Wine Tastings, Winery Visits and Wine Tours in Oltrepò Pavese

Oltrepò Pavese wine tasting: which wineries to visit

The Oltrepò Pavese is the part of the province of Pavia south of the Po, about an hour's drive from Milan. It is the largest wine area in Lombardy and Italy's leading region for Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir). This page lists tastings at more than 20 wineries, and the villages with the most wineries are Montalto Pavese, Montù Beccaria and Santa Maria della Versa. More than half of the tastings last one to two hours, usually with 3 or 4 wines, and guests have left more than 100 reviews on Winedering.

Which wineries should you visit in the Oltrepò Pavese?

Tenuta Ballerio takes almost a third of this page's bookings, but each of these wineries has its own draw:

• Tenuta Ballerio, in Santa Maria della Versa: 4 wines with cheese and cold cuts, tasted inside a 60-hectolitre wooden barrel, after a tour of the cellar and vineyard.
• Piccolo Bacco dei Quaroni, in Montù Beccaria: the owners lead the visit and pour 3 organic, natural wines, on the panoramic terrace in spring and summer.
• Podere Bignolino, in Montalto Pavese: the owner, oenologist Cirillo Contardi, shows you round the cellar, and the tasting starts with a Pinot Nero rosé, then 2 more wines with cured meats, cheese and focaccia.
• Cantina Tàia, in Montecalvo Versiggia: concrete tanks, barriques and the sparkling wine cellar, then 3 wines with cured meats, cheese and homemade jam.
• Lefiole, in Montalto Pavese, run by sisters Elisa and Silvia: a 45-minute vineyard walk, then 3 wines, including a Pinot Nero Metodo Classico, with Salame di Varzi DOP.

For a picnic, Bosco Longhino pours 3 wines, then hands you a basket of cured meats, cheese and torta della nonna and a map of its 50-hectare estate.

What wine is the Oltrepò Pavese known for?

Pinot Nero above all, as a red and as a Metodo Classico sparkling wine, plus reds from Croatina and Barbera, still or lightly sparkling; among the whites, Riesling. Three local reds, and where to taste them:

• Bonarda dell'Oltrepò Pavese: a red from Croatina, still or frizzante. At Sabaghina, in Montalto Pavese, it comes with Salame di Varzi DOP, after the "18 Carati" Riesling Renano.
• Buttafuoco: a red from Barbera and Croatina, sometimes with Uva Rara and Vespolina, made in just seven villages, Canneto Pavese, Broni and Stradella among them. The Club del Buttafuoco Storico, in Canneto Pavese, is an association of Buttafuoco Storico producers, not a winery: in its wine shop you taste a young Buttafuoco, a Riserva and a Storico.
• Sangue di Giuda: a sweet, sparkling red from Barbera and Croatina, low in alcohol. At Quaquarini, an organic winery in Canneto Pavese, it is poured with the area's other classics: a Pinot Nero Metodo Classico, a Bonarda and a Buttafuoco.

On the border with Emilia-Romagna, Castello di Luzzano, in Rovescala, also makes Gutturnio, the red of the Hills of Piacenza, and compares four vintages of its Romeo Riserva. Just across the border, in Ziano Piacentino, Civardi walks you through the vineyard, weather permitting, before 3 wines with cured meats, cheese and a homemade tart.

Where can you taste Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Nero and Metodo Classico?

In more than 15 experiences here, as a red, a rosé or a sparkling wine. The Oltrepò grows almost 3,000 hectares of the grape, and Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico DOCG is at least 70% Pinot Nero, aged at least 15 months on the lees, 24 for a vintage.

• La Travaglina, in Santa Giuletta: 4 Pinot Nero wines, from a sparkling rosé aged over 10 years on the lees to a wood-aged Riserva.
• La Genisia, in Codevilla: from the Torre Vinaria, a 1960s wine tower, to the underground cellar, then 4 sparkling wines, up to the 36-month Centodieci Nature.
• Calatroni: 4 Pinot Nero sparkling wines, among them the Poggio dei Duca Pas Dosé, Gambero Rosso's sparkling wine of the year in its Vini d'Italia 2025 guide, then a Sangue di Giuda and lunch.

Can you do an Oltrepò Pavese wine tasting as a day trip from Milan?

Yes: at about an hour's drive, and with most tastings lasting one to two hours, two in a day is doable. Each experience is at a single winery and almost none includes transport: come by car, or by train to Voghera, Broni or Stradella and then a taxi. More than three in four tastings also run on Sundays. On Winedering, September to November bring more than four in ten bookings. Cantine Aperte, the Movimento Turismo del Vino's open cellar days, falls on the last weekend of May, and several Oltrepò wineries take part. Many of these tastings can also be given as a gift: whoever receives the voucher picks the date.