Winery / Vineyard Tour or Wine Tastings during Viva Italia?

[Mirthrindr2]

Recently booked our first ABD adventure (and trip to Europe for that matter). Wife and I will be doing the Adult Exclusive 'Viva Italia' this coming late Sept.

Can anyone who has done Viva Italia relatively recently speak to whether there is any kind of Winery Tours or organized Tastings? As much as I know we are going to LOVE every aspect of the ABD itinerary, we are a little disappointed at the prospect of traveling all the way to Italy for our first time and not touring a single winery/vineyard.

There's no mention of a Wine Tasting in the Daily Itinerary on the ABD site for Viva Italia, but the page that 'Compares' the three Italy trips DOES indicate 'Wine Tasting'. Although we are on the Adult Exclusive trip, I suppose given it's Disney and the target demographic of ABD really being 'families', I understand why there are no Winery tours on the itinerary I suppose.

As an alternative (and the logistics of getting there and back again aside), is any of the 'free time' long enough to accommodate guests striking out on our own to visit a vineyard? Maybe not while in Rome, but while in Tuscany perhaps?

We are considering a couple nights post stay after the ABD tour just for this purpose but it will of course require a lot more planning and logistics on our own. We were REALLY wishing to visit Montalcino, which sadly looks way too far to reach during any ‘free time’ in Artimino during the ABD tour.

Thanks in advance.

 

[redzinner]

Recently booked our first ABD adventure (and trip to Europe for that matter). Wife and I will be doing the Adult Exclusive 'Viva Italia' this coming late Sept.

Can anyone who has done Viva Italia relatively recently speak to whether there is any kind of Winery Tours or organized Tastings? As much as I know we are going to LOVE every aspect of the ABD itinerary, we are a little disappointed at the prospect of traveling all the way to Italy for our first time and not touring a single winery/vineyard.

There's no mention of a Wine Tasting in the Daily Itinerary on the ABD site for Viva Italia, but the page that 'Compares' the three Italy trips DOES indicate 'Wine Tasting'. Although we are on the Adult Exclusive trip, I suppose given it's Disney and the target demographic of ABD really being 'families', I understand why there are no Winery tours on the itinerary I suppose.

As an alternative (and the logistics of getting there and back again aside), is any of the 'free time' long enough to accommodate guests striking out on our own to visit a vineyard? Maybe not while in Rome, but while in Tuscany perhaps?

We are considering a couple nights post stay after the ABD tour just for this purpose but it will of course require a lot more planning and logistics on our own. We were REALLY wishing to visit Montalcino, which sadly looks way too far to reach during any ‘free time’ in Artimino during the ABD tour.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Jim,

We did a Viva Italia adult only tour back in Sept 2008, so not real recently. At that time we did have one organized tasting sponsored by the Villa we stayed at in Tuscany. It was prior to our arrival evening meal. I also remember little shops in Orvieto that were willing to let you taste the different wines but no sit down explained sessions.
We did have a minimal winery tour while we were in Tuscany. The same place we made the pasta.

I would have loved to taken a side trip to experience some wineries. I seem to remember one afternoon in Tuscany that had about 3 or 4 hours free time. Most of us used it as down time to enjoy the Villa. Your best bet is to ask your guides about local tastings while you are in Tuscany. The guides are fantastic and do try to help in any way possible.

You will love the trip! The wine flows freely on the adult only trip. It was my husband's first trip to Europe also and Disney made it so easy for him to relax and enjoy everything.

 

[Mirthrindr2]

Thanks for the information redzinner, appreciate it! We are so excited and can't wait.

We are very close to deciding on extending our trip for 4 nights and heading back to Tuscany after our ABD tour ends in Venice. Since we probably would not return to Italy for many years, we're figuring on making this extra adventure on our own while we're there this time around.

Thanks again for the info and pics, we so cannot wait for the ABD tour.

 

[Sueil33]

My husband and I making plans for the Viva Italia Adults Only trip in Oct 2012 and we are in total agreement about the need for more wine experiences....would love to hear what you end up deciding about the add on to Tuscany. Any suggestions or recommendations for research would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GAN]

For anyone thinking of extending an ABD adventure in the Tuscan Region -I can make a recommendation of a wonderful place to stay, the below reviews speak for themselves:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...Canto_del_Sole-Monteroni_d_Arbia_Tuscany.html

I have no connection, other than spending 4 amazing nights here. If nothing else, it will perhaps give some people a starting point in the their search. The location is just south of Siena(which in our opinion is a perfect mix of what makes Tuscany so wonderful) offering easy access to not only the city of Siena, but Montalcino, Montepulciano, and the Chianti Classico region. I will say this, a car rental is a must in order to get around -many "guides" are available for hire that will take you anywhere you'd like, but at a cost. Plus, driving is very enjoyable(with a GPS, of course) in the countryside.

