Wine by helicopter: Franciacorta cellars and the Langhe in a single day

Italy's two most serious wine regions within reach of Milan sit in opposite directions: Franciacorta to the east, past Lake Iseo; the Langhe to the south-west, in Piedmont. By road each is a full day with two hours of driving at either end. By air both become a proper visit with the tasting, not the transfer, taking up the day.

Franciacorta by air — from €3,600 Depart Milan, fly over Lake Como, cross to Franciacorta and circle the vineyard amphitheatre. Land at Relais Franciacorta, taste at the Berlucchi cellars — the house that invented Italian *metodo classico* in 1961 — lunch, then home in the afternoon over Lake Iseo.

Bellavista and Ca' del Bosco can be substituted or added; Ca' del Bosco is the one to choose if you want contemporary art alongside the wine. The road version of this day is covered in the Franciacorta wine day guide, and it costs a fraction as much — the flight buys you the aerial view of the amphitheatre and about three hours.

Barolo Experience — from €3,600 Flight to the Langhe, then a full day on the ground with a personal sommelier: two selected estates, a vertical of Barbaresco, transfers between the villages in a chauffeured minivan, and lunch at Il Boscareto — the Michelin-starred restaurant looking straight down the Serralunga slope.

Langhe Deluxe — from €3,600 The same architecture with a different pour: exclusive crus of both Barolo and Barbaresco, a sommelier attached to you for the day rather than to a group, and the estates chosen for what is actually open in the cellar that week rather than what is on a tasting-room list.

Lake Orta and Villa Crespi — from €2,650 The wine-adjacent version, and the best value flight on the list. Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands, then west to Lake Orta, landing for a stop in Orta San Giulio and lunch at Villa Crespi, Antonino Cannavacciuolo's two-star kitchen inside a Moorish folly on the shore.

What is and is not included Published prices are per aircraft, VAT excluded, and cover flight time and landing fees. Tastings, lunches, the sommelier's fee and any ground transfers at the destination are quoted separately and paid at the location. That is standard for helicopter itineraries and keeps the flight price honest.

Timing Harvest — late September into October in the Langhe — is the atmospheric peak and the hardest time to secure both a cellar visit and an aircraft. It is also [white truffle](/atlas/truffle-season-piedmont) season in Alba, which is the argument for going anyway. Franciacorta is at its best from May to early July.

Give the concierge below your dates and your preference — bubbles or Barolo — and we will build the day and quote it firm.