A Meal At Osteria di Passignano Isn’t Complete Without Antinori Wine

The restaurant Osteria di Passignano received its Michelin star for its authentic Tuscan cuisine with a modern sensibility, but a meal here – which can be enjoyed during our Antinori’s Noble Tuscany cooking vacation – isn’t complete without wine. After all, the renowned restaurant is surrounded by beautiful vineyards, and the area has a long and storied history with winemaking.

That history starts in 395 AD, when a monastery was founded in Badia di Passignano and the Vallombrosian Order of Benedictine monks began to specialize in viticulture and taking care of the land by cultivating grapevines.

Today, the Antinori family owns and runs the vineyards around the Abbey, and it’s here that they produce Badia a Passignano wine and age it in the monastery’s cellars. It’s then served at the Michelin-rated restaurant that was opened in 2000 with the help of a wine connoisseur Marcello Crini.

Discover our Antinori’s Noble Tuscany food and wine tour.

As Antinori wines are considered the local wines, they can of course be enjoyed elsewhere in the area, as well as bought from the property’s bottega, but there’s something incredibly special about dining at 1-star Michelin restaurant, where the wines are specially picked to match the flavors of the dishes served. And the flavors here are really unlike anything else you’ll experience in Tuscany. That’s largely because, while they focus on traditional dishes, they give them a modern twist, often with the help of herbs you wouldn’t normally find in that dish’s recipe.

Learn about the Antinori’s other winery in the Chianti Classico. 

Even better is learning the art of these dishes through the chef masters themselves. During our Antinori’s Noble Tuscany cooking vacation, take part in a hands-on cooking class with the restaurant’s Chef Matia or his sous chefs, which will focus on bread and pasta, tour the abbey’s wine cellars – where there are about 2,000 wine barrels, and end the day with an out-of-this-world meal paired with prestigious Antinori wines. We can’t think of anything better.

Discover more of our wine tours.

By Liz Hall

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