Taste of Veneto - Amici Miei

As we fluctuate between winter and spring and back to winter, we took advantage of the warmth of Italy to taste wines from Veneto at Amici Miei. Once again, co-owners Roberto and Chef Davide created a lovely evening along with Nick from Siema Wine Imports.

Veneto is the largest wine-producing region in Italy. It is home to such great cities as Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and the always-romantic Venezia. Lake Garda borders Veneto on the west, creating a temperate climate so that the grapes in the Valpollicella area are able to ripen perfectly. And in the foothills of the Alps, the Valdobbiadene area allows the creation of sparkling Proseccos.

Nick and Chef Davide created these pairings:

• A Veneto Bianco as an aperitif.
• Sautéed shrimp paired with a Baby Prosecco from the Vini Tonon estate and the Siema Vineyards made by Musaragno.
• Roasted wild boar sausage with cranberry paired with a Begali Valpolicella Ripasso 2011, made with the classic Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara in the traditional ripasso method.
• Braised beef short ribs paired with a Begali Tigiolo 2009, made from Corvina, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rondinella, and Merlot.
• Dark artisanal chocolate with raspberry paired with a Begali Recioto.

The set of wines serves at the tasting.

When good food and good wine meet along with great people, there is just enjoyment to be had. Of note in these pairings, we absolutely loved the Veneto Bianco and then the Begali Tigiolo 2009.  The Bianco is made from Sauvignon Blanc and Garganega grapes, and it definitely is a house wine for the Veneto region. Think of Venezia on a hot day, sitting in Piazza San Marco, sipping this delightful drink. Of course, you can think similarly about a Prosecco as well, and the Baby Prosecco hit the mark for evoking memories of Italy!

Drinking Prosecco in Piazzo San Marco. The memory makes one forget winter!

The Begali Tigiolo 2009 might be called a "Super Veronese", since the winemakers substituted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the more traditional Molinara of the Valpolicella wines, similar to how the Tuscans created the "Super Tuscan" wines. What a delicious wine! As with most red wines from the Valpolicella region, the grapes are left to dry for two months to evaporate the water and increase the sweetness. This definitely increases the alcohol level of the wine as it ferments off the sugars. Then afterwards, the wine is stored for two years in tonneaux (a type of barrel) and then bottled and stored again. The wine is earthy, fruity, and smooth, due to the Cabernet Sauvignon. 2009 was definitely a banner year for wines from this region.

And finally, a mention of the Begali Recioto. This is another very characteristic wine of the Veneto region, made by storing the very best grapes from grape-harvest (typically in September) until February in a loft, or fruit house. The dried grapes are then fermented into wine until they reach the desired alcohol level, at which time the fermentation is halted. This creates a gorgeous sweet, almost syrupy wine reminiscent of aged balsamic or a great Port or Sherry. The wine is aged in tonneaux again for at least one year. The Begali was beautifully sweet with the bittersweet chocolate, and delightfully silky on the tongue. Just a perfect way to end an evening.

Around the World in 80 Sips

If you are into wine (or even if you are not) and have never gone to a large wine tasting event, I encourage you to do so! These events are a blast, both because of the terrific wine that they serve, and also because the people are so much fun to watch! We attended Around the World in 80 Sips (what a great name!) at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which was presented by Bottlenotes.

As I said, these events are a blast! The various wines were displayed on tables all around the first floor of the museum, with displays from distributors representing Chilean, Argentinian, Italian, South African, Spanish, French, New Zealand, US, Portuguese, German, and even Moroccan and Indian wines! The Wines of France had a very cool display showing wines from all  over France (Alsace, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Champagne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Loire, Provence, Rhone, and Sud-Ouest). Pretty much all the wines were $25 or less retail, with a few exceptions. Basically, the rules are that you come in and register, they hand you a glass (yours to keep!) and a booklet, and off you go!

Displays of wine and attendees enjoying the event.

