Over the last few years we have been asked by clients to organise tailor made tours and trips focused more on wine and fine dining than hands on cooking.
We have done this in the Tuscan regions of the Lucchese hills, Chianti Classico and La Maremma, Umbria and in Piedmont in association with Berry Brothers and Rudd, wine merchants.
The tours are usually over a long weekend or two/three days midweek if the trip is corporate based.
Tours and tasting at top wineries are combined with top regional restaurants to provide the best dining and wining experience the regions have to offer.
Cookery, golf and shopping can all be added to the mix to cater for particular groups.

Martin Saxon is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and a specialist in wines and regional food of Italy. See below for some sample itineries and comments from clients.

Some feedback

"Dear Martin,
Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed the Veneto & The Wine tour.
It was interesting & informative & I am so glad to be reunited with Soave wines again after giving them up 15 years or more ago.
We were lucky to be able to be part of such a happy group & it was a joy to see how much Michael was enjoying it all.
Please thank everyone on your team & also the dedicated winemakers & restaurateurs that we visited & who made us so welcome.
Barry & Janet Brandon”

“Michael and I do want to thank you, and Sarah too for all her behind
the scenes work, for an absolutely wonderful trip. Everyone in the
group is still marvelling at the great places we went to and the
wonderful meals. As they organize all their photos at home, each
moment is recalled and remembered with pleasure.
Thank you again.
Very best regards,
Gia”

Good Evening Martin
We really enjoyed our all-too-short visit together, look forward to duplicating the experience some time very soon (see attached) and would have loved to meet your family and finally, enjoyed your cooking too! Well, three out of four ain't bad!!
You are a special part of our extended family; and for that we are lucky indeed - (memo to self - get a glass of wine before getting too soppy).
Kindest Personal Regards
Steve & Terrie

Sorry to be so long in thanking you for a most delicious week in Tuscany. Must tell you that I have been on at least ten such "eating and drinking as much as you can" weeks and yours was extremely well done...and the most intelegent of them all! Am really impressed with your knowledge of wines...etc. etc. Again...know how impressed I am with the way you handled the group...the itinerary...the staff...the transport...and the fun... to say nothing about the great food and wine! Everything was superb! Thanks again. Pepe Burns

Sample schedule

Day 1 Monday

Depart Venice Tronchetto
Tasting and Tour
Casa Roma
San Polo di Piave
Cousins Adriano and Gigi Perruzetto oversee this small 18 hectare vineyard and winery that is dedicated to the white and red wines and indigenous grape varieties of the zone, particularly Raboso, Marzemina Bianca and Verduzzo. These wines were in danger of disappearing 20 years agoand today thanks to devoted producers are emerging as jewels in the national crown.


Lunch at
Da Gigetto at Milane
This wonderful secret wine box has an exceptional and endearingly eccentric cantina and wine list as well as superb regional cooking. We will enjoy a pre prandial Prosecco in their cellar.(see pics)

Visit to Bisol Winery tour and Tasting
Bisol – the top family of Prosecco di Valdobaddiene who own more land on the Cartizze hill than anyone else, and are converting to bio dynamism.
Then visit to the Cartizze collina (the ‘Grand Cru’ of Prosecco where land costs euro 1 million per hectare) for aperitivi.

Aperitivi and tasting
I Mazzeri
Follina
A livener and stroll through this beautiful town with a 13th century Abbey.
Apertivi and vineyard visit
Duc de Dolle
Rolle
A great opportunity to stretch our legs in the vineyards that are planted to Bio Dynamic principles.

Dinner in Rolle

Overnight in Follina

DAY 2 Tuesday

Soave and Valpolicella
Tour and Tasting
Pieropan
Soave
Pieropan – The watchmaker of Soave who produces exceptional wines from the Trebbiano di Soave and Garganega grapes. Concentration and extract in the La Rocca and Classico wines in his winery within the walls of Soave.
Tour and Tasting
Ca Rugate

Lunch
Al Calmiere at San Zeno
A great Veronese institution with a Bollito Misto trolley and a log fire Braccia.
Wine list to match the regional cooking.

Tour and Tasting Weekend sample schedule

Piedmont

Thursday
Introduction to regions wines

Masi/Serego Alighieri
Gargagnago
As legend would have it, the birth place of Amarone, and the proprietor is a descendant of Dante Aligheri has in recent years combined forces with the marketing and production dynamo that is Sandro Boscaini at Masi. A bit like Fred and Ginger, together they are classy and sexy.
have aperitivi at Le Foresteria di Serego Alighieri, the former hunting lodge overlooking the Amarone Vineyards
local
Tour and Tasting followed by Dinner

Friday
Wine tour and tasting at Cigliutti
The Cigliuti family have been in the wine business for four generations,
though it was not until 1964 that Renato, the present winemaker, began
bottling the wine to sell. Of their 8 hectares, 6 are used for vines and
2 for their continuing hazelnut business. He is now helped in the cellar
by his daughters, Claudia and Silvia. This is one of the finest examples
of a small family winemaking operation, doing everything themselves and
still making some of the best wines in Italy. The Cigliutis are full of
passion and expertise, and represent all that is good about the world of
wine.
The wines are produced organically. The Dolcetto is aged in big oak
barrels for 2-3 months, an immensely attractive red fruited wine, spicy,
with bright acidity and for early drinking. The Barbera is a particularly
beautiful wine, one of the best modern style examples of this grape you
can find. The Briccoserra has traditionally been a blend of Nebbiolo and
Barbera but now includes 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for 15 months in
new barriques, but with such complexity of flavour that you would hardly
know. The Barbaresco is aged in both large old oak barrels (60%) and new
barriques (40%).
Lunch
Afternoon tasting
Paolo Conterno
Monforte
A younger generation has taken over the reins at La Ginestre along with consultant Beppe Caviola and while the traditional values are respected there is a hint of oak creeping in to some of the crus. One eye to the future, one to the past.

Dinner at La Contea, Neive

Saturday
Wine tour and tasting at Bava
Founded in 1911 and based in Cocconato d'Asti, Bava is one of the most
innovative wineries in Italy today. Run by the three Bava brothers,
Roberto, Guilio and Paulo, the winery's initiatives include the use of
French barriques for ageing Barberas and the use of rare local Cortese
grapes to produce Alteserre (Chardonnay/Cortese blend), the new
"Super-Piedmontese" white wine from Bava.
Bava is renowned for producing wines that owe more to the vineyard they
originate from than the winemaking and maturation techniques employed.
PianoAlto, whose inaugural vintage was in 1996, is produced from 15
hectares of 30-60 year old Barbera vines in the village of Agliano
d'Asti. However, like the memorable Cocconato Stravecchio in the 1950s,
it is the Stradivario that is the flagship wine of today, a serious wine
from a classic family-owned vineyard, matured in French barriques.
In Cocconato

Dinner at La Ciau del Tornavento, Treiso

Sunday 23rd October
Alba market and truffle fair
Lunch and tasting
At Canale