Northern Italian Dinner and Wine

Another get together for us to taste some wines, but a chance to do some cooking to pair with these wines.

We had these with various northern Italian cheeses, some salumi and a pate. Dustin then made a wonderful salad of radicchio, fennel and artichoke hearts with a warm prosciutto and shiitake vinaigrette.

• 2006 Kuenhof (Peter Pliger) Sylvaner

  Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Alto Adige, Valle Isarco / Eisacktaler

  Slighltly muted when first opened, but later opened to reveal aromas of pear, herbs, a slight touch of yellow stone fruit and some chalky minerality. There is a good sense of richness and fleshiness to the palate but there is good acidity to cut through it and a very nice balance overall. Very good length showing some minerality. While I think that this will hold for quite sometime, I think it would be better to drink sooner than later so that the acid can still provide that cut to the richness.

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• 2007 Giuseppe Quintarelli Bianco Secco Cà del Merlo

  Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT

  Aromas of pear, apple and citrus with just a touch of herbs and minerality. Medium-bodied with good concentration on the palate, but there is a wonderful sense of balance between the fresh ripe fruit and the acidity. Good length with a minerally finish.

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We made the Fruili classic raviolis filled with housemade ricotta, spinach and herbs and served them with a simple brown butter sauce. The Castellada paired with the Cjalsons beautifully!

• 2001 La Castellada Collio Bianco della Castellada

  Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Collio

  Deep gold in color with intense aromas of golden apple, pear tart, caramel, and marzipan with touches of baking spices a slight chalky minerality. Undoubtedly, this was slightly oxidized, but it didn't detract from the sheer beauty and intensity of this wine. Medium-full bodied with good acidity, this showed a tremendous amount of poise for such a big wine. You could barely detect the oak as it was pretty much well integrated into the wine. Wonderfully balanced, layered and complex all the way to the long finish.

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• 2004 Proprietà Sperino Uvaggio

  Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Coste della Sesia

  Aromas of cherry and red berry fruit, with a little bit of rose and some tarry earth. A little bit of tannic grip and good acid with tart red fruit and a little bit of a raisinated quality on the palate and showing just a little bit of oxidization. Unsure of the provenance on this bottle. But a very plesant velvety smooth texture with medium body. A very pleasant drink that went well with some northern Italian cheeses.

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I took the time to prepare Scottigilia di Cinghiale days in advance so that the flavors of the boar would have a chance to meld with the sauce and we served it over a slowly cooked polenta. 10 hours of braising time for the boar and 6 hours for the polenta! We had some contorni of sauteed red russian kale and english peas with onions. Everything was wonderful with the Valdicava!

• 1998 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  This was drinking so perfectly with just enough primary fruit coupled with beautifully apparent secondary notes. We "Audozed" it for 2 hours and it was ready to go. Aromas of primarily red fruit with a touch of black fruit and notes of milk chocolate, cigar box, leather, blue flowers, anise and earth. There was a small touch of brett, but it only added to the complexit of the wine rather than intrude on it. Elegant with a satin soft texture with great concentration and beautiful juicy acidity. Layered with great complexity in the palate, this was so amazingly balanced and so difficult to keep ones hands off of it. Wonderful length. I'm usually not much of a Brunello drinker, but this was quite special and I'd probably be drinking more if I had more like this.

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After taking all the time preparing the previous courses, we went for simple store bought desserts of carrot cake and peanut butter chocolate brownies. We had no intention on pairing them with the wines.

• NV Ca' del Bosco Franciacorta Cuvée Prestige Rosé

  Italy, Lombardia, Franciacorta DOCG

  Disgorged in December 2007. A wonderful Franciacorta with a nice fine bead with aromas of pretty wild strawberry, tart cherry and a fine chalky minerality. Structured with good acid and good intensity, there is a slight creaminess on the palate with pretty red fruit and some red apple skin. Good length showing a minerally finish.

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• 2009 Brovida Cordara Moscato d'Asti

  Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Moscato d'Asti

  This was an impulse buy to have something sweet at the end of our Italian dinner. Nothing special, but showed pretty pear and white flower aromas. Perhaps just a touch cloying, but there is good acid to clean up most of the RS on the palate. Fresh, effervescent, with good fruitiness and overall a nice quaffer for the end of the meal.

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A wonderful evening filled with great food, great wine and great people. What more can you ask for? I think all my closing notes for these events go something like this, but it's just true.