If you chose to pay more money, there was the VIP Sherry Suite upstairs in the museum sponsored by Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits Merchants. These wines were definitely more expensive, ranging from $40 up to $200 per bottle. Wines upstairs included champagnes from Tattinger, Louis Roederer, Nicolas Feuillatte, and Henriot; Bourgogne wines from Vosne-Romanee and Corton Charlemage; a gorgeous Bordeaux from Pichon Longueville Lalande; Italian wines including Amarone, Barbaresco, Barolo, Super Tuscans, Chiantis, and a wonderful Aglianico; Napa cabernets; a New Zealand Syran from Gimblett Gravels area; a Spanish Rioja Gran Reserva Especial; and a fabulous Vintage Port from 2011.

The VIP Suite.

The people who attend these events are definitely there to have fun. The people who pour the wine, both volunteers and employees of the various distributors, have great personalities and love to talk about the wine they are pouring. The attendees are a mix of people just wanting to attend a fun event on a Friday night to real wine connoisseurs looking to augment their collection, to wine retailers deciding what new wines to carry in their stores.

New friends that we made.

We decided that there were several different personality groups at these events. There was a set of people definitely trying to drink all the wines in the event - so quantity and speed over savoring. These were the "speed sippers". Then there were the people who knew exactly what they wanted to taste, so they would station themselves strategically in front of the particular booth to talk with the pourers and savor the wines. These were the "campers". And then there were the "sip-and-dump" people - they wanted to taste everything, but no more than a sip! So ergo, take a sip, then dump the rest of the wine in the glass. I have to say, there was absolutely no way that I was going to sip-and-dump the Tattinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2002 or the Bordeaux! So we were the fourth type of attendees, tasting a fair number of the wines, dumping very little, engaging in conversation, savoring and enjoying but not trying to speed through or consume it all. Obviously, the "well-balanced" group, just like many of the wines!

The other thing to note is that very little food is served at these events. Bottlenotes was very kind to remind all the people who had bought tickets to be sure to eat something first. A very wise move! While there were some appetizers served, there definitely was not enough food for all the attendees (particularly those who did not purchase the VIP tickets). We made a before (and after) stop at Bibiana Osteria Enoteca to eat. A great place - and we'll definitely be back!

Last year, we went to a similar event sponsored by Wine Enthusiast at the National Building Museum. And in April, Wine Spectator will be sponsoring a similar event to this at the Ronald Reagan Center (as well as in New York and Chicago). Definitely pick one, go, try the wines, and enjoy! Everyone is there to have a good time, socialize, make friends, and enjoy new wines in the process. We are definitely looking forward to another event like this!

Domaine du Tunnel, 2011

After a hard week at work, we like to have "date night" at a nice restaurant with a good bottle of wine. We recently decided to splurge at Bistro Provence, a French restaurant in Bethesda.

Bistro Provence is a lovely place, and the chef creates beautiful French foods that delight both visually and the tastebuds. We decided to try a Syrah from Saint Joseph in the Rhone region, Domaine du Tunnel 2011 from Stéphane Robert. What a lovely wine! It was a dark red-purple color (almost black!) with the scent of dark berries, along with spices like pepper (although not too heavy) and marjoram and other dried spices.

To go with the wine (yes, we did need to eat), we started off with zucchini cakes topped with crab meat for me, and rigatoni with a pistachio and lobster creme sauce for my husband. While the wine is fairly full-bodied, it went great with the zucchini cake and also with the rigatoni (although Ernie said that the tannins got a bit stronger with the creme sauce). For our main courses, I had a veal chop (perfect with the wine!), and Ernie had the classic bouillabaisse, which he loves from Bistro Provence. The wine had really opened up for the main course, and it was smooth, nicely dense, and just perfect with the dark fruit and the various spices on the palate. The acidity of the wine went great with the bouillabaisse, particularly with the rouille which traditionally accompanies the dish.

This wine is a bit more expensive - it ranges in the mid-$40 range at retail stores, so it is higher at the restaurant. However, given date night and the super food, it was definitely a treat!

