Matera Wine & Food Experience
Private tasting with a sommelier.
This Matera wine tasting experience begins where the walking tour ends.
Matera sits at the centre of one of Italy’s most underrated wine regions. Basilicata produces some of the country’s most compelling reds — and almost nobody outside Italy knows it yet.
After your walking tour of the Sassi, we move underground — into one of Matera’s cave restaurants, where the same tufa stone that shaped the city for millennia now keeps a cellar at perfect temperature. Over two hours, we’ll taste through a selection of local wines and olive oils paired with regional food, from producers within a short distance of where we’re sitting.
I choose the wines. As a certified sommelier with a deep knowledge of Basilicata’s producers — from small family estates on the slopes of Monte Vulture to the older masserie of the Materano — I’ll guide you through what’s in your glass with the same detail I bring to the stones above ground.
Three levels of exploration.
The standard experience focuses entirely on Basilicata — its indigenous varieties, its ancient olive groves, its producers still working in ways that haven’t changed much in centuries. It’s a portrait of a single, coherent territory.
The premium experience (from €150 per person) goes further. We use wines from Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily, Abruzzo as reference points — not because they’re better, but because comparison sharpens understanding. Tasting a great Aglianico del Vulture alongside a Taurasi or the best Primitivos from Puglia gives credit to a still underestimated amazing territory. This is the level I’d recommend to anyone who takes wine seriously.
The collector’s experience (€270 per person, minimum 4 guests) is something different entirely. A curated selection of exceptional bottles — limited editions, rare vintages, wines aged up to twenty years — chosen for the story they tell as much as for what’s in the glass. If you know wine, this is the experience you’ll talk about for years.
Premium tastings also available in the volcanic cellars of Monte Vulture, after a visit to cultural sites and vineyards.
Why tasting wine in Matera’s caves is a great idea?
Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Its caves have been home to humans for centuries — and for much of that time, wine has been part of daily life here. The ancient population of Basilicata called it Oinotria, The Land of Wine. The Romans wrote about the excellent wines of Lucania. Medieval monks cultivated vineyards on the slopes of Monte Vulture. I used to make wine with my grandpa in his cave cellar in the Sassi. This is not a new wine region discovering itself — it is an old one being rediscovered.
Tasting wine in a beautiful cave restaurant in the Sassi is not just a pleasant way to end an afternoon. It is a way of understanding Matera and the whole region from the inside — through your senses rather than through a guidebook. The food on the table, the stone above your head, the wine in your glass, even your guide: they all come from the same place. A place with hundreds of layers of history, that only an archaeologist and sommelier can help you dig up.
- Duration: 2 hours (follows the walking tour, total 3–4 hours)
- Private: your group only
- Price: from €50 per person
- Location: cave restaurant in the Sassi — confirmed at booking
- Conducted entirely in English
A note on pricing: The tasting prices listed above are charged directly by the venue and settled on-site. My guiding fee — which covers the walking tour and the tasting session — is quoted separately and depends on group size. Get in touch for a full quote tailored to your group.
Aglianico del Vulture, in its element. Monte Vulture, autumn.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is included in the Matera wine tasting?
A private tasting of Basilicata local olive oils, wines and local food — served in a cave restaurant in the Sassi. Chosen and guided by Nicola Taddonio personally, as a certified sommelier.
Q: How much does it cost?
The standard experience starts from €50 per person. The premium level starts from €150. The collector’s experience is €270 per person with a minimum of 4 guests. Tasting prices are settled directly with the venue. The guiding fee is separate and depends on group size.
Q: Can I combine the tasting with a walking tour?
Yes — the tasting follows the 2-hour private walking tour of the Sassi, for a total of 3 to 4 hours. It can also be booked as a standalone experience.