions on Earth. You arrive at your own pace and check in at our boutique hotel in the heart of the town. The afternoon is yours to wander the narrow medieval streets, browse the food shops full of hazelnuts and chocolate, sit at a cafe in the main piazza and watch the slow Piedmontese life go by. Alba is a small town with an outsized reputation: this is where Barolo begins, where the white truffle is celebrated every autumn, where some of the best restaurants in Italy hide behind unassuming facades. Take your time, walk the porticos, peek into the old churches, and let the beauty of this place settle in.
In the evening we all gather for our welcome dinner at a warm, elegant restaurant with traditional Piedmontese specialities. This is where we get to know each other, share stories and start this adventure together. The first glass of Nebbiolo, the first plate of tajarin al burro, the first conversation around the table. The week begins here.
Day 2, Monday – BAROLO, THE KING OF ITALIAN WINES
After breakfast we drive into the heart of the Langhe wine region: the Barolo area, where the most prestigious Nebbiolo wines in the world are born. You will be surrounded by beautiful vineyards cured like gardens, medieval castles perched on hilltops, and a landscape so perfect it feels almost unreal. This is UNESCO World Heritage territory, and you understand why the moment you see it.
Our first visit is at one of the oldest family wineries in the village of Barolo, owners of vineyards since 1885 including one of the most legendary crus of the entire appellation. They farm organically, they age in large Slavonian oak casks, they bottle without filtering. The style is traditional, transparent, unforgettable. You will taste how a single grape can express itself in completely different ways depending on the soil it grows in, just a few hundred metres apart.
We stop in La Morra to take in the incredible panoramic view of the Langhe hills, the vineyards stretching in every direction, the distant snow-capped Alps on the horizon. Then lunch at a panoramic restaurant perched on the hilltop, with a terrace that feels like eating on top of the world. Piedmontese cuisine at its best: handmade pasta, slow-cooked meat, local cheese, and wines that match every bite.
In the afternoon we visit a historic estate dating back to 1890, with some of the finest crus in the Barolo appellation. A family that turned a winery into a jewel of the Langhe, producing wines from legendary vineyards that have been documented since the 18th century. You will walk through the cellars, taste the different expressions of Nebbiolo across their single-vineyard Barolos, and understand why this area has been obsessing wine lovers for centuries.
The evening is free for you to explore Alba on your own. We will suggest our favourite spots for dinner, all within a short walk from your hotel.
Day 3, Tuesday – THE STRUCTURED SIDE OF BAROLO
Today we move to the eastern communes of the Barolo appellation, where the soils are richer in limestone and clay and the wines take on a more powerful, structured character. This is the other face of Barolo: less immediately charming perhaps, but deeper, more complex, built to age for decades.
In the morning we visit a fourth-generation family winery in Serralunga d’Alba, where the winemaker crafts powerful, elegant Barolos from prestigious south-facing vineyards. His wines are a perfect expression of the Serralunga terroir: structured, mineral, precise. And there is a surprise: he also produces one of the finest Rieslings in Italy, grown in the high hills of the Alta Langa. It is a wine that opens your eyes to the versatility of Piedmont beyond Nebbiolo.
Lunch is at a cozy trattoria in the heart of Monforte d’Alba, with honest home cooking and local wines. The kind of place where the menu changes every day depending on what the market offers, the portions are generous and the wine list is full of treasures at fair prices.
In the afternoon we visit an organic estate in Monforte, pioneers of sustainable viticulture in Barolo since 1996. Their vineyards are located in two of the most famous crus of the commune, and their wines are the result of decades of careful farming and a deep respect for the land. You will taste how organic viticulture can produce wines of extraordinary purity and depth, without compromising the power and structure that Monforte is known for.
The evening is free again. Alba at night has its own charm: the stone streets softly lit, the restaurants filling up, the sound of laughter spilling out of the old osterie.
Day 4, Wednesday – PASSAGE IN EMILIA ROMAGNA
After check-out we leave Piedmont and drive south towards Tuscany. Half way, we stop in Modena, one of the great food capitals of Italy. You will have free time to explore the city and have lunch at one of Italy’s most beautiful covered food markets, a paradise of local delicacies: Parmigiano Reggiano aged for years, prosciutto sliced paper-thin, balsamic vinegar dark and dense as molasses, tortellini made by hand every morning. This is Emilia Romagna, the region that invented half of what the world thinks of as Italian food.
After lunch we follow up our trip crossing the Appennini mountains. The landscape changes as we leave the flat Po Valley behind and climb into the green hills of Tuscany. The light shifts, the air warms, and suddenly you see the first olive groves and the first cypress trees lining the white dirt roads. Welcome in Tuscany.
We arrive in Montalcino in the late afternoon and check in at our boutique hotel in the Old Town. Montalcino is a small hilltop fortress town surrounded by vineyards on every side, the kind of place where you can walk everywhere, where the piazza is the centre of life, and where every restaurant has a wine list that would make a sommelier weep. Take a walk along the town walls before dinner: from here you can see the entire Val d’Orcia stretching south towards Monte Amiata, the old volcano sacred to the Etruscans.
In the evening we dine together at a refined little gem tucked in the alleys of Montalcino, with a superb wine list and seasonal Tuscan dishes. After the richness of Piedmont, the Tuscan table comes as a beautiful contrast: simpler, more direct, but no less extraordinary. Different land, different kitchen, different wines. The conversation begins.
