Brunello and Montalcino: a paradise – not only for wine lovers Part II

February 18, 2016

Esther Mercedes Jürgens, WSET Diploma holder, has been living in Montalcino since 2012. In 2014 she founded Vino Vistas, wine tours and wine school. Last week we published her guide to her beautiful region of Montalcino and this week we continue with some more useful info to help you plan your trip.

See: Brunello and Montalcino: a paradise – not only for wine lovers Part I

Like I said, do come and visit. Our landscapes will capture you and once you have started to immerse yourselves into Brunello's complexity and variations from winery to winery you will begin to understand why I moved here back in 2012.

Apart from world famous Brunello there are Rosso di Montalcino, Moscadello di Montalcino (the wine that made Montalcino famous in the middle ages) and other wines all of the high Montalcino quality. Of course, should the outstanding wines not be enough incentive there are always our sunsets and moon-rises. It does not get better than that!

Montalcino Sunset Sunset tasting at Il Palazzone

Obviously harvest time is the wine-lover's favourite time to visit. Everything is bustling, the sweet scent of fermenting must in the cellars giving way to slightyl intoxicating fumes of carbon dioxide – wonderful. But, of course there is a but! Everybody in the wine industry is stressed out. The weeks before harvest are nerve racking, bad weather at that point can possibly destroy literally the fruit of a year's labour. During harvest time is of the essence, the time window for perfect ripeness is a wee one.

A very calm time when everybody has lots of time for you is winter and you might even enjoy some snow. Few are the weeks when it rains non stop, the sun will always resurface after a few days, luring you to sit outside.

Piazza del Popolo

If you are a fan of a myriads of strong greens visit in spring. The months May and June are obvious and visiting a wine growing region in the middle of our hot summer seems silly one wants to enjoy the beach. But remember, a wine cellar is wonderfully cool, refreshing even. And the beach only an hour's drive away.

It is very hard to choose but my all-time favorite places in Montalcino are:

Accomodation

Apartments in towncentre Suite D'Artista

Luxury B&B Locanda Franci

Hotel/Resort Castello di Velona

Where to eat and drink

Winebar in the Piazza: Alle Logge

Restaurant outside of town: Osteria La Crocina

Wineries

Now these are my very private choices, in alphabetical order to stay fair:

Il Palazzone - *A Lazenne partner who carries our 12 bottle wine carrier for the airplane

Full moon over the Orcia Valley

Now that you know where to visit, be prepared to take some unique wine back home with our wine travel products.

Esther Mercedes Jürgens, WSET Diploma holder, is German and has been living in Montalcino since 2012. She fell in love with its gently rolling hills and amazing sunsets in 2011 on her first trip to this beautiful wine region. In 2014 she founded Vino Vistas, offering special wine experiences in Montalcino: just a little more than your regular winery tour or wine class.

All pictures © Vino Vistas

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