Lucca Hills Wine Tour

The Colline Lucchesi DOC wine region covers the hills between Lucca and Pescia — a gentle, extraordinarily beautiful landscape of hilltop villages, olive groves, and vineyards producing Sangiovese-based reds and Trebbiano/Vermentino whites. The wines are honest and unpretentious — far less famous than Chianti or Brunello but the perfect companion to Versilian seafood. The hilltop town of Montecarlo above Lucca has an impressive medieval castle and produces the DOC's finest white wines — arguably the best Trebbiano in Tuscany. Tenuta Montechiari and Fattoria del Teso are excellent estate visits. An olive oil + wine tour of the Lucchesi hills makes a perfect full day — buy direct from the estates, taste the new oil (November olive harvest is extraordinary), and end with dinner at one of the excellent countryside trattorias.