Italian Wine Travel Guide 2025 - Find Memorable Wine Tours and Winery Tastings in Italy
Bolgheri
wine tasting tours for 2024
On to Bolgheri. While driving on the Viale dei Cipressi, you will feel part of a beautiful postcard. A happy moment to share with your closest friends and family members. On your way to one of best wine regions in Tuscany.
Not many are familiar with Bolgheri wines yet. On this page, I will highlight the most important information for you. So that you can become familiar with the special wines made here during your visit to this region of Tuscany.
I will take you inside the world of Super Tuscans and will tell you how the Italian winemakers from Bolgheri managed to shake off the label of cheap and simple wine during the 1960s and 1970s.
And were you aware that you can also perfectly combine this wine region with a beach holiday on the Tuscan west coast?
Come, join me.
Discover the Bolgheri wine region and its special wines
The Bolgheri wines (and the story of the Super Tuscans)
From roughly 1960 to 1980, Italian winemaking went through a major development, especially in Piedmont and Tuscany. Until that time, the majority of Italian wine was mainly cheap and simple. The arrival of the Sassicaia (from Bolgheri) and the Tignanello (from the Chianti region) changes everything.
The rise of the Sassicaia
It was Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta of the Tenuta San Guido wine estate who used his affection for French Bordeaux wines to start growing the Cabernet grape variety. In 1968, the first Sassicia was released; it became a sensation straight away. Also abroad. All of a sudden, wine from Italy appeared to be competitive with the established high quality from the Bordeaux wine region. Some 20 years later, in 1985, the Sassicaia even received a rating above the French wines.
The Sassicaia was made without the Sangiovese grape that is widely grown in Italy -and especially Tuscany-. Furthermore, the grape trusses were deliberately kept small, improving the quality per truss. Finally, smaller barrels (225 litres) of French oak were used to age the wine rather than the traditional large 1,000-litre barrels. Because its specifications differed from the common wines in the Italian classification system, the wine was marketed as a 'table wine'. So below the DOCG, DOC and IGT wines.
Further on, you can read more about the Bolgheri, the Sassica and other Super Tuscan wines...
Remarkable Bolgheri wine tasting tours
There is a good chance you have ended up on this page to see which wine tours and tastings you can book. If you opt for convenience, there are a large number of tour providers who will take you to Bolgheri's finest wineries. But of course, you can also search for the nicest wineries yourself and book your tasting with them.
Tasting wine in and around Bolgheri
If you don't have a lot of time to check out the tours and tastings around Bolgheri yourself, you can contact one of the many local or regional wine tour guides.
For example, you can contact Francesca and Margarethe's Bolgheri Wine Tours. They have various options to guide you for a full or half day and let you discover the area -and especially the wines. Besides the wine tours and the wine & food tours, you can also go on a wine tasting by bike under expert guidance. Apart from that, Bolgheri Wine Tours also allows you to hire a chef (for a private cooking class in your accommodation nearby) or you can learn how to make your own wine and create the blend that suits you best. In other words, there are plenty of choices.
Furthermore, you can go for an organised wine tour and tasting at Fufluns by Filippo Magnani. Customised wine tours in both Bolgheri and other parts of Tuscany and Italy.
Another option in Bolgheri is to book a tour made by
Tuscan Food Tours from Chicca Maione. From a half-day Bolgheri wine tour to a full-day extended food and wine tour where you'll also visit a Bolgheri vineyard...
FULL DAY
Superior Bolgheri wine tour with lunch
7 hours - two wineries w. top wine tasting - fine restaurant lunch -
More information...
From € 350 p.p.
Tour guide: Bolgheri Wine Tours
PRIVATE TOUR
Customized Bolgheri Wine tasting tour
private wine tour can be highly customized
More information...
From: ask for quotation
Tour guide: Fufluns
HALF DAY / FULL DAY
Bolgheri Wine & Bike tour with wine tasting
4 or 8 hours - highly customizable
More information...
From € 100 p.p.
Tour guide: Bolgheri Wine Tours
FULL DAY
Bolgheri Food & Wine + Vineyard visit
7 hours - several tasting stops - Vineyard visit -
More information...
From € 180 p.p.
Tour guide: Tuscan Food & Wine Tours
Bolgheri wine tours from Florence
FULL DAY
Bolgheri Wine Tour from Florence
9 hours - transport - light lunch - 2 wineries
More information...
From: ask for quotation
Tour guide: Tuscany Tour Time
PRIVATE TOUR
Bolgheri - Super Tuscan Wine Tour from Florence
9 hours - airco minivan - exclusive tasting
More information...
From € 119 p.p. (excl. tasting fees)
Tour guide: Avventure Bellissime
EXCLUSIVE
Private Bolgheri & Super Tuscans wine tasting tour
9 hours - 2 wineries - gourmet lunch
More information...
From € 550 p.p. (min. 8 people for tour)
Tour guide: Italy & Wine
FROM FLORENCE
Bolgheri and Super Tuscan wine tour
9 hours - 2 wineries - transport...
From: ask for quotation
Tour guide: Tours in Tuscany
Tasting great Bolgheri wines at Agriturismo Tra gli Ulivi - Azienda Chiappini
The Super Tuscan wines
Simultaneously with the rise of the Sassicaia, a second 'new' wine was emerging in another part of Tuscany. At the already 500-year-old Antinori winery, there was a great deal of experimentation with Chianti wine. New, more modern techniques were used in fermentation and ageing (in barriques). Furthermore, only the very best grapes from the Tignanello vineyard were used, where Cabernet Sauvignon, among others, was grown. This eventually led to a modified Chianti variant in 1975 where the white grapes (which were a small part of the blend with mainly Sangiovese) were replaced by the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. As the existing guidelines were not followed in this case either, the wine - although superior in quality - also ended up on the market as a table wine.