Cooking Class for March!

We love Cooking Class Saturdays at Amici Miei! It is an event that we look forward to both because of the great food and wine, and also because of the camaraderie of the "regulars" who show up along with the new folks.

This class was no exception. This time, Chef Davide was inspired by some food he had on a recent trip to Italy. The menu included walnut-crusted shrimp with a delicious homemade orange mayonnaise as an appetizer, burrata-filled ravioli with scallops sauce as the primi, veal tenderloin with caciocavallo and a red wine reduction as the secondi, and then topped off with sweet ricotta accompanied by "cat's tongue cookies" as the dessert.

When preparing the dishes, Chef does not go in order. The dessert was made first, baking lovely light "cookies" and then preparing the sweet ricotta. The ricotta had chocolate chips and orange liquor. The cookie dough is piped onto a cookie sheet, which was cause for joking as to who could follow Chef Davide's instructions the best ("3 inches long, 3/4 inches wide, 2-3 inches apart, not too thick and not too thin")! And sure enough, when the cookie is baked, it does come out in the shape of a tongue!

Chef Davide oversees the creation of the cat tongue cookies.

The next  item to be made was the shrimp with the mayonnaise, since the homemade mayonnaise had to be refrigerated a bit. Lots of stirring on that, as one has to heat the eggs in order to pasteurize them ("If it flies, 165!"). Chef made the mayonnaise even more interesting by adding orange juice and a bit of plain Greek yogurt to that as a dip. The shrimp were covered with a minced walnut and breadcrumb coating, then quickly fried. Oh my!

Creating the mayonnaise by cooking the eggs and mixing with olive oil.

One way to serve the finished product.

The next preparation was the veal tenderloin. The veal was seared in a very hot pan, then set aside while Chef reduced red wine along with several spices. A touch of brandy to deglaze the veal pan, along with the wine reduction and then a drop of heavy cream. Finally, the veal is added back to the sauce, topped with the grated caciocavallo (a wonderfully mild cow cheese from southern Italy).

The last to be prepared was the ravioli. Burrata is similar to mozzarella, just much smoother and creamier. A small spoonful into the ravioli dough creates the base. Scallops are cooked in garlic-scented olive oil, along with a small amount of red chili pepper. The scallops are pureed in a food processor to create the sauce.

So how did it all taste?

Amazing, as usual. Chef Davide and Roberto (co-owner and manager) paired the shrimp with a lovely Prosecco. The bubbly, yeasty wine was a great foil to the fried shrimp, and the apple notes in the Prosecco went well with the orange-flavored mayonnaise.

Shrimp and the dipping mayonnaise along with Prosecco.

The ravioli was up next, paired with an Irpinia Falanghina 2012. This is a lovely white wine made from the ancient Falanghina Greco grape which comes from the area around Mt. Vesuvius and Naples. It has a great mineral and floral aroma and taste. The sweet burrata in the ravioli brought out a bit more acidity in the wine, and the scallops matched with the fuller body of the wine to make a super combination.

The burrata-filled ravioli along with the pureed scallop sauce.

Next was the veal. Chef and Roberto paired that with a very nice 2011 Puglian wine called Neprica from the Tormaresco winery. Neprica is made from a combination of Negro Amaro, Primitivo (which is Zinfandel in the US), and Cabernet Sauvignon. Ergo, the name decoded - Ne-Pri-Ca! It was a wonderful combination with the veal and red wine sauce, as the wine was medium-bodied with a great dark fruit flavor along with mild tannins and a nice complexity, and almost a hint of chocolate. Really delicious! And the wine only costs about $13-15!

Veal medallions with caciocavallo cheese melted on top.

Negro Amaro, Primitivo, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes make up this delicious wine.

Finally, dessert. One of the other attendees had the sweet ricotta with Gran Marnier, and he said it was just fabulous. On its own, the dessert was just delightful (we had cappuccinos with our dessert!). And as usual, we all waddled out to enjoy a food coma-induced snooze! I really need to get a walk in this evening! What are we doing next month, Chef??