Day 5, Thursday – MONTALCINO AND THE BRUNELLO
It is time to enter Brunelloland. Today your English-speaking food and wine guide-driver picks you up and we begin our exploration of the Brunello di Montalcino appellation, home to one of the greatest Sangiovese wines on Earth.
Our first visit is at one of the most historic estates in Montalcino, with roots back to the 17th century and noble origins linked to a Pope. The property sits on the south-east hillside, where the warm microclimate and the mineral soils produce wines of extraordinary richness and depth. You will tour the vineyards, the cellar, and taste their Brunello alongside the Rosso di Montalcino and other wines of the estate. This is a place where history and wine are inseparable.
We stop at the Abbey of Sant’Antimo, a Romanic gem in the middle of the Tuscan countryside. This ancient church, built with luminous alabaster stone, has been the spiritual heart of this land for over a thousand years. You will have free time to visit the abbey, take photos, and simply absorb the silence and the beauty of this place. Few spots in Tuscany are more moving than Sant’Antimo in the November light.
Lunch is at a lovely countryside spot surrounded by olive groves, with homemade, field-to-table delicacies and a great al fresco view on the hills. The kind of meal where everything on the table was grown within a few kilometres of where you are sitting, and the olive oil is so fresh it burns your throat.
In the afternoon we visit a family of ancient Venetian and English origin settled in Montalcino since the early 1900s. Their vineyards sit on the eastern slope of the hill, where the classic exposure for Brunello produces some of the most elegant and long-living wines of the entire appellation. These are wines that reward patience: complex, layered, with a depth that reveals itself slowly. The owner’s passion for quality is absolute, to the point that in difficult vintages they choose not to produce any Brunello at all rather than compromise the name.
We drive you back to the hotel in the late afternoon. The evening is free for you to explore Montalcino Old Town on your own, maybe a glass of wine in the piazza, maybe a quiet dinner at one of the trattorias we will suggest, all within a short walk from your hotel.
Day 6, Friday – THE MAGIC OF SANGIOVESE
There are more than 230 wineries in Montalcino producing Brunello, but outside Italy you probably have access to just the 30 most famous brands. Today we show you the other side: the secret, soulful side of the Brunello universe.
In the morning we visit a cult Brunello producer. The owner comes from a family of sharecroppers who worked these hills long before the wine boom made Montalcino famous. He has been in the vineyards since childhood, learning from the greatest winemakers of his generation, and today his wines are among the most sought-after in all of Montalcino. A tiny production, extraordinary quality, and a man whose passion for this land is written in every glass. You will taste his Brunello alongside his other wines and understand why collectors around the world fight over his bottles.
Lunch is at Locanda Demetra, our family farm in the countryside of Montalcino. The chefs prepare homemade delicacies from field to table, using ingredients from the garden and the farms around us. You eat under the shed with a view on the rolling hills of the Val d’Orcia that never gets old. This is not a restaurant meal, this is like eating at someone’s home, the way Italians do on Sunday when the whole family gathers. The wines of the estate do the rest.
In the afternoon comes a visit you will not forget: a medieval castle where an astronomer, musician and winemaker crafts perfumed, soulful Brunellos following the lunar cycle. His daughter will guide you through the property, the vineyards on the southern slopes, the ancient tower dating back to the 13th century, and a tasting that is more of a philosophical conversation about wine, nature and time. Each vintage of their Riserva carries a different label depicting an astronomical event that occurred during the harvest. This is not just winemaking. This is poetry with roots in the earth and eyes on the stars.
In the late afternoon we meet for the grand finale: a comparative Brunello wine tasting led by Alessandro at his historic enoteca in the main square of Montalcino. 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 ties everything together and changes the way you think about Brunello forever.
Then the farewell dinner at a lively enoteca with soul, great food and an endless selection of local wines. We open old vintages of Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino, bottles with stories to tell, and we toast to this week together. From Nebbiolo to Sangiovese, from the Alps to the Val d’Orcia, from Alba to Montalcino. It is a dinner you will remember for a very long time.
Day 7, Saturday – ARRIVEDERCI!
After a week together you will leave with a deeper understanding of what Italian wine truly is. Not just two great bottles side by side, but two worlds, two landscapes, two philosophies, two ways of being. Barolo and Brunello are not just wines. They are places, communities, stories that have been unfolding for centuries. And now you have been inside them.
After check-out we drive you to Florence, where you can connect to the rest of your trip to Italy or fly back home. Or perhaps you will want to stay a little longer. Italy has a way of not letting you go.
Alba, Barolo, Serralunga d’Alba, La Morra, Langhe, Piedmont, Modena, Montalcino, Tuscany
Piedmont: Foothill Alpine landscape made of vineyards, little villages and the beauty crown of the snowy mountains in the background.
Tuscany: famous rolling hills with forests, olive groves, vineyards and their farmhouses.
Cow milk cheese from the Alps & sheep milk cheese from Tuscany, honey, saffron, Prosciutto di Parma & Prosciutto Toscano, truffles, pasta and much more…
Typical Piedmont and Tuscan cuisine, gourmet restaurants in the Langhe area and little traditional osteria and trattoria in the middle of the countryside
FAQ
Can you pick us up/ drop off in Florence/Rome/Milano/etc …?
Yes of course. We will provide you, before the booking, a specific quote for this extra service.
Can we ship wine back home?
Yes: we will assist you during the purchase and we can also store all your bottles by our refrigerated deposit in Montalcino until you will be back at home to receive the shipment.
Pickup Points: ask for a different pickup, Alba.
Departures: November 1-7, 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.
