Marchesi Mazzei Cellar — Attraction in Castellina in Chianti

Dear Fonterutoli team

We spend some lovely days in Chianti and took the chance to stop by Castellina to experience your hospitality in the Osteria and also wanted to taste and buy some wine from your estate.

Last Monday 22 May we reserved a table for dinner at 8pm in the Osteria and wanted to get some wine shopping done before that. We called the Osteria (after no one picked up the phone on the main number) and asked about the Enoteca. The Osteria team informed us, that the wineshop will only be open until 7pm, but they‘d welcome us as of 7.30pm for some aperitivo before our dinner booking.

So we drove over from our place and reached the Enoteca at 6.45pm and entered the store. A young lady came from the back office and instead of greeting us, she just said „Si?“ We said our greetings and asked if it‘d be possible to buy some wine. But she immediately told us, that the store is already closed, despite it being open for another 15‘ according to the opening times on the door, on the internet and forwarded by the Osteria team.

We told her, that we‘re here before closing time and already know what we want. She informed us it‘s cash only, as she already closed everything. We didn‘t carried any cash and wanted to pay by card, but she refused this, and told us that we should come back tomorrow. We had plans to leave Chianti early the next day and couldn’t arrange this.

At the very end we asked if it will be possible to get the box from her and pay with the restaurant, together with our dinner reservation. She informed us this is not possible and began to be really rude. We were really disappointed and asked her why she‘s closing the store before the time, she said „If we close at 7pm only, we‘ll have people coming in and buying stuff until 7.30pm“ which may be the truth but we advised her to adjust the opening hours, as people are not just passing by the estate and, just like us, are not around for days in a row to reschedule the spending of money for the specific needs of one employee.

We left frustrated and I actually wanted to cancel the reservation at the Osteria and not spend any money with your estate. My partner convinced me to go to Castellina for an aperitivo and come back for dinner. Dinner was great, lovely service, great food and amazing wines tried that night. At the end we asked the Maître d‘ if we can buy wine with them for Enoteca prices, and surprise: It was not a problem at all.

So we left happy and with our wine in the trunk, but still frustrated about the unprofessional and rude reaction of the enoteca employee.

We‘re looking forward to open the great wines from your estate and hope to...

I know there are some hater reviews for this place, but I’m here to tell you…it is awesome. We were a party of 6 and did the VIP tour, which is going to be a different experience than just the basic tasting in the wine shop. You get what you pay for. If you just want to taste wines, then do the shop tasting. If you want to see more of the winery, then do the winery tour. Our tour guide, Rafaela, was amazing and she knows her stuff—the winery, the family history, and of course, the wines. The winery is pretty industrial, but that’s what they are going for in order to keep up with demand. Having said that, they work really hard to stay with the family traditions that date back many centuries. They do a nice job of blending the old with the new. My husband is not a snotty wine guy but he does know his stuff and Rafaela was able to answer any question thrown at her. It was also answered in a respectful way, which if you’ve been to several wineries, you know what I mean. It was just informative. They have a club, but you don’t have to commit to a certain number of wines, like most other clubs. Coming from the States, it will be nice to get some harder to get Italian wines when we are home without feeling obligated to do so. Since we were a traveling party of 6, the VIP made sense for us, but at the same time, I would highly recommend it and definitely recommend Rafaela! Thanks for a...

BEWARE OF SHADY PRACTICES.

TLDR: Train strike happened and couldn't make our booking. They pocketed our $200 and essentially said too bad.

Recently traveled to Italy in April and planned to tour this winery. A day before our booking, we find out there will be a rail strike throughout the country. This threw a huge wrench in our plans and we were unable to make our scheduled tour here and at another winery.

The other winery (Montefioralle) refunded us and were very understanding about the situation.

Called Mazzei immediately when we found out we couldn't make it and they say the person that handles reservations can only discuss this via email. Odd I think but sure. He emails me and says their policy is you must cancel within 48 hours with no exceptions.

I tried emailing him back several times asking how can tourists plan for a train strike and he has refused to respond to me since.

Do yourself a favor and spend your money at...