Monday was an eventful day…and now I will relate to you what happened after Monday morning’s wine tasting.
The group of buyers, winebloggers and journalists traveled via bus to visit three vineyards who produce Barbera d’Asti wine. These were, Marchesi Alfieri, Tenuto Il Falchetto, and Tenuta La Pergola—all were wonderful hosts offering their wines for tasting, accompanied by delicious assortments of locally produced breads, salamis and cheeses.
Villa Basinetto, just on the outskirts of Asti city, was the venue for an elegant wine tasting event and a grand dinner where the producers, buyers, journalists and winebloggers came together at the end of a long wine tasting day. The producers who displayed their wine offerings in the evening event, were the same producers who offered the wines we tasted in the morning session in Asti. Exciting for me is to know who is producing what. Here we see the face of the producer behind the bottle so to speak—up close and personal. I had the opportunity to taste the best Barbera d’Asti wines, of all constitutions and character, and to discuss at length with the producers themselves the intimate nature and technicalities of their wines. Of course, the technicalities of marketing were discussed as well. I met so many winemakers—these are relationships to cultivate and cherish. Since I live in Piedmont, I consider myself as one of the lucky ones partaking in the journalist, buyer group—it makes it that much more personal.
Several winemakers caught my attention. Especially worthy of note are both the Barbera d’Asti Monferrato and Barbera d’Asti Superiore from Tenuta I Quaranta, owned by Annalisa Battuello.
Another favorite are the Barbera d’Asti Superiore offerings from Castello di Razanno. The most exciting Ruchè I ever drank is definitely from Franco Cavallero’s Cantine Sant’Agata. And, Guido Damilano’s Barolo wine is the most soul warming. But there are tons more wine to taste and enjoy and I definitely have more favorites.
The grand dinner event, yes, that is the way to paint the picture. I was so impressed by the Piedmontese hospitality and the food served. We all sat at large round tables where we had active dialogue with each other. I dined with two wine producers Dogliotti of Castagnole Lanze (AT) and
Mr. Carlo Sacchetto of Bric Cenciurio and journalist Ivo Kozarcanin of Croatia. Our dinner table had the richest and most interesting conversations of everything that had to do with wine, truffles, Piedmontese food, and much more.
I love the way the Piedmontese present their food, as I have much experience at this. In Piedmont thye aim to present nouvelle cusisine, but with a definite Piedmontese nature: the ingredients consist of food elements things typical to the region. Our four course dinner began with an appetizer consisting of a beautiful plate of mille feuille of beef tongue and foie gras together with small cubes of porto gelatin. This was followed by a delicious potatoe, borlotti bean and maltagliati pasta soup. I noticed around the room that many people were craving second servings of the soup—it was very stomach warming. Absolutely exquisite was the main dish which followed: old vintage Barbera d’Asti stewed beef with polenta (cornmeal porridge). This meat dish was out of this world. I have always been a fan of Piedmontese stewed meat, but this was sooo delicious the way it was cooked in the sauce containing Barbera d’Asti wine. In Piedmont there exist many recipes where various meats are stewed for long periods, using different types of wine. And, finally, our dessert was a pasticcio of hazelnut sweets—these were special hazelnuts however—coming from the Langhe region. Hazelnuts are king in Piedmont as far as nuts go, and usually everytime I eat a dessert in a Piedmontese restaurant, hazelnuts are always present. Then of course as we waited between servings wea ll entertained ourselves by conversing and drinking an assortment of Piedmontese wines form Moscato to Dolcetto to Barolo, etc. etc.
The evening is one I will always remember and again I thank our hosts and hostesses for this wonderful dinner event.
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