The best wine tastings around Lake Garda by location
Italy is famous for its wine and the Valpolicella region is rated as one of the best. Valpolicella is situated an hour from Lake Garda meaning there are a number of beautiful vineyards and wineries to visit during your trip to the lake. Here are some recommendations based on location.
Valpolicella
The Tommasi winery originated in 1902 and now owns 599 hectares of land producing wine across Italy. Tommasi Family Estates are famous for the deep and powerful Amarone wine which was first produced in 1959. Tommasi take great pride in the care and high quality they put into each stage of the wine production and the key 'appasimento' process. Appasimento is the process of natural partial dehydration of grapes to produce a greater concentration of colours, aromas and flavours in the wine. At Tommasi this process is the most important part of producing Amarone wine.
As well as the delicious red wines, Tommasi also produce Lugana - a crisp and fresh white wine which is my favourite white wine of all and originated on the peninsula lake town of Sirmione.
Tommasi offer wine tours where you can learn about the history of the Tommasi family, explore the winery and best of all taste the exquisite wines that Tommasi produce. The tours include Appassimento visit in Autumn/Winter and Vineyards in Spring/Summer and your wine tasting will be accompanied by local produce which compliment the wines perfectly. You can then purchase a bottle (or 6) to take home with you.
Tommasi opened their wine hotel, Villa Quaranta and Spa in 1990 and is nestled in the heart of Valpolicella. The hotel is perfectly situated close to Lake Garda and Verona so you can easily enjoy day trips here. You can also relax in the thermal spa and eat in the beautiful Borgo Antico restaurant. Wine, spa facilities and top notch food - what more could you want?
The South of the Lake
Cantina Ricchi, Peschiera
This cantina dates back to the 1930s and produce wine in a sustainable way. They offer a number of wine tours including a special picnic experience where you can explore the vineyards, learn about the winery and then enjoy a picnic and a bottle of wine in the vineyards
Cascina Maddalena, Sirmione
Specialising in the crisp Lugana white wine, Mattia takes great pride in his wine production including taking on experiments which have resulted in a wine he calls 'Clay.' The winery also offer tours starting from 29 euros per person
Accoglienza Montonale, Desenzano
Nestled in the heart of Lugana this family run winery is famous for producing Lugana white wine as well as rose, sparkling and red wines. This winery puts its flavours and end product down to the rich soils in the Lugana region. They offer wine tours and tasting Monday-Saturday at 10:30am, 2:15pm and 4pm
East of the Lake
Lenotti
This winery is unique as it is situated a 5 minute walk from the lake front in the popular Lake Garda town of Bardolino. The majority of other wineries are out in the countryside but the location of the Lenotti winery mean you do not have to drive or take public transport to enjoy your wine tour and tasting experience. Despite it being close to the lake front there are still vineyards here which you can see during the tour and if you're lucky the grapes being brought back to the winery for pressing, drying and production.
The winery originated in 1906 in Bardolino but has now expanded to 7 other locations across the Veneto region. Lenotti believe that the four elements - earth, water, air and fire are essential to producing their fine wines. The winery creates red, white and rose wines as well as a special sparkling wine, olive oil and the strong spirit grappa made using the discarded wine skins.
Visit the Lenotti winery, learn about the family history, wine production and enjoy the tasting of 3 wines.
If you are a fan of wine, a wine connoisseur or are even just looking at learning something new, wine tours and tastings are a perfect day out for solo travellers, couples and even families.
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