The baked cat tongue cookies make a great spoon for the sweet ricotta.

Quintessa Wine Dinner - Capital Grille

In between snowstorms, we received an invitation from Capital Grille’s sommelier, Todd, to attend a wine dinner featuring the Huneeus Vintners family of wines at the Capital Grille, to include Illumination, Faust, Flowers, and Quintessa. The host of the dinner was Charles Thomas, Quintessa’s Director of Vineyards and Winemaking. What a lovely evening, and what great pairings the Capital Grille chef made with the wines!

To start, Charles introduced us all to the Illumination Sauvignon Blanc 2012 from Napa. Yes, Napa apparently has some very good spots to grow sauvignon blanc in cool areas such as hillsides very close to the San Francisco Bay. The chef paired the wine with a chilled Maine lobster that was served with mango, avocado and fennel and a citrus vinaigrette over a really interesting beet puree. The wine was grassy yet had a hint of sweet floral notes. It was not too acidic, full bodied, and it went absolutely great with the pureed beets! The sweet, grassy notes were lovely, and the wine had a light, flowery finish. It was a great way to begin the evening. It is interesting to note that it is apparently a bit difficult to get this wine in parts of Maryland, so we almost did not have an opportunity to taste this wine. We were very glad that all the logistics were worked out!

The next wine was Flowers Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011 from the Sonoma Coast. Charles described the vineyard as being quite high along the coast where the Russian River empties into the Pacific, and  one can see the ocean from the vineyards (can you imagine working in such a lovely place?). The chef paired the wine with a planked salmon and a pinot noir berry sauce served with sautéed mushrooms, spinach, and shallots. This was a great pairing. One doesn’t usually see salmon paired with a pinot noir; however the sauce along with the dusty leather and fruity taste of the wine was perfect. The scent was mossy with a hint of pepper and then the lovely red fruit. The taste also was fruit forward, along with a very nice complexity. Did I mention that this was a great way to spend an evening after a hard day at work? (A little more on that later…)

The next wine was another from Flowers Vineyard, this time the Perennial 2011 also from the Sonoma Coast. This wine is more medium bodied than the first Flowers wine, as it is a combination of the pinot noir, syrah, pinot meunier, dolcetto, and 1% chardonnay. The scent was pepper, moss, and red fruit. The medium body along with the black pepper, and mossy red fruit stood quite well with the petite filet and mascarpone risotto with which it was paired. Together the combination was absolutely wonderful.

The next wines were the higher-end wines of the evening and definitely quite wonderful. Charles served us the Faust Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 from Napa (which runs about $50 per bottle). This is a very nice wine, definitely the full-bodied cabernet with dark fruit, lovely tannins, and quite complex. Over time, the tannins amplified quite a bit. The wine went quite well with the chef’s porcini herb-crusted lamb and 12-year old balsamic over the melted leek potato puree. A lovely combination. 

Quintessa Blend

Yet we were in for even more of a treat - Charles gave us the opportunity to try both of the Quintessa jewels - the Quintessa Blend from both 2009 and 2010 to compare! He described 2009 as a cool year; yet 2010 turned out to be even cooler than 2009.  The scent of the 2009 Blend was “sweet” with black fruit, coffee, and peat. It had an almost sweet taste with a lot of emphasis on the fruit, and well-balanced tannins. In contrast, the 2010 Blend had a scent of dark fruit, leather, and coffee without the “sweetness”. It was very full-bodied, nice black fruit flavors, great tanning, yet a lovely smooth finish. It was interesting that the 2009 seemed to fade a bit as we lingered over our food and the wine, whereas the 2010 stayed quite strong and complex. Both are fabulous wines - they range at around $150 per bottle. We highly recommend either - they are just wonderful wines. Just for fun, Charles took a poll at the dinner to see which vintage everyone preferred - there were lots of strongly-voiced opinions regarding the favorite.

