Sunday at the Estate is a small ritual of Italian beauty: Chef on the wheels 🇮🇹🍷

In Valpolicella, Sunday still carries the flavor of old traditions. ✨

Every Sunday, surrounded by ancient vineyards, authentic silence, and breathtaking landscapes that tell the story of our land, we welcome guests into something truly special.

With Chef on the Wheels by Duvine Cycling + Adventure Co., our winery becomes a place where wine meets travel, cuisine meets tradition, and every table becomes a memory to carry home forever.

Authentic flavors, family hospitality, the elegance of an Italian Sunday table, Amarone, stories of generations, family memories, and lives deeply rooted in a corner of Valpolicella that still remains beautifully authentic.

The day begins early.

Our guests set off by bicycle, riding through the gentle hills of Valpolicella, climbing scenic roads, descending winding paths, and crossing vineyards that, in the heart of summer, explode with life, sunlight, and fragrance. It is the moment when the landscape reveals all the power and generosity of the season.

While the group disappears into the beauty of this journey immersed in nature, back at the estate another dance quietly begins — one made of ancient gestures, patience, and slow preparations.

The kitchen comes alive, preparing to welcome our cyclists upon their return: selected regional cheeses, artisan cured meats, vegetables marinated with aged balsamic vinegar, ingredients chosen among the finest Italian gastronomic treasures and, naturally, fresh handmade pasta prepared according to authentic family tradition.

Then finally, the bicycles appear between the vineyard rows.

The guests arrive at the winery smiling, tired, hungry, still carrying on their skin the wind of the morning spent among the hills.

And this is where the most extraordinary part of the experience begins.

Our dining room is not an ordinary dining room.

Lunch is served inside the most iconic place of Valpolicella tradition: the drying loft, the fruttaio, an extraordinary space where every autumn the magical miracle of natural grape drying takes place — the ancient process that transforms grapes into the great Amarone della Valpolicella.

Right here, surrounded by the very place where one of Italy’s most celebrated wines is born, the chef cooks in front of the guests, explaining each preparation while sharing stories of ingredients, history, and traditions passed down through generations.

Our cyclists finally take their seats and are served course after course.

And I, as the winemaker, personally accompany every dish by presenting the wines I have carefully selected to serve — changing each pairing with every course, creating a perfect dialogue between cuisine, terroir, and the work we carry out every single day in the vineyard.

This is not simply a wine tasting.

It is not simply lunch.

It is not simply a bicycle tour.

It is a Sunday lived inside the most authentic soul of Italy.

Sport, landscape, extraordinary cuisine, wine, and the privilege of sitting exactly where the miracle of Amarone begins.

Here, Sunday is never simply lunch.

It is experiencing the territory in its truest form. ❤️

Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde

Where wine tells the story of who we are.