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Marisa
What an amazing day with Olivia! We were a group of four and absolutely loved our trip. I do not drink wine and especially do not really enjoy red wine but the rest of my group loves all wine so we thought we would all go together. I cannot say that I am completely converted to the red wine team but I absolutely learned to enjoy a lovely bottle of Chianti and positively loved our wine tour. The day began with a quick stop at the Michelangelo's balcony(a site we would have missed without the tour and would have been very sad about this) then off to an amazing large winery. Olivia taught us all how to properly taste (well at our beginner level at least) our wine and answered every single one of our questions. After this tasting we were taken to a lovely restaurant where we had some AMAZING food (I swear I'm still dreaming about the bruschetta we were served it was the best thing I've ever tasted) We had a lovely meal and wine during lunch and were able to get to know the other members of our tour better (we were a total of 8). We then went off to a smaller winery (my favourite) where we got a great tour by the owner Marco. To say that Marco is a character would be an understatement. It was wonderful to hear him talk about his business and his life, everything was so passionate and entertaining. He was truely a highlight of our trip. I simply cannot recommend this tour or Olivia more. If you are reading this because you have yet to make your mind up then you must go ahead and book your tour it is absolutely the best decision you'll make for our trip!
Thank you to Angie for dealing with all of my crazy emails and a very big thank you to Olivia for your wonderful company, excellent knowledge, and spot on advice! We will always remember our day in the Tuscan wineries!!
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Justin & Wendy
One of the most amazing experiences of our life. The wine, the scenery..incredible. My wife and I took the Chianti Classico tour in late May and were amazed by how well planned the day was. Olivia was our tour guide and an incredible wealth of knowledge. We met Marco at the first winery we visited and what a character he turned out to be. Great sense of humor and a gracious host. Lunch was at a beautiful villa-style restaurant in the hills and we finished the day visiting Francesca at her family's vineyard. The wine was so incredible we ended up have two cases shipped home. Thought we knew what good vino tasted like...boy were we wrong. We will never forget our trip and how thankful we are to Angie for making Tuscany the highlight of our honeymoon.
Ciao!
-Justin & Wendy
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Ellen B.
I had the pleasure to take a wine tour with Angie in November. It was one of the best parts of my trip to Italy. She knows her wine and could answer any and all questions. We visited two great wineries and sampled lots of wonderful wines. I loved that there was no pressure to purchase but I did manage to bring home a couple of bottles of amazing Chianti.
The tour is a great way to see the Tuscany countryside with interesting places pointed out along the way. Angie was personable, knowledgeable and made the three of us on the tour feel comfortable and glad we were there.
I highly recommend Angie and her wine tour. It was time well spent, as well as being a good value for the money, plus I learned a lot about wine and Italy. Lunch in the castle was fun and delicious too!
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Armand A. Gonzalzles July 2011
I did the Chianti Wines & Castles tour in July. Francesca our tour guide was excellent. A chef and Sommelier Francesca was able to explore with us the history, documentation and control of Wines produced in Tuscany and Italy as a whole. Francesca was very personable and knew the vineyards and their owners like Family. We visited a castle in Greve and Francesca explained the history and growth of the area and how the boundaries of Tuscany were formed. We had 7 people in out tour group and we were able to find a common ground for discussions around the wine tastings and lunch. The Vineyard owners were also very friendly and shared their histories and wine making techniques with the group. They also explained in more detail the DOC and DOCG designations and the importance of that pink and white label on the necks of the chianti bottles. I bought a case of wine from each of the two vineyards we visited and look forward to sharing a bit of Tuscany with my family and friends. Yes, I will do the tour again.
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Cliff
My wife and I tok her tour in June of 2011. It was great. I actually hated red wine until this tour, now all I drink is chianti. We spent 10 days in Italy and probably the best food was lunch that Angie took us too. She was great to ride with and learned a lot. I would absolutely recommend this tour to anybody.
Also agree that there was no pressure to buy wine at all. We ended up getting some as well. This tour was definitely on of the high lights of our trip.
Cliff 2011
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courtney & liz October 2011
This is a great tour! Angie was so nice and knew everything about the region and wines we tasted. I loved being in a small group, and going to the family run wineries. Everyone we met was very friendly! A must do for your visit to Florence!
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Don and Rosie
We had an excellent wine tour to several Monalcino wineries with Francesca. Excellent contacts with winemakers and a thoroughly knowledgeable and professional guide. Francesca has everything needed for a guide--language skills, technical skills re. winemakeing and Italy, and a pleasant and interesting person. Would definately suggest using her.
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Kevin and Theresa Madden
We spent a wonderful day with Angie going through the Tuscan countryside. This was truly one of the highlights of our trip. It was fascinating to visit the winemakers and see how they work and produce the wine. We went on the Chianti tour this July 2011, next time I would like to try the Brunello tour. It was well done and well paced. If your looking at this web-site trying to decide if you should do it - go for it. I was in the same spot about 6 weeks ago and I'm really glad we signed up with Angie's tour - I rarely write reviews either.
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Gregory Groom
Our group of five friends spent a wonderful day with Francesca (one of Angie's tour guides) learning, tasting & discussing Italian wines & many other things Italian. We are all interested in wine & had experienced several "good" Italian wines at home in Australia but the knowledge imparted by Francesca, the winemakers & tasting the wines were a revelation! We will definitely try to source the better quality wines back home. The two wineries we visited on our Chianti Classico tour were both excellent with a very welcoming reception & a real interest in explaining these wonderful wines. Lunch in Greve in Chianti was lovely. To cap it off Francesca stopped on the way back at an excellent vantage point to get some great photos of Firenze from an elevated position. Another added bonus, for us, was that Francesca had lived for several years in New Zealand & visited Australia so had some familiarity with our local wines.
If you are wondering whether to take one of these tours, our recommendation would be - DO IT!
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Lisa, May 2011
Do not miss a tour with Angie. She is an expert on wines and very knowledgable about the Tuscany region. The wineries we visited were fantastic and lunch was delicious! We even visited a castle! A perfectly delightful day!
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