If you have not been to Buonamico Winery in the hills of Monte Carlo, Italy (north of Lucca), then the hope is that this “tasting” will encourage you to visit.
Many years back, we toured the facility and it was a basic, no frills experience that we adored, since the tour was conducted by one of the workers, all in Italian, and translated for us by our friend and taxi driver, Elisa. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire time we spent there.
Fast forward to May 2012: the new tasting room, storage facility, and vineyard has undergone a $1 Million euro renovation (if not more!!) that is astounding, to say the least.
Welcome In!
The new tasting room, completely surrounded by their beautiful bottles of wine, is a feast for the eyes (and the palate!). The cellar is lovely, the views are phenomenal, and the addition of lunch on the day we visited with friends was over the top.
First, we toured the facility, including a view of the storage tanks, tractors, and “baby” vines just waiting to be planted.
Ready to Plant and Grow
Being able to actually see the process is pretty amazing. To know that so much labor (and love) goes into wine-making makes us appreciate the wine even more.
Storage For the New Wine
Then, it was on to the cellar to see the barrels used for aging the wine.
Then, we got a view of their state of the art inventory and storage system. It is so high-tech! On we went to what we each wanted to be our living room…..this room had bottles neatly arranged by year, and an atmosphere of homey delight! Hmmm…. how can we make our home look and feel just like this area??……
Buonamico Cellar
And on to our favorite part – The Wine Tasting!
Starting with their sparkling wine, we progressed through to the boldest tasting wine, all guided by their in-house expert.
Needless to say, much fun was indeed had by all! And after all of this great wine, we had worked up quite the little appetites…so…..
On to lunch….OOPS – Next time!
Our Kitchen Inventions 
Gosh, I wished I’d known about this when we were in Lucca. I’ve never toured a winery but your images and descriptions make it sound like something to include the next time we are in Italy or France.
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If you ever want a great taxi driver while you are in Lucca area, Elisa (in the bottom photo) is fabulous! We got to know her about 6 years ago, and she is our “go to” person ever since – we don’t have to rent a car, use a map, or find the gas station!! LOL! She does it all for us, and arranges an entire day for us. I’ll email you her info, in case you ever want to connect with her. Also, there is an entire “Wine Road” throughout Lucca and the surrounding hills. A “must see” for future trips!
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What type of tours do you lead?
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This past May, I had 3 friends tour for 6 day / 5 nights in Pisa, Lucca, and Florence…lots of fun for them! Prior to that, have had 2 other groups in Lucca, Florence, and San Miniato, etc. Lots of fun!!
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Thanks for sharing the blog post on Facebook! See you in November!
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Very cool. You know I have to be so careful w/wine because of migraines but in Italy I had some (ok plenty) of wine & never once had a problem.
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I think the difference is in the lack of chemicals that is in the Italian wines…it is just so much “cleaner” tasting than American wines…at least, to us it is. And we, too, have “researched” this plenty of times there…! LOL!
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It would be totally irresponsible to not conduct proper research 😉
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Indeed!!
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Amazing review and pictures! I’ve been to several Sonoma wineries, but looking at these pics makes me want to hop on a plane to Italy!
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Let me know when you have that passport ready, as we go in November again for Thanksgiving (and lead tours, too). It is an amazingly beautiful country with outstanding food and wine every where you turn. Not hard to eat well on vacation there! 🙂
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