Dinner - Home (Italian)

Last Thursday, approaching the pinnacle of my Italian wine craze, I planned an awesome Italian themed wine and dinner pairing.  The set up was pretty straight forward: a three course Italian style meal with three different Italian wines.  My roommate and girlfriend participated, but only in the main course of the meal so I was forced to go stag for the other two components.  The three Italian wines were

1. 2012 Frascati Volpetti 
2. 2009 Brunello Di Montalicino San Lapo
3. 2014 Adessa Romagna Cagnina 

2012 Frascati Volpetti

The Bruchetta I made

In hindsight I probably should have forgone the Italian white wine and just picked a solid Francis Coppola Chardonnay or something.  Jackie and I used the white to slow cook our main course, a lamb roast otherwise known as Osso Buco.  It was a fantastic idea, make dinner after breakfast and then come back eight hours later with no additional cooking or pots and pans required. Well easy enough for Jackie and my roommate Wes, who didn't have to prepare the other two courses.  For the first course I went for a nice light appetizer of Bruschetta paired with a glass of the 2012 Frascati Volpetti.   By itself the Italian white had hints of honey, apricot, and pear.  It was actually somewhat pungent in a stinky diaper way, but not full on, it was very subtle.  This wine was hollow and had low complexity.  Honestly, I've been let down by Italian whites almost every time I try one.  They're easy to drink, but they're just not bringing the thunder!  I did enjoy how dry this wine was though.  With the bruchetta it actually paired pretty well.  There still wasn't a lot of complexity or flavors bursting into existence, but it was an easy table wine and was pretty damn delicious with some bread.  And by the way bruchetta is pretty simple to make. Slice a few tomatoes and basil, toss in olive oil, put on bread and bake for a few minutes.  Very simple and I definitely think that I'll be serving this up again in the future.

Amazing Osso Buco

2009 Brunello Di 

Montalcino

The real meat and bones of this meal, literally, was the Osso Buco.  This meal was awesome, and again super simple to put together.  Throw down a bunch of halved carrots onto a dutch oven or slow cooker, place three or four lamb shanks onto the carrots, smash a couple of whole canned tomatoes on top of the lamb.  Then fill up with most of a bottle of white wine, throw in some salt and pepper, garlic, and oil and then you're set.  Slow cook for eight hours or so.  The resulting meal is lamb that actually peals off of the bone.  It looks amazing and the bold flavors demanded a bold Italian wine.  I really wanted to get a Barberesco to complement the lamb, but the cheapest one I could find was $50 so that was out of the question on a college budget.  Instead, I opted to try the 2009 Brunello Di Montalicino San Lapo made from Sangiovesse.  This was a solid choice!  This wine was intricate with great leather and caramel influences going on.  This wine also had very nice dark fruit and black currant on the nose.  The finish was a great balance of solid tannins and a rich, thick mouthfeel.  I would definitely buy this wine again.  The lamb only brought out the best components of this Brunello; was the tannic component vanished entirely.  Instead, I tasted an amazing harvest of fresh currant and a dark cherry puree.  This meal was gone within minutes of being served.  There weren't even leftovers to enjoy the next day.  The only thing I was left with was the rendered lamb fat and wine, which yes I did try drinking..and yes it was delicious.  Jackie and I are definitely going to make this meal again for a date night or something along those lines down the road.

Tiramisu from Our Daily Bread

Finally the third course of the dinner, desert.  Not wanting to make this from desert I resorted to stopping by Our Daily Bread and purchasing a personal size Tiramisu.  And I paired this with a sweet red, the 2014 Adessa Romagna Cagnina.  On the nose this wine reminded me of a chalk cake.  It was like someone made a delicious 

2014 Adessa Romagna
Cagnina

cake and then covered it with an icing made of chalk, wild.  This wine was very sweet, but not in a gross artificially flavored Barefoot way.  This tasted like the real deal to me, and I really savored every sip.  It had this nice play between fruit and candy which I think made it spectacular with the Tiramisu.  It brought out a nice rich cakey goodness, and I don't believe there is a better way to describe it than that.  In addition it had a nice fruity finish that made me want to eat another three servings of Tiramisu.  

So to sum things up, Italian themed wines and food equals awesome.  I don't think you can go wrong here.  Next time pick a more solid bottle of white or spend the bucks and get a more expensive Italian white wine.  And perhaps the biggest lesson I learned from this dinner was actually discovered after the fact.  Do not drink a bold, assertive red like the Sangiovesse I had after having a sweet red like the one from this dinner.  Words can not describe how over the top bitter the Brunello was.  It was like sand in my mouth.  Very interesting experience and it really gives you some insight and appreciation on why order matters with wine; hence the classic white to red and dry to sweet progression for a tasting.  

Me doing the swirl and sniff!

Jackie having a glass of the Brunello and Wes in the background