BudgetTravel

My favorite Chianti is that produced by Dr. Laura Bianchi on her family's Monsanto estate (tel. 055-805-9000), one of the first two switch over to producing a fully Sangiovese Chianti (actually, they started doing it back in 1974, waaaay before it was legal to deviate from the official grape formulas). They also do a mean Chardonnay. The cellars are also pretty evocative, modeled after an Etruscan tomb found on the premises, and including a hall of niches covered by iron grates--and hovering between being Cask of Amtillado--creepy and aw-isn't-that-sweet cute--where bottles are set aside for each family member when they are born, to age and be ready for them to celebrate a wedding or some other major life event in the future. Reserve a tour at least a few days ahead of time.

The Castello di Volpaia (tel. 0577-738-066; volpaia.com) is another looker, a medieval stone borgo (village) around a crenellated tower , and the winery is actually installed in the series of houses and buildings of the village itself (all connecting pipes, tubes, and electrical wires have been seamlessly hidden underground and within walls, so the exterior effect is as medieval as it gets). Tours are run every day but Saturday, but call ahead (and shoot for doing so a week in advance).

OK, enough Chianti. Let's take a brief look at the tourable cellars around Montalcino--which itself has an enoteca wine-tasting shop installed in its giant crag-top castle.

Again, if we're going for personal faves, I'd have to say Poggio Antico (tel. 0577-848-044; poggioantico.com), consistently ranking amongst the top 100 wines in the world. Book a tour of the cantina at least a day in advance.
For sort of the opposite in wine experience, visit the slickest operation around run (natch) by an American exporting empire at the Castello di Banfi (tel. 0577-816-001 or 0577-840-111; castellobanfi.com), which even has set up a little wine museum. Tours run weekdays at 4pm, but call a week ahead of time to book.

Finally, the Fattoria dei Barbi (tel. 0577-841-111; fattoriadeibarbi.it) is perhaps the easiest just to show up at and enjoy; they run tours Monday to Friday at 11am, noon and 3, 4, and 5pm--and they have a great taverna on-site for fantastic lunches accompanied by their exquisite wines and cheeses.

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Clermont, FL: For a Ciivitavecchia port daytrip on November 21 from 7AM to 7PM we are looking for a wine tour near Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio. We also can't find a rental vehicle in Civitavecchia to carry 6 people. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Reid Bramblett: Yeah. That's because Civitavecchia is held in thrall to the cruise ship industry, and the biggest way the cruise lines make money is by making sure you are hostage to their own organized port excursions (for swollen fees, naturally). Still, you can escape and do it on your own.
There are two ways. You can train it from Civitavecchia to Orvieot; the trip would take about 2-1/2 hours total, and tooth-gnashingly, you'll have to go south to Rome first, change trains, then head back north to Orvieto.

A better plan would be to hop a bus to Viterbo, a lovely town with a spiffy cathedral (this is where the Miracle of Bolsena took place) on a circular volcanic lake just south of Orvieto (and very near Civita di Bagnoreggio--which, just so you know, is not all Rick Steves cracks it up to be). Arraneg to have a rental car there, and you can do your winery tour, then drop the car back in Viterbo, and zip back to Civitavecchia and the big boat.

To make things easy on you, here is the bus schedule for that route (departure times only). A * means you have to change at Tarquinia:

CIVITAVECCHIA to VITERBO: 06.25 - 07.50 - 08. 45 - 09.15 -12.00 - 14.00* -15.30 -16.45- (Sundays: 09.15 - 17.10)

VITERBO to CIVITAVECCHIA: 07.05 - 08.55* - 09.30* - 10.00* - 12.35* -13.50 -16.35 -17.25*-18.30 -19.10 (Sundays: 07.10 - 16.35)