Wine Tasting at Castelvecchi

What to Expect from the Thousand-Year-Old Cellar

There are tastings where you stand at a counter. And there are tastings where you truly slow down. At Castelvecchi, in Radda in Chianti, the experience is the second kind: an unhurried moment, in small company, in the heart of Chianti Classico.

Where it takes place

Castelvecchi is a medieval village surrounded by three hundred hectares of vineyards and woodland, far from mass tourism. The tasting is held beneath the panoramic pergola overlooking the estate’s vineyards: open views, silence and no rush.

The thousand-year-old cellar

The cellar is visited during the tasting. It extends across roughly one thousand square meters underground, built on the foundations of an ancient fortified manor. The origins of Castelvecchi date back to the 10th-11th century, when early medieval documents already referred to it as “Castello et Curtis”. In the museum corridor you can still see the manor’s original openings, narrow and deep, which today watch over the barrels. In 1930 the owning family joined the Consortium of Chianti Wine Producers, now the Chianti Classico Consortium.

What you will taste

At the heart of the tasting is Chianti Classico, in its most representative expressions.

The Chianti Classico DOCG is an elegant, fragrant Sangiovese, with ripe red fruit, dried flowers, silky tannins and a long, clean finish. The Chianti Classico Riserva is fuller and more structured, aged in wood, with notes of spice, sweet tobacco and cherries in spirit. The selection may vary through the seasons, with other labels available to taste.

The glasses are accompanied by a Tuscan board of cured meats, cheeses and local products, which can be customized: simply let us know your preferences when booking. The board also features the estate’s extra virgin olive oil and, to finish, you can taste the grappa distilled from the pomace of the Tuscan red wines, available to purchase directly in the cellar.

How to book

The tasting is by reservation only, to give every guest the right pace. Just fill in the online form with your date, preferred time (subject to confirmation), number of guests and any requests for the board. A family, a group of friends or a trip with loved ones are all ideal occasions.

Choose your date, bring your friends and let a thousand years of Chianti be told to you, one glass at a time.