Est. 1964 
4 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Accommodation
Booking required
Wine area
Tenuta del Buonamico
Tenuta del Buonamico sits below the walled hill town of Montecarlo, east of Lucca in Tuscany. It was founded in 1964 to supply a Tuscan restaurant in Turin. Today it makes a Montecarlo DOC white and red, Syrah and its own sparkling wines. With 350,000 to 400,000 bottles a year, it is one of the bigger producers around Lucca. You can book a cellar tour and tasting seven days a week. The estate also has a small hotel, a pool and a restaurant.
-
Tuscany
- Est. 1964
- 4 wines
- Tastings
- Tours
- Accommodation
- Booking required
Wines from Tenuta del Buonamico
About Tenuta del Buonamico
The estate began with a restaurant, not a vineyard. In 1964 a family from nearby Altopascio was running Al Gatto Nero, a Tuscan trattoria in Turin. They wanted wine from home on their tables, so they set up a farm in Montecarlo to make it. Bottles from those first years still rest in the old cellar known as l'Inferno. Every cellar tour passes through it.
Dino and Eugenio Fontana, a father and son from Lucca, later took over the farm and gave it its current name. They came from the olive oil trade. They turned the entrance into a shop and tasting room and built a new cellar. They also began making sparkling wine on site, in sealed tanks by the Charmat method used for most Prosecco. The first, Particolare Brut Rosé, came out in 2011, and a Brut followed in 2012. Sparkling wine now makes up 150,000 to 160,000 of the estate's bottles each year.
The property covers about 100 hectares, roughly 140 football pitches, of vines, olive trees and woods. Its heart is Cercatoja, a low hill on the south-west side of Montecarlo, where most of the wines come from. Across the estate the soil swings from clay to sand within 100 metres, so the vines are farmed in separate blocks. Syrah has grown at Cercatoja since 1964, and those old vines go into Il Fortino. The team also keeps a small plot of two rare local grapes, Canaiolo Rosa and one called Buonamico, so they are not lost.
Montecarlo is a DOC named after the town, and two of the estate's wines carry its name. Etichetta Bianca is a dry white blend of Trebbiano Toscano, Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon Blanc, Malvasia and Sémillon. Etichetta Blu is a red of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The bigger wines are labelled Toscana IGT: the Cercatoja red, Il Fortino Syrah and Vasario, a Pinot Bianco aged in oak.
The vineyards are certified under SQNPI, Italy's national scheme for integrated farming, which keeps sprays and chemical fertiliser to a minimum. In 2026 the Fontana family sold the estate to new owners, who say they will carry on the same work. Tours run in Italian and English, and the staff also speak French, Spanish and Portuguese. The walk through the cellars takes about 20 minutes before the tasting. If you want to stay, the Buonamico Wine Resort opened on the estate in 2018. It has 11 rooms, a pool, a wellness centre and the Syrah restaurant.
Plate I · TUSCANY
Tenuta del Buonamico on the Tuscany wine atlas
Winery
Tenuta del Buonamico
Montecarlo, Lucca
Denominations Produced
Grapes Used
Visit & Experiences
6 bookable experiences at Tenuta del Buonamico
5 tastings and 1 stay, checked by our editors. From €25.
Tasting & Tour
Tour and Tasting of 5 Wines
1h
From €35 per person
English · Italiano
The experience begins with a tour of the winery that includes a visit to the fermentation area, the vat room, the barrel room, the sparkling wine area and the historic cellar. It then continues with a guided tasting of the following wines: Spumante Inedito Particolare Brut Rosé Nature Vivi Vermentino - IGT Toscana Vasario - Pinot Bianco - IGT Toscana Cercatoja - Rosso - IGT Toscana Il Fortino Syrah IGT Toscana To accompany the wines, fresh DOP Altopascio bread, EVO oil of our production and platters with a selection of local cold cuts and cheeses are served. We kindly ask for maximum punctuality. In case of delay, we cannot guarantee the complete tour.