And the absolutely best way to finish the evening was with a flourless chocolate espresso cake with blueberries and blackberries (to get our antioxidants!). And back to why these wine tastings are so enjoyable after long days at work - the people who attend the tastings are all wine lovers, so it is great fun to discuss the wines and debates the merits of each without raising your blood pressure because of philosophical, social, or political differences! And the staff are just wonderful - so helpful and knowledgeable. What everyone brings is a desire to share and experience new flavors and taste what magic the vintner has created, and the dialogues are always focused on the good memories that people have had with other wines and food. It’s a great time for both the tastebuds and for the soul.

Wines of the Week: Tasting Umbrian Wines

We recently attended a monthly wine tasting at our favorite Italian restaurant, Amici Miei.  This month, they featured wines from Umbria. For anyone not familiar with Italy, Umbria is a beautiful area tucked between Tuscany on the west and Le Marche on the east, known for its fabulous hill towns. The most famous town in the region is Assisi, where St. Francis of Assisi was born and spent much of his life. Our favorite wine presenter from Siema Wine Imports led the tasting along with his special guest from Colsanto Wines, a producer in Umbria.

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The Umbrian hill town of Todi.

The tasting brought back great memories of our trips to the region. Umbria is known for such wines as Orvieto, Sagrantino, and numerous others. Orvieto is actually made primarily from Grechetto and Trebbiano (or Procanico, as it is known in Umbria) grapes, and it was known in the past by the Romans as “liquid gold” due to its golden-yellow color. Sagrantino is a grape native to Umbria, most particularly around the village of Montefalco.

We started the evening sipping a lovely Villa d’ Orvieto from 2012. As with all Orvieto wines, it has Grechetto and Trebbiano as well as a bit of Malvasia - the amount varies from year to year, although never more than 10% of the blend. This is a wonderful wine to enjoy on a warm summer day while sitting on the porch. It is beautifully pale gold, and it has a gorgeous light citrus and floral aroma and taste. We had a very similar wine when we visited the hill town of Orvieto. The other “bonus” wine was a Barbi Il Ruspo 2009, which was 100% Sangiovese Grosso. What a beautiful rusty-red color with a dusty cherry aroma. The wine was fairly light, tasting of sour cherry and tannins that complimented the cherry flavor.

Visiting an Etruscan wine cellar with our waiter in Orvieto.

Chef Davide then presented fried cod along with a lovely Barbi Arche Orvieto Classico Abboccato from 2012. This wine is a blend of the two classic grapes along with Verdello, Malvasia, and Vermentino. This had a more full-bodied taste, which went very well with the fried cod. In addition, there is a bit of residual sugar left in the wine, which gives it a slightly sweet taste. Again, a perfect wine to go along with slightly heavier food on a summer day.

The next wine was a gorgeous Vitiano Rosé from 2012. What a beautiful wine, especially paired with Shrimp Fra Diavolo! The bit of heat in the Fra Diavolo went so well with the grapefruit and crisp minerality of the wine. And it is a stunning bright rose color with purple glints. The rosé is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Aleatico, another native Italian grape.

Then we got to the reds, the first being a Colsanto Ruris 2010. Chef paired this wine with a Salame Norcino. The wine is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Sagrantino. The guest speaker from Colsanto wines told us that the vineyards are between Perugia and Assisi. It has a super scent of dried roses, cherry, and spicy wild berries (with a bit of dusty leather!) and it has a wonderful dry, smoky taste with soft tannins. The salame went perfectly with the wine. The second red was a Colsanto Rosso di Montefalco 2009, paired with a gorgeous Hanger Steak that had an arugula pesto sauce. The Rosso is 50% Sagrantino and 50% Sangiovese, and the aroma was leather with dark berries. The black fruit, “meaty” taste went beautifully with the hanger steak. The speaker said that the wine is supposed to be reminiscent of the Body of Christ, as it was used primarily for Catholic Mass. 

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A vineyard outside Assisi. The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is the large structure on the left.

