Highlights of this tour

  • Two hour private wine tasting conducted by a certified Sommelier
  • Learn about wine and food pairings
  • Enjoy Lombardy wines from indigenous grapes

Your exclusive wine tasting in Milan

Why booking your wine tasting in Milan? not only because Walks inside Italy would love to please you as much as possible…. Milan is the capital of a region that offers a vast variety of wine styles including some of them of particular note, and it will be fun to taste some of them with the help of our certified Sommelier. 

Meet our wine expert at the hotel, preferably in the afternoon, and walk together to a wine bar selected for the inspirational atmosphere, the quality of food and wine, the pairings proposed by the staff, the attractive and quiet tasting rooms, the hospitality of the owner.

Aren’t you familiar with Lombardy wines? Find more in the overwiev below, you will be ready for your wine tasting in Milan!

Lombardy is entirely landlocked between two relevant wine regions, the Veneto the east, actually the most productive wine area in Italy and Piedmont to the west, renown for Barolo and Barbaresco among the most authoritative red aged wines in the whole world. 

Nevertheless, thanks to the successful marketing campains, the constant improvement of local wine style, and a positive entrepreneurial approach enhanced significantly the importance of Lombardy wines in the country and abroad.

Traditional regional wine production dates from the 7th-5th century BC from Northern European populations, was increased by the Romans and continued with the contribution of the Monastic Orders in the Medieval Age. The adoption of new technical procedures from France in the 16th century marked a  substantial improvement for the production of the Chiaretti –Rosé wines– and  their preservation. 

In the 18th century vines started to be grown hooked up to wooden poles, a technical innovation still in use today. The vine pests that ravaged most of vineyards in Europe a hundred years later had a profound impact on the wine market and at the same time heralded a new age in the history of the “nectar of the Gods”. The desease resistant baby vines imported from America favored international grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Pinot types and Carbernet ones at the expense of the old local varieties.     

Today Lombardy ranks eighth in amount of wine produced in Italy, with 5 Docg premium wines, 22 Doc areas suited for quality wines.

Fortunately the lack of access to the sea is compensated by nine lakes – the largest number for a single region in the whole country – and the presence of the longest river in Italy, the Po that runs through the large southern plain. 

Water irrigates the vineyards stretching throughout the large southern lowland, which hosts particularly suited areas to winemaking, such as Oltrepò Pavese, Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Grigio, Garda and Lugana, best known for both sparkling and white flat wines. 

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North-east of Milan boasts Franciacorta area, famous for its excellent Champagne method wines and Valtellina, an alpine valley famed for its cherry-scented red wines made from Nebbiolo grape.

Well stocked wine bars always display on shelves a variety of Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese bottles as a proud answer to French Champagne, although there are clear differences among them in scale, history and character.  Don’t worry, all of them will be pointed out by your wine expert during your wine tasting….. an exciting way to start your wine tasting in Milan!

Let’s go ahead with our description of Valtellina, an ultimate mountain wine area on the border with Switzerland, where vineyards are grown on south-facing terraced slopes in the province of Sondrio, 60 miles away from Milan. This valley stretches for 15 miles eastwest along the Adda river, which runs quietly across its floor and although wine making dates back to more than 2 millennia, it is one of the least known wine areas in Italy, about 80 % of its wines are consumed within 100 miles-radius around it. But its reputation is constantly growing, and quality is not the only reason for it.

The rows of vines are perpendicular to the river and sit on steep slopes at altitude between 750-2500 ft, which makes impossible mechanized harvesting so that viticultural labor is totally handmade, although today small cableways  -teleferiche- facilitate the harvesting and  prevent grape rots. The alluvial origin soil consists of gravel rich in silica, lime, sand and in some specific  solid rock pebbles protec the vineyards from frosts and abrupts changes in temperature.

Red aged wines produced there are among the finest ones in Italy, all made from Chiavennasca grape, a clone of Piedmont’s famed Nebbiolo, the father of the full bodied Barolo and Barbaresco. 

However the simple Valtellina Rosso Doc is a good starting point to enjoy the distinctive Chiavennasca aromas of cherry, rose and dried red fruit, with scents of tobacco. If you are looking for something more concentrated and robust, don’t miss the other two DOCG wines: Valtellina Superiore DOCG and the dried-grape Sforzato di Valtellina DOCG, the first raisinated dry wine to be granted the highest ranking for wines of superior quality in 2003. Ask the Sommelier to include a “glass of Valtellina” in your wine tasting in Milan.

The vine landscape of eastern Lombardy is strongly influenced by the presence of Garda Lake, the largest one in Italy, referred both to climate and ampelography. Wine and olive oil have been producing since ancient times, and that side of Lombardy shares with Veneto the same grapes, due to the opposite coasts of the lake. 

In addition to the red grapes, it is worth mentioning the white ones Trebbiano di Lugana and Garganega used for fruity, crispy, lively wines and and the intensely colored Chiaretto, a rosé made from Groppello, Marzemino, Sangiovese and Barbera grape.

Just to go back to the city this text got  started, Milan needs to be honored, somehow….  it boasts a small Doc area granted in 1984, San Colombano al Lambro, just 25 miles south from the capital of the region. Due to its location, vineyards are grown on the very few hills in the famuosly flat Po river basin, which increase both scents and aromas. All red wines are all based on blends of Croatina and Barbera with the help of Uva Rara, while Chardonnay is combined with Pinot Nero for the both flat and sparkling the quality of food and wine, white wines.  

At this point you are ready to book and enjoy your wine tasting in Milan…..you will discover much more!

Cost of this tour

  • The wine tasting lasts two hours and costs 190 euros up to 6 people, plus 40 euros per person for three glasses of local quality wine, one for each wine, paired with appropriate appetizers.
  • Only private parties.
  • For larger parties: please send us an email!

Dress Code and advice

  • No dress code is required.