July 2022

Cena in Vigna by Querceto di Castellina – Tuscany, Italy

The reason for our summer trip to Italy was to attend this special dinner – Cena in Vigna by Querceto di Castellina. Something about having this light by string lights dinner in the vineyard hooked me in real good. I discovered it several years back and had planned on attending a dinner in 2020 – thanks to COVID, that was postponed. So when the 2022 series was released, I asked which dinners were open with a room available on property – the July dinner was the only one with both openings and that is how we got here. 

There are only four dinners available each year – one for each month from June through September so this is definitely a hot ticket! The menu also rotates depending on the month so if you book early enough, you can pick your favorite menu. They all looked amazing and since we wanted to stay at the property after the dinner, we were not picky – July was available for the room and the dinner so July it was. While it is probably easier for locals or even people who live in Italy to make accommodations around the dinner dates, coming from out of the country does pose some logistical challenges. So we planned an entire trip just to make this dinner. And spoiler, it was well worth it.

Since we were staying on site, we passed the space for the dinner on our walk to and from where the Vespa was parked. Located in a small section of the vineyards for the white grape production, the Livia Vineyards is where the dinner would take place. 

The first part of the evening started at 7PM on the terrace. It was so cool to see the terrace transform into this space with floral arrangements (Winston and Winston). As guests started to arrive, servers were giving glasses of the Rosato and plates with the aperitivo. The food and dinner service was being done by Ristorante Albergaccio di Castellina. For this evening, the aperitivo included: 

• Donzelle con prosciutto toscano DOP (fried dough with prosciutto)
• Cecina croccante con baccalà mantecato e pomodorino confit (crispy chickpeas with creamed cod and tomato confit) 
• Bignè salato con crema di piselli (salty bignè with a cream of fresh peas) 

Each of these was so tasty! Just enough to give you a great flavor but not too heavy to impede on the dinner ahead. 

At 8PM once all the guests had arrived, the musical performance for the evening began. Tonight, award winning string duo Violinist Zeneba Bowers and cellist Matt Walker of Orsini Virtuosi were the musical performance.  The American duo moved to Soriano nel Cimino near Rome right before the pandemic and made the news for their balcony performances during quarantine to lift everyone’s spirits.  perform a concert from their balcony. Their set list included pop throughout the ages and it was such a fun, relaxed, and excellent performace.

• Tomaso Albinoni – Sonato for violin
• Pietro Mascagni – Intermezzo, Calleria Rusticana
• John Denver “Country Roads”
• Eric Clapton “Layla”
• Elvis “Heartbreak Hotel
• Queen “Crazy Little Thing”

At the conclusion of their performance, we were sent to the Livia Vineyard for dinner. It was a funny rush of those influencers or people in the travel industry who did a bit of a run to get that perfect photo ahead of people sitting down (myself being one of them!). And I will tell you what, despite seeing photos and knowing exactly what to expect, it was still jaw dropping and it was “pinch me” stunning. 

We all had assigned seats which was very helpful in avoiding any issues with seating. Each place setting was meticulously arranged and decorded beautifully – we could not stop admiring everything down to the plates! 

The meal started by wine being filled in everyone’s glasses. Here we were served three more of the winery’s collection L’aura Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Sei Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, and Podalirio IGT Toscana Merlot 2018 Toscana IGT. Wine was also refilled plentifully. Shortly after, the meal began.

Tonight’s menu included the following dishes:

• Farro Monococco risottato con pomodorini datterini, burrata e pesto di basilico (farro Monococco cooked risotto-style with date tomatoes, burrata and a basil pesto) 
• Fagottelli ripieni di peposo di Chianina, crema di peperoni dolci e olio al rosmarino (fagottelli pasta stuffed with peppery beef and served with a sweet pepper cream and rosemary-infused oil) 
• Costata di Chianina IGP alla brace, leggera salsa acciugata e tegamaccio di verdure di stagione (grilled Chianina IGP steak with a light anchovy sauce and seasonal vegetables) 
• Cheese cake con biscotto morbido alle mandorle e gelatina di albicocche (cheesecake with soft almond biscuit and apricot jelly) 

Farro Monococco risottato con pomodorini datterini, burrata e pesto di basilico

(farro Monococco cooked risotto-style with date tomatoes, burrata and a basil pesto) 

Delightfully tasty dish that had such a great combination of flavors. It resembled a traditional risotto but with the farro if it gave it a bit more texture away from the creaminess. The addition of burrata and pesto to the tomato base was a creative way to infuse a mix of flavors that complement each other. It really had all the structure of a caprese in a different form. Excellent dish to start off the evening. 

Fagottelli ripieni di peposo di Chianina, crema di peperoni dolci e olio al rosmarino

(fagottelli pasta stuffed with peppery beef and served with a sweet pepper cream and rosemary-infused oil) 

I expected to not enjoy this dish given the pepper being used – I am super sensitive to pepper – but in the spirit of trying everything, I of course tried it. It actually was a very well balanced dish. The meat on the inside of the pasta was definitely the most peppery part but with the pasta and the sweet pepper cream, it actually cut that burn down. The sweet pepper cream sauce was so delicious, so overall happy with how this dish turned out! For those that are not completely pepper avoidant, they loved this dish. 

Costata di Chianina IGP alla brace, leggera salsa acciugata e tegamaccio di verdure di stagione

(grilled Chianina IGP steak with a light anchovy sauce and seasonal vegetables) 

We noticed a bit of smoke besides the vines and there was a full outdoor grill cooking up the steaks practically table side. I was very happy that the portion of meat was actually on the smaller side so I felt like I could actually eat the entire piece. It was a bit on the rare side which does not bother me but for those that did not like their meat that rare, it may have been an issue. To me, when you are in an area where raw meat is something you seek out, this would be just fine. The flavor in the stead was very good and the light anchovy sauce added a bit of salt back onto the meat. We also enjoyed the vegetable medley on the side. 

Cheese cake con biscotto morbido alle mandorle e gelatina di albicocche

(cheesecake with soft almond biscuit and apricot jelly) 

This desert may have stole the show. It was not a cheesecake in the sense that I expected (something more dense) but instead resemble more of a moouse in consistency. And there was a biscuit on the bottom and an apricot jelly on top – it really was so delicious.. I think we all wanted another one just to keep eating.

At the conclusion of dinner, we were then taken back to the terrace for after dinner drinks and coffee. Kevin had an amaro (or two – one of the reasons staying on property was so essential to attending this dinner for us), and I had a limoncello. As we enjoyed our after dinner beverages, the moon started to rise above the hills in the distance. Such a wonderful way to end the evening seeing the moon rise like the sun. 

One of the reasons we love events like this is that we get to meet like minded people who are here to enjoy the same experience. I am definitely not the only one who saw this vineyard dinner and thought “I have to go”.  We met a few people during the aperitivo and the couple we sat next to during dinner were just lovely – we had such a wonderful time getting to know everyone. It even became a bit of a networking event where we get to learn a bit from each other. 

Somehow, this evening exceeded all expectations despite knowing exactly what they expected. There were moments during dinner where I stopped and looked around and all the activity around us. We were in Tuscany, in a vineyard, drinking wine made from these vines, eating food from this land. I don’t think it gets any better! The price for the evening was 110 euro each which felt reasonable given everything that was included – wine, food, performance, decor, etc. It felt more like a wedding than anything else so as a metric, I think that price point is a good reflection of that. 

I do not think this will be our last time in our life visiting this event and hope to be back at Querceto di Castellina soon. 

Continue reading about our weekend in Tuscany here!