The last wine was a Colsanto Sagrantino di Montefalco 2009, a wine made from 100% Sagrantino grapes from the DOCG region around the town of Montefalco. This wine had the highest alcohol content (14%), and Chef paired it with an Aged Pecorino cheese, which was absolutely perfect. The wine is gorgeous red with a hint of purple, it has a dusty floral, dark fruit aroma with a hint of leather. The gorgeous tannins, rich spices, and black fruits are delicious - and with the tannins and the alcohol content, it would age for another 30 years and be even more tasty. Interestingly, Sagrantino di Montefalco was not made until around 1980, at which point winemakers in Montefalco began experimenting with this unique grape to stand on its own instead of automatically blending it with other grapes or using it as a sweet dessert wine. Sagrantino di Montefalco also goes beautifully with grilled steak - that’s how we enjoyed it in Umbria.

All these wines evoked great memories of our trips to Italy and the fun we had experimenting with wines unique to an particular town or region and the foods that go with the wine. And for those of you who want to try the wines, none of these are budget-busters. The most expensive is probably the Il Ruspo and the Sagrantino di Montefalco. The Orvietos are quite reasonable, and even the more expensive ones don’t go above $35.

Recommended Movie

We were having a relaxing, enjoyable evening, and we decided to watch the 2012 documentary, Somm. The movie is about four guys who are preparing to take the Master Sommelier exam, which is one of the most difficult exams in the world to pass. The people being tested must have a thorough knowledge of the history of wine and how all different types of wine (and cigars, sake and whisky) are made; another part tests their ability to serve wine, to include recommending the type of wine for a particular meal and the correct serving temperature; and the third part is a blind taste test of six different wines that the person must describe in detail and then identify the varietal, region, and year of the wine in a fixed (and very limited!) amount of time. In the film, only six people pass the particular year's exam out of 100 people invited to take it. I highly recommend the film if you have an interest in wine.

The film made me think about what I love about wine. I was fortunate to attend a wine conference last summer. We attendees were able to taste wines and sake from around the world, doing comparisons of different varietals or determining what wine matched best with different foods. It was fascinating to be around people who have such a pleasurable profession. One learns so much about history and cultures. I am a history and geology buff, so identifying why an area, such as the Loire Valley in France, has specific types of wine that were made to go with specific local food to suit a particular king is fascinating. And part of the uniqueness of one part of the Loire versus another has to do with the geological formations in which the vineyards are planted. 

Being a Master Sommelier is not for everyone who loves wine. I love learning about the various aspects of wine, and I love trying different varietals from around the world. I have received one certification, and I will probably continue taking classes to broaden my knowledge about the historical traditions and learn about new developments in the field. My interest is in tasting that sublime nectar that comes from a lot of hard work that has been developed and refined from traditions started well over 7000 years ago. There is a connection to the winemaker, to a culture, and to history in each sip.

I take my hat off to all the men and women who are in the service industry, both knowledgeable wait staff as well as sommeliers of all levels. It is definitely my goal in life to stay on the "being served" side of the table, engaging in discussion with these fine people and partaking of the vintners expertise!

As I said, it was an interesting and entertaining movie. And it certainly gave my husband and I a topic of conversation for several days! 

Wine of the Week (actually two wines)

Greetings! A couple years ago, our kids got my husband and I a great gift from Williams Sonoma: a cookbook written by Joshua Wesson entitled Wine and Food, A New Look at Flavor. It continues to be a great gift, full of wonderful recipes and suggestions for pairing. In fact, we did a wine tasting dinner for friends a few years ago... but that's another story.

This weekend, we decided to try another one of the recipes - Braised Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms and Tomatoes. Sounded great, tasted even better, particularly with the addition of pancetta, a bit of brandy, and spices like marjoram, tarragon and thyme. The pairing suggestion was an Oregon pinot noir. That was easy - a very good friend of ours had given us a bottle of Patricia Green Cellars Bonshaw Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir from 2007. In fact, our friend is good pals with the Patricia Green Cellars owners and winemakers, so we have had several different bottles from them. The Old World pairing suggestion was a mid-range pinot noir from Burgundy. So we thought, why not try both the Old World and New World suggestions with the one dinner? Therefore, we chose as the second bottle a Domaine Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges 2009.

