at Enoteca Italiana, Siena

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Ferrari & crudita

23 June 2011
Drinking Wine, Spello
Ferrari & Fresh Fish Dinner
Wine maker dinners are one of my favorite pastimes.  At our local restaurant here in Spello, Maurizio always makes an immense effort to please everyone with his unique, well studied preparations.  I have to say that until last night, I never had been too impressed by his fish dishes, but now my thoughts have changed.
The featured winery was Ferrari.
What is Ferrari?
No, not a car.
Ferrari is an Italian Sparkling wine from Trento.  It’s not Prosecco, not Spumante, and not Franciacorta, it’s it’s own thing.  Ferrari is completely independent from other sparkling wine classifications, and that’s why it’s so special.  Italians consider it to be quite special, almost a celebration wine.  The other winery that is its antagonist is Berlucchi.
The first Ferrari was white!
2004 Ferrari Perlé. This is a Blanc de Blanc, so 100% Chardonnay, made using the traditional method (Metodo Classico) or Champagne Method. Nice crisp, good acidity, and dry.
This was paired with fresh oysters from Provenienza Cancale, which were great. Apparently Cancale is the oyster capital" of Brittany, and Louis XIV feasted on them in his prime.
Just a dot of Tabasco or a little lemon was all that I needed.  Graziano put pepper on his; I don’t have the slightest idea where that came from, but anyway he liked it.
Perlé also accompanied the second appetizer, which were marinated prawns on an orange slice. Then we had a salmon tartar.
The second Ferrari was black!
Ferrari Perlé Nero was poured which is 100% Pinot Noir, vivificated in bianco.  I found it to be less smooth and drier.  This was accompanied by a very special, lets say, seafood salad, of marinated cod (baccalà), on sliced potatoes, with a dab of crushed Greek black olives, red onions from Tropea and extra virgin olive oil from Spello. Red onions from Tropea come from the region of Calabria on the toe of the Italian boot.  They are absolutely wonderful and could be compared to Maui sweet red onions.  This preparation reminded me of the Catalan style preparation of various shell fish.  This was really done well. Bravo Maurizio!
The recipe Maurizio used is from my favorite Italian chef Marco Uliassi.

Check out their restaurant website
The third Ferrari was pink!
Then we had Branzino marinated with Basalmic vinegar, again excellent, accompanied by Perle Rose, it which had nice structure.
The last Ferrari was a classic from 1992.
This was a treat, I got a lot of strawberry & balsamic on the nose.  Graziano said it was the yeast.  Really nice finish to the evening.






           


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