Chianti and Bolgheri emerged as the winemaking regions of innovations. With an ambition to surpass the established (French) establishment with new high-quality wines.
Since then, there are -in addition to the Sassicaia from Bolgheri and the Tignanello from Chianti- many well-known top wines on the market that were given the name Super Tuscans. People sometimes refer to them as a 'Big 5 Super Tuscans'.
- Sassicaia
- Tignanello
- Solaia
- Masseto
- Ornellaia
In addition, the 'Tuscan Reds' below can also be considered among the top Super Tuscan wines:
- Le Pergole Torte
- Lupicaia
- Messorio
- Colore
In the Bolgheri wine region -which is ultimately what this page is about- the following well-known top wines are produced:
- Sassicaia (Tenuta San Guido)
- Ornellaia
- Masseto
- Lodovico (Tenuta del Nicchio)
- Biserno (Tenuta di Biserno)
- Messorio (Le Macchiole)
And of course many, many more.
Wine festivals in Bolgheri and surroundings
The biggest wine festival in Bolgheri is undoubtedly Bolgheri DiVino. The first version of the festival took place in 2021. Since then, the wineries and many enthusiasts celebrate the beginning of the harvest with each other every year.
La Cena sul Viale - part of the Bolgheri Divino wine festival in 2021 (photo credit Bolgheri Consortium)
Bolgheri wineries and the Bolgheri wine consortium
Most of the wineries (73 to be precise) in the Bolgheri wine region are members of the Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Bolgheri e Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC.
The many wine consortia in Italy provide a joining of forces to protect and jointly promote regional wines outside the territory. In the Bolgheri region, the wine consortium has been around since 1995.
The red Bolgheri wines are generally a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc and Merlot. These are then complemented by a smaller amount of Syrah, Petit Verdot and very occasionally Sangiovese. The blend is therefore very similar to French wines from the Bordeaux wine region.
From around 1994, the Bolgheri DOC wine label was introduced and wines from Bolgheri became part of the Italian wine quality system. The Sassicaia was a subzone of the Bolgheri DOC. As of 2013, the Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC is now a quality label of its own. By the way, the Bolgheri Sassicaia may only be produced by Tenuta San Guido.
Among red wines, Bolgheri Superiore and Bolgheri Sassicaia are the best wines, closely followed by the Bolgheri Rosso.
The main grape in Bolgheri white wines is Vermentino. The two most important grape varieties occasionally used in the blend are Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.
Check out the production rules for the
Bolgheri DOC (red, rosé and white) and the
Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC.
Bolgheri wineries wine tastings
Compared to the rest of Tuscany (and Italy), opportunities for tastings are scarcer. And considerably more expensive. This is obviously due to the exclusivity and price of the better Bolgheri wines. As a result, the cost for a guided tour with tasting can quickly add up.
On the Consortium's website, you can see which 41 wineries (out of 73) offer a wine tasting. I have already made a small selection for you from this list. So that you can quickly select where you want to go for a tasting.
Here are a few -famous and less well-known- Bolgheri wineries you can visit for a tour or wine tasting.
Wine resorts near Bolgheri to stay over (after your wine tasting...)
What could be more relaxing -and safer- than staying for the night at a winery. There is a wide range of accommodations at wineries available. From a luxury wine resort to an affordable agriturismo linked to one of the region's many wineries. Below are a few options to choose from.
BIBBONA
Agriturismo Tra gli Ulivi - Azienda Chiappini
Restaurant: no
Swimming Pool: yes
Discover the wine tasting tours
Visit the website
CASTAGNETO CARDUCCI
Azienda Agricola La Cipriana
Restaurant: no
Swimming Pool: yes
Discover the wine tasting tours
Visit the website
BIBBONA
Relais Sant'Elena - Tenuta Gardini
Restaurant: yes
Swimming Pool: yes
Discover the wine tasting tours
Visit the website
CAMPIGLIA MARITTIMA
Castello Bonario & Montesolaio
Restaurant: yes
Swimming Pool: yes
Discover the wine tasting tours
Visit the website
Tuscan wine regions nearby
If you wish to combine the Bolgheri wine region with any other Tuscan wine region, there are a couple of interesting options nearby.
The closest are the wine towns of San Gimignano (delicious white wine and a beautiful town), Montalcino and Montepulciano. The latter are both home to excellent red wine. At Montalcino, it's the Brunello di Montalcino wine. And in Montepulciano you can discover and taste the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
Slightly above both cities, you will find the charming Chianti Classico wine region. Surrounding the Chianti Classico area (roughly situated between Florence and Siena) are the remaining Chianti sub-zones. You can read all about them on the Chianti wine region page.
More details on the above wine regions and the delicious wines you will be able to discover and enjoy can be found in the new Florence & Tuscany wine travel guide.
On to Bolgheri and Tuscany....
Hope you have enough inspiration for your next wine adventure and can make unforgettable new memories in Bolgheri and its surroundings.
I look forward to any new tips and suggestions I can include on this page to provide even more choice for the next group of Bolgheri lovers.
Have a great time.
Ciao.
Publication date: July 2024 (v1) article by Dennis Woudt
Avinturo is an Italian wine travel guide, packed with great tips about the many unique wine tastings tours in Italy.
Celebrate with locals at one of their great wine festivals. Visit one of the many famous wine regions. Or discover the countless hidden gems of undiscovered local wine regions with its unknown wines. Made from one of the many autochthonous grape varieties that Italy has.
Let yourself be guided along one of the nearly 100 official wine roads or plan your own winery tasting by visiting one of the thousands of Italian wineries. Be surprised by their hospitality and delicious wines. Discover and enjoy.
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