Wine tasting Italy style looks completely different when you step away from Tuscany. Most travellers rarely stumble upon Emilia-Romagna, and that’s precisely what makes it so special. Portico di Romagna sits quietly in the Apennine hills, no coach tours, no crowded tasting rooms, just vineyards, truffle woods, rolling countryside, and an experience that stays with you long after you’ve come home.
In This Guide
If wine tasting in Italy is on your wish list, most people head straight for Tuscany. And I completely understand why. It’s beautiful, iconic, and endlessly photogenic.
But there’s another Italy. One that most travellers rarely stumble upon.
Portico di Romagna sits quietly in the Apennine hills of Emilia-Romagna. No coach tours. No crowded tasting rooms. Just vineyards, truffle woods, rolling countryside, and an experience that stays with you long after you’ve come home.
This is exactly the kind of place I love to share with my clients.
Why Emilia-Romagna Changes Everything
Tuscany gets all the attention. Emilia-Romagna gets all the wine.
It’s one of Italy’s largest and most celebrated wine regions, yet it remains almost completely off the radar for British travellers. That’s precisely what makes it so special. Wine tasting Italy style doesn’t get much more authentic than this, and Portico di Romagna sits right at the heart of it.
What I love about it is this. You’re not visiting somewhere that’s been polished for tourism. You’re stepping into a region that produces extraordinary wine, grows truffles in ancient woodland, and quietly gets on with being one of the best-kept secrets in Italy. If you want to understand more about the region, Emilia-Romagna Tourism is a great place to start.
An Experience Built Around Genuine Immersion
This isn’t a drop-in tasting with a souvenir glass to take home.
Over four nights, a professional sommelier guides you through three dedicated sessions covering 15 wines in total. Italian classics. Regional Romagna varieties. Biodynamic and organic producers doing something genuinely interesting. Each session builds on the last. By the end you have real knowledge, the kind that transforms every bottle you open at home.
Groups are capped at eight people, and that intimacy is everything.
Your Day by Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Arrival Arrive in Portico di Romagna, settle in, and meet your fellow guests over a welcome drink. Your host walks you through what’s ahead. A gentle start. A good excuse to raise a glass.
Day 2 — Italian Wines and Truffle Hunting Your first sommelier session opens with five of Italy’s most important wines. Context, character, stories behind the glass. After lunch, you head into the woods with a truffle hunter and their dogs. Watching them work is one of those quietly cinematic moments that travel occasionally delivers. That evening, the truffles you’ve found take centre stage at a special dinner. It’s as good as it sounds.
Day 3 — Regional Wines and a Producer Visit The second session dives deeper into Romagna. Five more wines, richer regional knowledge, a growing sense of how much this corner of Italy has to offer. After lunch, you visit a local wine producer to see the process from vine to bottle. Dinner follows at leisure.
Day 4 — Biodynamic Wines and an Organic Estate The final sommelier session explores biodynamic and organic production, a fast-growing and fascinating area of Italian wine that surprises most people. After lunch, a visit to a local organic producer brings everything you’ve learned to life. A final dinner together rounds off the experience.
Day 5 — Departure Breakfast and farewell. You leave with 15 wines tasted, a wealth of new knowledge, and very possibly a new favourite region.
More Than Just Wine Tasting in Italy
The sommelier sessions are exceptional. But they’re not what people talk about most when they come home.
It’s the truffle hunt. The producer visits. The long evenings over dinner where conversation stretches later than anyone planned. The moment you realise you’ve found a version of Italy that most people will never see.
These aren’t add-ons. They’re what make this feel like a genuine immersion rather than a structured tasting course. The difference between visiting a place and actually connecting with it.
Everything Taken Care Of
Return flights from the UK to Bologna. Transfers to and from Forlì Train Station. Four nights full board. Single room supplement included for solo travellers.
Everything is sorted before you arrive, so you step off the plane and simply enjoy.
With groups capped at eight, this sells out. If it’s calling to you, get in touch and I’ll check availability for you.
Want to Make It a Longer Italian Adventure?
Flying into Bologna puts you perfectly placed for more of northern Italy before or after the programme.
You could spend a few days in Bologna itself, one of Italy’s most underrated cities and an absolute paradise for food lovers. Or extend with Florence, the Cinque Terre, Verona, or the lakes. All within easy reach. All extraordinary in different ways. And if you want to travel further afield, we can look at flying home from a different city altogether, Rome, Venice, or Naples for example, so your Italian adventure keeps moving rather than doubling back.
If you’d like to build this into a fuller Italian journey, I’ll take care of everything. Hotels, transfers, experiences, restaurant recommendations that actually suit how you travel. Just tell me what appeals and I’ll put something together that flows beautifully around your time in Romagna.
Why Book Through Blue Turtle Escapes?
Planning a trip like this on your own is possible. But working with a specialist travel adviser means you don’t have to figure it all out yourself.
I’m Rachael, founder of Blue Turtle Escapes, and I specialise in finding the kind of experiences that most people never come across. The hidden, the intimate, the genuinely memorable. This Romagna programme is exactly the kind of thing I love to share with my clients because it delivers something that a standard package holiday simply can’t.
When you book through me, you get personal, one to one service from start to finish. I’ll handle everything from flights and transfers to any extensions you want to add, and I’ll be on hand throughout your trip if you need anything at all. You won’t be calling a call centre or waiting on hold. You’ll be messaging me directly.
If you’re the kind of traveller who values experiences over itineraries and stories over sightseeing, we’ll get on well.
Start planning your Italian adventure here.
Is This for You?
This isn’t for everyone. And that’s fine.
It works beautifully for couples wanting something romantic and genuinely different. For solo travellers looking to meet like-minded people in a warm, intimate setting. For anyone who comes home from holidays wanting stories rather than just photographs.
If wine tasting Italy is on your radar, this is one worth taking seriously. And if you’d like a little help making it happen, I’m here.