How a Tuscan sailor, a Woodinville wine network, and a travel curator built a transatlantic bridge
The conversation usually starts in a tasting room. A winemaker mentions a vineyard in Italy. Someone says, “You should see it during harvest.” PicNic Table Italy is built around that moment, turning longstanding relationships into small-group journeys through Maremma, Italy.
The project launched in 2024 with Tuscan chef Danilo Amato and travel curator Lyndsay Lundgren. It draws on the network Amato developed in the Pacific Northwest and situates it within a working landscape in southern Tuscany, where vineyard visits sit alongside harvest work, farmhouse meals and extended time at the table.
Amato’s perspective comes from the cellar as much as the kitchen. Raised in his parents’ seafood restaurant in Monte Argentario, he began working at six and gravitated early toward wine. After training in Paris and spending more than a decade sailing professionally, he moved to Seattle and built a career in wine-focused hospitality, first as cellar master at The Herbfarm and later at his Woodinville restaurant, The PicNic Table, located above what is now the Two Vintners building.
The work in Woodinville shaped more than his career. It embedded him inside a community defined by proximity and repetition; the same people, the same vintages, the same conversations unfolding over time.
““That gave me a strong foundation in Washington winemaking, and real connection with winemakers,” he said.
Lundgren first entered that space as a guest. With more than 20 years designing bespoke travel, particularly in Africa, she approached itineraries through logistics and relationship building. Over time, a client relationship became friendship. Amato spoke frequently about Maremma, the agricultural corner of Tuscany where he owned land and where “life moves at a different pace than Florence or Chianti.”
PicNic Table Italy launched through Lundgren’s Washington-based company Amani Travel. Lundgren manages travel design and operations. Amato provides the setting.
That setting is Villa Belpasso, his restored farmhouse in Maremma. Over two decades, Amato renovated the property, planted roughly 600 olive trees, and began producing organic olive oil certified under DOP standards. During trips, the farmhouse functions as both residence and working space. Guests cook, taste oil shortly after pressing, and return each evening to the same table.
Groups remain intentionally small, typically eight people. Days move between wineries such as Sassotondo and Tenuta Montauto, the tufa towns of Pitigliano, Sovana and Sorano, coastal drives, and thermal springs in Saturnia. The structure follows agricultural timing rather than sightseeing checklists.
In September, trips align with vendemmia, the annual grape harvest. Guests work alongside producers at Sassotondo, joining harvest decisions, cellar work and fermentation discussions. In October, attention shifts to olives. Participants harvest fruit from Amato’s orchard, visit the mill, and taste oil while it is still unfiltered, bright and peppery.
The distinction is participation rather than observation.
“It’s hands-on,” Amato said. “From vineyard to cellar.”
Maremma is central to the model. Less trafficked than Chianti and structurally more agricultural, it offers access that can be difficult to arrange independently. Smaller estates. Organic farming. Producers with time for conversation.
“It’s Tuscany, but different,” he said.
What distinguishes the project for travelers is continuity with the Pacific Northwest. Early departures filled largely through Woodinville networks. Guests who once followed winemakers between tasting rooms now follow them to Italy.
That continuity has evolved into direct collaboration. Wineries introduce trips to club members, and winemakers often travel with the group, shifting the dynamic from guided tourism to shared exploration. JM Cellars sponsored an early departure, with winemaker Tommy Bigelow joining. Future itineraries follow a similar structure. Charlie Auclair will co-host a Bolgheri-focused trip in 2026. A 2027 departure with Morgan Lee of Two Vintners will extend beyond Tuscany into Friuli and Slovenia.
For participants, the shift is immediate. Tastings deepen. Conversations move toward farming decisions, vintage pressure and stylistic choices. Producers are encountered through both local context and a familiar point of reference.
Lundgren’s role keeps the experience seamless without expanding its scale. With more than two decades in travel design, she manages transportation, timing and supplier relationships while preserving the small-group structure. The concept is beginning to extend beyond Italy. In March 2026, PicNic Table will run a South Africa itinerary through Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek before ending at Kapama Private Game Reserve.
Amato sees the different strands of his career settling into the same place with this project.
“Restaurant, cellar, farming, hosting, it all comes together,” he said. “I always wanted to do this.”