Patricia Green Cellars Bonshaw Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir 2007 - The wine's appearance was clear, with a gorgeous deep garnet red color. The wine had a scent of very definite Asian spices (for some reason, Chinese Five Spice came to mind), cherry, and a slight musk. The taste was dark cherry, spice (definitely cloves), and there was an interesting tangy note of mineral in the back of the mouth. The finish was very nice, carrying through on red berries. The wine definitely needed some time to open. As time went on, the fruit definitely was front and center but the complexity evolved, which was lovely to taste.

Domaine Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges 2009 - The wine appearance was clear, again with a similar deep garnet red color. The nose had more of the earthy or peaty scent, mixed with cherries and baking spices. The taste was lovely fruit (cherries and some raspberry), spice, and delightfully silky tannins; very complex. The finish was also lovely, containing more of the earthy notes. As we lingered over dinner and our wine, the scent lost the stronger peaty notes while the taste became more complex, layered, and delightful.

Both wines were fantastic with the braised chicken. The earthy porcini and the pancetta were great compliments to the Domaine Faiveley. In contrast, the fruitiness and the tangy mineral of the Patricia Green made a statement, but it went with the dish (particularly the spices) really well. We were very happy with both wines, and we would most definitely try this again.

And is there a "winner" between the two? I could take the easy way out and say that my husband and I were the winners with such a fabulous dinner and two wines! Being a bit more tuned to the Old World wines, we would perhaps edge slightly for the French wine. However, we'll drink the Patricia Green any time.

Cooking Class at Amici Miei

Ernie (my husband) and I attended the monthly cooking class at our favorite local restaurant, Amici Miei, which is always great fun. This month, Chef Davide presented a butternut squash “cappuccino” for the first course, which was paired with a Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige. The soup looks like a cappuccino in that it is topped with a whipped cream/robiola cheese mixture, and then a dollop of fig jam and a sprinkling of almonds.

The primo was baked rigatoni filled with capocollo and buffalo mozzarella with spelt sauce - absolutely lovely and marvelously rich. This was paired with a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, which was a great combination with the pasta. The secondi was orange-marinated duck with baby artichokes, which was paired with a Chianti Classico Riserva. And then the finale was spicy chocolate mousse with hazelnuts - and the red pepper mixed into the mousse definitely made it spicy. I added a tawny Port to augment my dessert, which was perfect with the spicy chocolate. My husband helped with the cooking - to include stuffing the rigatoni with the capocollo/mozzarella mixture. We cannot wait to try all these recipes at home!

Wine of the Week: Bodegas Alto Moncayo Veraton

One of the things I’d like to do with this site is highlight a wine of the week that we really enjoyed. My intent is to talk about what I liked about the wine and the food that I paired with the particular bottle.

My husband and I went to the Capital Grille in Chevy Chase for a romantic dinner. After a lovely glass of Australian chardonnay from Eden Valley (to go with our lobster and crab cakes), we had a fantastic Spanish red - Bodegas Alto Moncayo Veraton (2011) from Campo de Borja. What a great compliment it was to the Kona coffee-crusted ribeye that I had and the Cajun rub on the filet my husband had. The wine had a very nice body, and as it is an old-vine Granacha, it was wonderfully jammy but also had some of the complexity of a cabernet. A great recommendation from the waiter at Capital Grille.

Well hello!

My name is Trish. I love tasting and learning about wine! I got into this hobby in my 30s, and now I am a Certified Specialist in Wine (from the Society of Wine Educators). My husband loves to cook, so we have a great time pairing different foods that he makes with wines that I select.

My goal is to write something about wine and food once per week. Sometimes it may be a Wine of the Week (WoW!) highlight, or it may be about a recent event we attended, or it may be a writeup of a food creation that we attempted to make.