How to Wine Taste in Italy Without Breaking the Bank

When planning my trip to Italy the number one thing I wanted to do was visit an Italian winery.  However, this was more challenging than I expected. My girlfriend, Morgan, and I had originally booked a tour to the Chianti wine region but once we got there it was canceled due to All Saints’ Day. We weren’t quite sure what to do next. I insisted on figuring out a way though and through a lot of research and a bit of whimsicalness we were able to go wine tasting.  

Failed first attempt

Originally I went through a tour company and scheduled a wine tour with a cooking class for about $100 each. This included transportation to and from central Florence. 

 I was bummed, but still determined to go wine tasting. I searched all through google, Pinterest and even Instagram trying to find the best way to go wine tasting in Italy. However, every option I found was more expensive than the original tour we had scheduled. I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on wine tasting since I live in California and can go wine tasting any day of the week.

We were also now in Venice rather than Florence and the wine region near us was focused on Prosecco, one of my favorite sparkling wines! There weren’t any trains that stopped directly in the towns where the wineries were and renting a taxi once you go to the nearest train station would cost over $50 an hour. So we decided to wing it and rent a car.

Successful second attempt

I originally thought you had to have an international drivers permit or license to rent a car in a foreign country. Thankfully, I was wrong. In Italy as long as you’re staying there for less than 3 months you only need your domestic drivers license to rent a car.

We rented our car through, Sixt because the pick up location was right by our hostel and they seemed to offer affordable prices. At first we were assigned a Fiat and were so excited to drive like real Italians. The fiat was a stick shift though and neither myself nor Morgan were very comfortable driving one on unfamiliar roads. So we went with the cheapest automatic which was an Audi, and we had no complaints. The total cost was about 55 euros or about $62.

This option may not be best for everyone, especially if you are a light weight. I encourage everyone who chooses this to drink responsibly and drive safely, and if you ever face any legal concerns regarding drinking and driving, consulting a personal injury lawyer can offer helpful guidance.

Once we rented the car we had to figure out where to go. I went back to a few blog posts and Yelp reviews I had looked at earlier and just started calling wineries with decent reviews. The first one that said they were open and accepted walk-ins we went to.

Cantina Borgoluce

The photos of Cantina Borgoluce were beautiful and it was only about 45 minutes outside of Venice. Once we got there we were blown away by the scenery. Catina Borgoluce is surrounded by Italian vineyards and towns that look like castles on hills. We were greeted by an Italian man who spoke little English but said he’d be happy to have us taste the wine. His coworker, who usually assists English speakers was out that day.

We tasted their amazing prosecco both of D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. regions. My understanding of these two types is the D.O.C.G. is the highest quality of Italian wines and D.O.C. is the second. Regardless of their designation we found all the wine to be delicious. We were also surprised by having one of the office workers who spoke more English offer to take us down into the cellars to show us where the prosecco was made.

The total cost for the tasting was only 5 euros each, but on the website you can book full experiences with tours of the vineyards and property for 15 euros. I also took home my favorite bottle of prosecco for only 10 euro!

Cantina Pizzolato

After leaving Borgoluce we mapped nearby wineries and began calling to see if anyone else would accept walk-ins. Thankfully Cantina Pizzolato said they would host us for a tasting even though they weren’t doing tours that day due to rain.

Cantina Pizzolato is an organic winery that has been making organic wine since 1991. While there, our kind tasting host let us choose which wines we wanted to try based on our preferences. I prefer dry sparkling wine, while Morgan prefers sweet wines. Our host also took us down to their barrel room and shared with us a new project the winemakers had been working on.

We had a fantastic experience there and found out that they actually sell their wines in many Whole Foods here in America. We brought home a couple mini bottles of prosecco along with an amaretto they make from the grape skins.  

Overall we had a fantastic day wine tasting in the country side of Italy. When we go back we both agreed it would be nice to visit and stay in the small towns closer to the wine regions of Italy rather than the major cities. We enjoyed our first trip to Italy and were able to do everything on our list.

So if you find yourself in Italy, unable to afford a wine tour but still wanting to go wine tasting I strongly suggest renting a car and heading out to the wineries yourself. The roads are pretty easy to navigate and it seems many wineries don’t mind drop in visitors, but it is always nice to call ahead to make sure. Also I linked the reservation pages of both wineries I went to above.

If you have any other questions let me know in the comments below.