On our second evening in Raito, Italy (read about our whole experience here and here), we booked a very special dinner for our friend’s milestone birthday. While Raito is simply tiny without much to do aside from its sweeping views of the Salerno Gulf, Raito is home to one of only two wineries on the Amalfi Coast. And, one of them, Le Vigne di Raito, happens to be located only a five minute walk from our hotel, Hotel Raito!

Le Vigne di Raito is a boutique organic vineyard, founded by owner Patrizia Malanga in 2001. Specializing largely in red wines, Le Vigne di Raito priduces two flagship wines – the Ragis red and Vitamenia rose. Le Vigne di Raito also offers winery tours and tasting to the public, as well as specialty dining experiences, including that paired with lunch or dinner, a cooking or pizza making course, and picnics in the vineyard.

We booked a winery tour, tasting, and dinner a couple months in advance of our friend’s birthday, which feel on a Monday night. Booking was quite easy – Patrizia emails in perfect English, and she has a handy PDF outlining all of the tasting options with prices.

Our even began with the 5 minute, yet quite steep, walk from Hotel Raito to Le Vigne di Raito. We arrived right on time and met up with two other couples who had booked the same experience. The tour started indoors, where we learned history about the winery. We then proceeded to walk through the vineyards, learning more information as we went along, finally arriving at our dinner table, which was located at the tip top of the vineyard.

The dinner setting was stunning – overlooking Vietri sul Mare, Raito and the Gulf of Salerno. Dinner also took place during sunset, which was just perfect.

APERITIVO

Dinner got started pretty quickly once we sat down. And I have to call out the very pretty dishes used at Le Vigne di Raito. Very early fall. Very chic.

We began with a traditional Italian aperitivo. Here, it was three separate dishes, all of which were homemade. The first, and possibly my favorite, was bruschetta, or toasted bread topped with the most delicious local tomatoes and the winery’s olive oil.

The second plate was a homemade Quiche Lorraine. I have never seen this dish offered in Italy, but it was very tasty.

The final bite was the most delicious mound of green vegetables, topped with dried local tomatoes. This dish was incredible. I wish I knew exactly what it was!

The aperitivo was paired with Le Vigne di Raito’s signature Rose.

PRIMO

During the aperitivo, Le Vigne di Raito began preparing our pasta, but not before presenting the freshly made pasta to the table before cooking it. This was very cool, and the pasta looked amazing! This was a very special treat.

When the pasta came out cooked, most people – myself included – enjoyed pasta with a bolognese sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the bolognese sauce was truly delicious. One of our party does not eat beef, so she enjoyed a vegetarian version made with local tomatoes. She also loved her pasta. Both pastas were topped with a small sprig of basil.

This course, as well as the next, were paired with different years of Le Vigne di Raito’s signature red.

SECONDO

I truly thought that the pasta was the main course, but I was wrong. The main course was actually chicken done in a local tomato sauce with local herbs. I was certainly not prepared to eat an entire second main dish, but the chicken was good. It was a very “early fall” dish. Everyone loved it.

DOLCE

Finally, for dessert, Le Vigne di Raito made a birthday cake for our friend and brought it out with candles! How sweet! The cake was a chocolate torta paired with stracciatella ice cream!

We paired our dessert with Le Vigne di Raito’s house Limoncello. Unfortunately, they were sold out for the season and could not bring any home. We did bring some wine with us!

All in, this was an incredible experience – perfect for a milestone event. The food was excellent, and there was plenty of wine included with the dinner. Certainly worth the cost. I highly, highly recommend Le Vigne di Raito, especially if you are staying at Hotel Raito!

STEAL OUR TRIP

Le Vigne di Raito: This is the website with information on booking tours and dinner. Email the vineyard for the most updated prices and schedule. As of September 2025, the wine tour and tasting is 70 per person, dinner with a tour and tasting is 130 per person, the picnic is 60 per person, the cooking course is 300 (if 4 or more people), and the pizza making course is 60 per person. 10% discount for paying in cash.