Ristorante la Locanda del vino Nobile — Restaurant in Unione dei Comuni Valdichiana Senese

I spotted this restaurant online from Australia when planning our trip to Montepulciano - I was attracted by the owners’ gluten-free awareness as I am Coeliac, clinically diagnosed as gluten-intolerant. I certainly was not disappointed! I decided to eat the full Italian way - Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, and Dolce! Every course was sheer heaven, thanks to mine host Massimo in the kitchen, and mine hostess Francoise serving us discreetly but with a warm personal touch. I ate first, Chicken Liver Pate with crusty gf bread - but before that we got a complimentary glass of Prosecco with an amuse-bouche of warmed prunes each stuffed with walnut and wrapped in fried prosciutto. Second was my typical Tuscan Pici, a thick and chewy hand-rolled tubular pasta almost like Chinese rice noodles in Malaysia, but heavier ( and hey, also gluten free!), with a pork sausage sauce - m’wah, so piquant-tasty! Third was tender Roast Duck with Figs laced with an incomparable softly sweet fig-based sauce, orgasmic! Dolce was a totally sensual kind of chocolate mousse-cake, miraculously neither soft nor hard but firm, yet melting in the mouth. All this was washed down with a 5 year-old bottle of the region’s signature red wine, Vino Nobile, recommended to us by Francoise, top quality, neither rich nor light, just enough body but not too much. Most Vino Nobile needs to be at least 5 years old. You should see this restaurant’s lengthy wine list offering countless different bottles of Vino Nobile! Francoise showed us how a premium wine bottle should behave - the cork was very hard to pull out but came out intact, no breaking or crumbling, and it was almost 2 inches long, a length that apparently is a sign of really good wine. Btw, forget about screw-top wines in this region, dear Aussie mates! An unforgettable lunch. The restaurant was empty for a weekday lunch so we had very personal service - I can’t imagine why, except that it is well outside the Montepulciano town walls, so we needed a taxi to get to the location, in Sant’Albino. Believe me, well worth...

We expected issues with service having read some of the other reviews. So we weren’t too phased when the elderly French woman who sat us wasn’t much help with the menu and wine selection nor warm or pleasant despite us being the only ones in the restaurant. We enjoyed the food but didn’t care for the lemon ricotta ravioli. Lamb and pici was good.

All in all, if you want a more low key dining experience and don’t want to go into montepulciano proper and deal with parking, etc, consider this place. Prices are on par with other restaurants inside monte., so arguably a bit steep for this locale, but not...

I am very lucky to live near this wonderful restaurant, and I return often to enjoy the warm welcome and attention from Françoise and Massimo. The ambiance is serene and the service excellent. The food is divine, carefully handmade with the best ingredients. I highly recommend a tranquil lunch or romantic dinner here, but don't be in a rush. This is paced to an Italian lifestyle, time to...