Last autumn I took two groups around Tuscany on what turned out to be very popular tours of wine producers, olive oil producers, cheese makers, honey makers, the people who cure hams and salames and even a restaurant where a foraging consultant collected wild plants for our meal to make a sensory experience that none of us had every experienced before. Our guests loved the experience and some said it was the best vacation that they had ever been on. Two people said they would come back next year for second helpings! One man said that one of the wineries had, apart from the amazing quality of the wines, the most beautiful tasting room he had ever been to and this is a person who has spent many happy hours in Napa… One of the most delicious meals that we had was at a winery who also produce some of the most excellent oils of the world and we enjoyed this during the lunch pairing the different oils with different dishes. The most rustic and, dare I say it, extreme experience but in a really good way was the visit to some shepherds where we got to hold lambs, see ricotta being made and then taste all their sublime cheeses and more with some of Tuscany’s greatest wines. This, which I confess I was a bit nervous about because it really was FARM 2 table, turned out to be the most popular experience. On visiting one wine, oil and honey producer we discovered the incredible variety that the different flowers the bees visit can make to the honeys. A man, who in some years has made 18 different single flower honeys, gave us 5 honeys to taste and we were blown away by the gorgeous scents and flavours and by the extraordinary variety. At the ham and salame curers the smell was so good that somebody said could she buy the smell! A unique experience in places that are almost impossible to find if you don’t know the territory. For more information: https://extravirginolio.com/tours/ or simply write to me at: oliveoil@johnnymadge.com