Seattle offline: Italian wines at UNION

Seattle, WA
Tasted Thursday, March 23, 2006 by Eric with 1,057 views

Introduction

Roy Hersh masterfully organized a gathering of 20 Seattle-ites to take joy in Italian wines at Union. I had been to this restaurant a couple of times before and recalled enjoying it, but the food was spectacular, well beyond my expectations. Since we were so numerous, we broke out into two tables of 10, each with separate lineups.

Flight 1 (4 Notes)

We started off with some bubbles, three Prosecco and one Franciacorta. With this we had Dungeness Crab Salad with avocado and basil.

Flight 2 (3 Notes)

Next up, we had a mini-Barbaresco flight and one Teroldego based wine to start. This was served with Seared Ahi Tuna with braised green beans and basque pepper. The Tuna was nice but a little discordant with pepper standing out too much and the green beans being a somewhat odd accompaniment to the tuna.

Flight 3 (4 Notes)

Next we moved into a flight of four Barolo. We split this across what were easily the two best courses of the evening. First up was Grilled Branzino with fingerling potatoes, chorizo and saba. Then we had Braised Oxtail with ricotta gnocchi, red wine jus and parmigiano reggiano. Yummy!

Flight 4 (4 Notes)

Now we hit overdrive with a chunky flight of Amarone. We split this across two courses. First up was Grilled Beef Loin with roasted spring onions and a red wine sauce. Second up was Pecorino Lucano with Nebbiolo grape chutney.

Flight 5 (8 Notes)

Finally, we finished up with more Vin Santo than we knew what to do with. It was an embarassment of riches highlighted by the Felsina vertical. With this we had a dessert of Ice Cream Puffs with chocolate sauce.

Closing

Thanks for organizing Roy!

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