Tasting & Tour
Light Lunch, Tour and Tasting of 6 wines
2h
From €70 per person
English · Italiano
The experience begins with a tour of the winery, including a visit to the fermentation area, the vat room, the barrel cellar, the sparkling wine production area, and the historic cellar. The experience continues with a guided wine tasting: - Spumante Inedito Particolare Brut Rosé Nature - Vivi Vermentino - IGT Toscana - Vasario - Pinot Bianco - IGT Toscana - Cercatoja - Rosso - IGT Toscana - Il Fortino Syrah IGT Toscana A light lunch will be served to accompany the wines, consisting of a selection of traditional Tuscan products: platters of cured meats and cheeses, a first course, and dessert. Our own production of EVO olive oil and fresh DOP bread from Altopascio will be served. Our Spumante Particolare Dolce wine will be served with the dessert. We kindly ask for maximum punctuality. In case of delay, we cannot guarantee the complete tour.
Tasting & Tour
A day as a winemaker
3h
From €90 per person
English · Italiano
A unique and personalized experience led by the Hospitality and Winery Team. The experience begins with a tour of the winery, including a visit to the fermentation area, the vat room, the barrel cellar, the sparkling wine production area, and the historic cellar. The experience will be enriched by tasting special vintages and other wines directly from the vats and barrels where aging and maturation take place. Guided wine tasting: - Spumante Inedito Particolare Brut Rosé Nature - Vivi Vermentino - IGT Toscana - Vasario - Pinot Bianco - IGT Toscana - Cercatoja - Rosso - IGT Toscana - Il Fortino Syrah IGT Toscana To accompany the wines, fresh DOP bread from Altopascio, extra virgin olive oil of our production, and platters with a selection of local cured meats and cheeses are served. A unique experience, which includes an exclusive tour of the various cellars in the company of exceptional guides: our Winemaker and the Winery Team.
Tasting
Sensory Tasting
1 hour 30 minutes
€55 per person
Online payments are non-refundable; free date change up to the day before
English, Italian
A slow, guided tasting of five wines in which you are asked to close your eyes and notice what each glass brings to mind. The line-up is the Particolare Brut Rosé sparkling wine, M.I.O. Viognier, Vasario Pinot Bianco, the Cercatoja red and Il Fortino Syrah. The wines come with Altopascio bread and a platter of local cured meats and cheeses. Children up to 10 go free.
Book this tasting
on visit.buonamico.it
Tasting
Tasting of 5 Wines and Platters
30 minutes
€25 per person
Online payments are non-refundable; free date change up to the day before
English, Italian
The quickest way to taste the range. You try five wines with a guide: the Particolare Brut Rosé sparkling wine, M.I.O. Viognier, Vasario Pinot Bianco, the Cercatoja red and Il Fortino Syrah. They come with Altopascio bread and a platter of local cured meats and cheeses. Children up to 10 go free.
Book this tasting
on visit.buonamico.it
Accommodation
Stay at the Buonamico Wine Resort
Rooms at the estate's own small hotel, set among the vines below Montecarlo. Every room has a terrace on the garden or a balcony over the valley. Guests can use the pool and eat at the Syrah restaurant on site. Check-in is from 3pm to 7pm.
See rooms and rates
on buonamicowineresort.it
Not seeing the estate you want? Estates without an online listing are reachable directly, and their phone and email are in Plan your visit.
Some booking links earn italianwines.co.uk a commission. This never affects price or what we recommend.
Plan your visit
Via Provinciale di Montecarlo 43, 55015 Montecarlo (LU)
What Tenuta del Buonamico makes
Tenuta del Buonamico's current bottle selection is led by Toscana IGT. The clearest grape signal comes from Sangiovese and Syrah.
Denominations
Key grapes
Common questions
-
Yes. The estate runs tours and tastings every day, booked online in advance, for groups of 2 to 80 people. The shortest is a 30-minute tasting of five wines with a platter. The longest is a morning with the winemaking team, with wines tasted straight from the tanks and barrels. Tours run in Italian and English.
Plan a visit
Ask us to arrange your visit to Tenuta del Buonamico
This form reaches the ItalianWines.co.uk team, not the winery. Tell us when you would like to come and how many you are: we contact Tenuta del Buonamico for you and come back with availability and prices, usually within two working days.
More from Tuscany
