Horrible experience. I came here with a few girlfriends while we were visiting Florence. The winery provided a shuttle pickup, which was very smooth and convenient and reasonably priced. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. We had signed up and paid for a sunset vineyard tour with wine tasting and dinner. What we got was decidedly different.
Upon arrival, we checked in and one of the staff told us she would be our host for the wine tasting. She poured use each a bit of rosé and then promptly disappeared. We barely had enough time to take a few sips of the rosé (decent, if a bit gravely tasting), before we were shuffled to a golf cart with some guy who drove us over to the vines and explained for about 5 minutes what varietals they grow. Then he just kind of left us to our own devices for the next 20 minutes as we took some photos among the wines. We passed by some horse pastures and two helipads, but he didn't really tell us much about any of it. In the meantime, we finished our rosé and did not know where to leave our glasses, so we left them on a table next to the row of vines where it looked like a dinner party was being set up. We were a bit excited to think maybe we were dining among the vines, but that was not to be. Another guy came up to us with another golf cart, which confused us because our supposed guide had disappeared and we thought maybe we were supposed to go with him? But then he drove off. After 20 minutes, our original driver/host reappeared and told us we were going on our tour. He drove us past more industrial looking equipment and some horse paddocks and through some pipes to a grove of trees and then told us to get off the cart and walk towards mushrooms. All the while, he was talking about truffles, which really confused me because that was not part of our original tour plan. Also, I later found out that he had asked my friend (who was seated in the front passenger seat) some very unprofessional personal questions that made her very uncomfortable. Not cool!
Ultimately, he drove us back to another building next to some very large wine barrels and dropped us off for our wine tasting and dinner. We took a few pictures outside because the sun was setting and we wanted to capture the ambiance. Little did we know that this was the beginning of another odd experience. We were seated at a table with six wine glasses placed in front of us. But we ultimately tried I think 8 wines? At one point, when all the glasses were full, one of my friends asked what glass the next wine should be poured into, and she was told to finish one of the of the glasses to make room. It seemed a bit strange that they didn't either (a) provide enough glasses or (b) provide a spittoon to pour unfinished wine into. There was one woman who was explaining each of the wines to four dining tables at one time, but not all of us had the same food available as the cadence of dinner was different for each of us. It was very odd because it felt like the wine tasting portion was not paired with the food as it should have been. And ultimately, a lot of the wines were not that good tasting, very gravely, earthy tasting and peppery. Trying it with the food did not seem to mellow their flavor out. I think maybe my palette just sucks, because so many people seem to enjoy these wines and their price reflects it, but I did not think they were good.
The only parts of the experience that I actually enjoyed were the (a) truffle oil tasting (so tasty that this is all we bought) and (b) the nice lady bringing the food from the kitchen, who was a delight! I would say that Tenuta Torciano is a slickly marketed winery, but that your delight in the experience may actually vary quite a bit. Maybe we got them on an off day, but I did not think the tour, the wine, or the food warranted the high cost or reviews. And there were definitely some very questionable portions in the customer experience that made me very alarmed. Visit at your own risk! read more