The pleasure of food and wine cycling tours in Italy
In the Luxury Bike Hotels galaxy, the only collection of relais and top-of-the-range accommodation facilities in Italy that is able to guarantee tailor-made services to those who love to explore the territory by bike, there are several wine resorts. These are estates, villages, castles, historical residences and small farms that are rooted in quality vineyards and in wine culture and that, over the years, have combined the most renowned wine cellars and labels of their territories with a sought-after and top-quality accommodation business.
With a growing trend already in recent years, food and wine tourism is constantly developing sustainable and slow-paced solutions. The bike is experiencing an unprecedented popularity: those who have recently discovered it as a safe means of transport in the city are now eager to use it on holiday and in their free time, pedalling perhaps through the hills and along the many wine roads, through historic villages, charming places, wineries, up to Italy’s core companies involved in the production of cured meats, cheeses, meat, preserves and other typical and quality products.
Because they are surrounded by nature and vineyards, Luxury Bike Hotels’ wine resorts are the perfect places to experience food and wine tours in Italy: each facility has its own features and offers bike & amp;wine tours. The mix of sport and wine is also great for our health. For example, in the wellness centres, to be found in many Luxury Bike Hotels’ facilities, the guests can benefit from treatments and massages made with wine, grape seed oil or grape seed derived products which allow to exploit the active ingredients and the beneficial properties of the locally produced grapes. Furthermore, in the wine resorts there is the possibility to visit the wine cellars, as well as to taste local wines accompanied by the gastronomic excellence of the area.
Luxury Bike Hotels is also partner of the Vittorio Brumotti’s tour “On wine roads – Italian excellence”, which will take place between July and September, riding through the country to discover Italy’s great winemaking heritage, as well as the companies and lands involved in it. The team of Brumotti will be a guest of some of the wine resorts affiliated with Luxury Bike Hotels; now we will tell you some particulars about them.
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA – Castello di Buttrio – NEW ENTRY
Nestled on the gentle, grape-scented slopes of the Colli Orientali of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the province of Udine, the village of Castello di Buttrio welcomes its guests with a quite atmosphere in a universe where time seems to have stopped. Castello di Buttrio is a fascinating historic residence that has recently joined the Luxury Bike Hotels collection; it has eight elegant rooms decorated with fine fabrics and antique furniture, as well as five country rooms belonging to the Agritourism Tra le Vigne, which is located at the foot of the hill and is an ideal starting point for cycling to discover the territory along the country roads or the cycle paths that connect the Alps to the Grado lagoon. Barbeques and picnics are organized among the vineyards, fully immersed in nature. Don’t miss the guided tours of the wine cellar with tastings of Castello di Buttrio wines: Friulano, Merlot, Verduzzo, Malvasia and Ribolla, made from the grapes of the estate’s precious vineyards dating back to the first half of the last century and from the mix of tradition and innovation carried on by five generations of winemakers.
TUSCANY – Adler Spa Resort Thermae Bagno Vignoni
Located in Bagno Vignoni, a district of San Quirico d’Orcia in the province of Siena, the Adler Spa Resort Thermae is a luxurious wellness oasis in the heart of Tuscany. It is a five-star Luxury Bike Hotel, perfect for combining cycling excursions to discover the area (also taking part in the free guided bike tours offered by the hotel) with moments of total relax and regeneration in the wellness centre, where you can enjoy the benefits of the thermal waters in the swimming pools and in the park and be wrapped-up by the wide range of treatments offered by an expert team who uses personalised programmes. In the nearby wine cellar, just a stone’s throw from the vineyards, you can also take part in exclusive oil and wine tastings.
The guests can also rent MTB and e-bikes for free, or they can enjoy the panoramic restaurant that offers gourmet dishes prepared with high-quality and farm-to-table ingredients.
TUSCANY – Tenuta Artimino Hotel
At the very heart of Tuscany, among the Chianti Monticello hills not far from Florence, there is Tenuta di Artimino, a four-star Luxury Bike Hotel, where you can abandon yourself in the slow pace of the countryside between nature, good food and wellness treatments. The area consists of 730 hectares of vineyards and olive groves dominated by the imposing Villa Medicea La Ferdinanda, built in 1596 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Owned by the heirs of the famous cyclist Giuseppe Olmo, who bought it in the 1980s for its enviable location surrounded by ideal cycling routes, the historic estate, perfectly integrated into the Borgo di Artimino, also produces top-quality wine, which is also widely used for the treatments at the Erato Wellness Luxury Spa.
TUSCANY – Castello Banfi Wine Resort – NEW ENTRY
The Castello Banfi Wine Resort, which has recently joined the Luxury Bike Hotels collection, is today a treasure of Italian hospitality in the Val d’Orcia, just a few kilometres from Montalcino. Created from the expert renovation of the medieval castle of Poggio alle Mura, the facility consists of the Borgo Hotel (fitted with luxury bedrooms and suites that recreate the historic atmosphere), two restaurants (La Taverna, located in the castle’s old wine cellar, which offers the best dishes of Tuscany traditional cuisine, and the starred restaurant La Sala dei Grappoli) and a wine shop where you can taste the estate’s wines. The Relax Area with an outdoor swimming pool overlooking the vineyards and an outdoor gymnasium with view on the hills complete the offer.
The Condimento Balsamico Etrusco is produced in a dedicated area of the Castello Banfi Wine Resort; it is a nectar obtained using the traditional methods of the ancient Etruscans and an ageing process of 12 years, making it one of the finest in the range of balsamic vinegars.
UMBRIA – Relais Todini
At the heart of the green Umbrian countryside, a few kilometres from Todi, the Luxury Bike Hotel Relais Todini welcomes its guests in eight bedrooms and four suites created from a vintage residence located within a 12th-century castle. The relais, surrounded by an estate of 1000 hectares consists of: a panoramic restaurant overlooking the city of Todi that offers the best dishes of Italian and Umbrian cuisine, wide relax areas inside and outside fully renewed, a panoramic swimming pool, a wellness centre, a tennis court, an equipped gym and the Leo Wild Park, where you can admire many different species of animals, such as giraffes and zebras. This hotel, which is an excellent starting point for cycling routes, also provides guided tours with tasting in the Todini wine cellar, where you can find high-quality DOC wines.
UMBRIA – Altarocca Wine Resort – NEW ENTRY
The essential ingredients of the Luxury Bike Hotels focused on the wine culture always include, besides an exclusive hospitality, services dedicated to bike enthusiasts and experiences where wine is the main character. The Altarocca Wine Resort, a new entry in the Luxury Bike Hotels collection, is located on the Umbrian hills at the border with Tuscany, a stone’s throw from Orvieto, and it is a combination of peacefulness and elegance, surrounded by twenty hectares of organic vineyards and olive tree groves that offer fruits to obtain sustainable products.
The manager and owner of the facility is a keen cyclist and, as soon as he can, he accompanies his guests on cycling tours to discover the hidden beauties of Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany.
The Altarocca Wine Resort, structured out as a “resort diffuso” (meaning it is converted out of various historic buildings in a small community), has suites and apartments divided between four villas, a Wine Spa where you can enjoy wellness and relax with swimming pools and treatments, such as the oil therapy and the wine therapy, in a perfect harmony of nature and science.
The Invinum Gusto Gourmet Restaurant satisfies the tastes of the most refined palates, offering local specialities and traditional recipes, with particular attention paid to products from organic farming (such as the Altarocca wines and oil) and to farm-to-table products.