Buon Viaggio!

 

[Mirthrindr2]

My husband and I making plans for the Viva Italia Adults Only trip in Oct 2012 and we are in total agreement about the need for more wine experiences....would love to hear what you end up deciding about the add on to Tuscany. Any suggestions or recommendations for research would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Sueil. We did decide to extend an additional 4 nights after the last day with ABD in Venice. I mostly just did lots of research on all things Tuscany via Trip Advisor, Google, and the many Italy websites I've found.

We decided to rent a car through AutoEurope due to the best prices after monitoring for quite a while. We plan to drive back down to Montalcino where we chose to stay at Castello Banfi Hotel for two nights followed by Cortona for 1 night, then up to Florence for our final night due to an early morning flight out of Florence the next morning.

Castello Banfi itself is also a winery, plus we plan to visit a couple others... some on our own while heading through Chianti region on our way to Montalcino, and a couple during a guided Tuscany tour on Saturday. Also potential to stop at one or two on Sunday during the drive east to Cortona, though I haven't committed to any since most are closed on Sundays and I need to do additional research.

There are many good sites I used for research, but two of the ones I found most useful were;
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/index.asp
http://www.initaly.com/toc.htm

Best of luck to you in your own research. I'll be sure to post a good trip report upon our return.

Thanks for the helpful info GAN, it was appreciated.

 

[GAN]

Your welcome. You will have a great time -Montalcino is just beautiful. As is the surrounding area --we can't wait to get out there again! Salute!

 

[jlou]

Hi Sueil. We did decide to extend an additional 4 nights after the last day with ABD in Venice. I mostly just did lots of research on all things Tuscany via Trip Advisor, Google, and the many Italy websites I've found.

We decided to rent a car through AutoEurope due to the best prices after monitoring for quite a while. We plan to drive back down to Montalcino where we chose to stay at Castello Banfi Hotel for two nights followed by Cortona for 1 night, then up to Florence for our final night due to an early morning flight out of Florence the next morning.

Castello Banfi itself is also a winery, plus we plan to visit a couple others... some on our own while heading through Chianti region on our way to Montalcino, and a couple during a guided Tuscany tour on Saturday. Also potential to stop at one or two on Sunday during the drive east to Cortona, though I haven't committed to any since most are closed on Sundays and I need to do additional research.

There are many good sites I used for research, but two of the ones I found most useful were;
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/index.asp
http://www.initaly.com/toc.htm

Best of luck to you in your own research. I'll be sure to post a good trip report upon our return.

Thanks for the helpful info GAN, it was appreciated.

May I ask where you are picking up your car? I assume you're returning it at the Florence airport and flying home from there.

thanks!

 

[Mirthrindr2]

May I ask where you are picking up your car? I assume you're returning it at the Florence airport and flying home from there.

thanks!

Buon giorno jlou!

Since ABD already provides transfer to the Venice airport on the last morning, we're renting our car out of Venice's Marco Polo Airport. We'll just use the included ABD ride to get to the car rental location at the airport.

Since we will be down in Tuscany for our self booked post ABD stay, we are flying out of Florence at the end of our trip so that is where we arranged to return the car.

In our particular case, there weren't any additional charges for dropping off at a different location. I was surprised by that and double checked, but was assured our quoted prices was the final cost.

Buona giornata! Ciao!

 

[jlou]

Thanks very much!

I was thinking that would be a good way to go. Now just have to think about driving in Italy! We'll see how that flies with the driver!

 

[Mirthrindr2]

Thanks very much!

I was thinking that would be a good way to go. Now just have to think about driving in Italy! We'll see how that flies with the driver!

LOL! I know what you mean. I was a little apprehensive myself, but we bought an inexpensive Garmin GPS with Italy map and we aren;t planning on driving in any large cities. Even dropping the car off in Florence won't require driving anywhere in the center of the city where things get crazy.

We'll let you know how it went after we get back.