A different kind of pizza

This short post is dedicated to a super pizza idea of V that delighted our Friday night. At the beginning I would not have bet a penny on it but at the end I think the result was fabulous.

The topping was roasted pumpkin, caramelized onion, rocket salad, goat cheese and prosciutto crudo. A combination of flavors that worked really well. Very good. We accompany it with a Slovenia wine, Rebula 2010 from Muzic, nothing really to be remember but an honest white.  In front of a roaring fire was a lovely friday night.

Canadian Christmas - Part Due

And as promised here I am with part two of my Christmas wine review after three days of complete cleaning with total wine de-toxing and eating only vegetable soup.

So, Canadian wine....where to start? We had really some nice bottles and I think in Canada you can find some solid producer with good products. The most renowned area is the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, an area known for its sunny and dry climate and beautiful landscape.
Here is a quick list of what we've tried:

Burrowing Owl - Meritage 2008: these guys really know what to do and how to produce their wines. My experience with them is limited to red having only tried before this Meritage a Merlot that impressed me a lot. This Meritage is a blend of 5 different Bordeaux varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot) and it is a lovely wine, really a great companion to food. Both of the wine I tried for them were impressive and I will not miss my occasion when in Canada to find some to take back with me in Europe.

Blasted Church : Ok, I have to admit: the first thing that hit me about these wines was their funky label. I think you can just have a look at the website to understand what I mean. And I must say, the wine we tried, Hattfield's Fuse 2010 (blend of 6 different varieties with higher percentage of Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc) was really nice. A very spicy and aromatic with lots of floral notes, citrus and spices. As you can understand a perfect pairing for spicy dishes such as curry or thai food in general. And at a very good quality/price relation. Thanks to Sandy of the Fernie Liquor Store for the suggestion!

Nk'Mip Winery : a fascinating story behind this producer considering it is the only winery in North America owned and operated by natives. Last year we had a Pinot Noir from them and during the holiday I had a chance to try a Chardonnay. Both of these were lovely and easy to drink wines. Definitely try a wine of this producer if you have a chance

Other three canadian wineries I will suggest to try in case you will have a chance are Lake Breeze, Laughing Stock and Mission Hill. There is plenty more to try and I am sure I would visit the Okanagan Valley one day for more tasting and to enjoy its beautiful scenery.

Canadian Christmas - Part Uno

And here I am, still a bit jet-lagged, back after three and a half amazing weeks in Canada.
Despite the lack of snow and a "real" Canadian winter, we had such a lovely time. It was a great period and of course we did not miss the occasion to open some lovely bottles together accompanying a big varieties of meals, including a sumptuous turkey on Christmas Eve and sailing from an enormous hot dog at Tubby Dog to foie gras, from truffled honey to Vietnamese sub and from lovely homemade gnocchi to cotechino with lentils.

Tubby Dog

With such a variety of food also the range of wines was very extensive and it was a real hard job for the poor sommelier to make decent pairings, but here I will try to list the wines that hit more my palate:

Champagne Blancs de Blancs Cuvee' Speciale Pierre Peters 1999

What an amazing Champagne, probably the best one I have drank. It paired absolutely fantasticly with an apero of crostini with truffle fondue and with some different salami.  Not an easy bottle to find but definitely worth the effort.

Riesling Eden Valley-Pewsey Vale 2009
On a night dedicated to white wine this was the absolute surprise for me. It destroyed the competition for its balanced mixed of lovely flavors and probably for the surprise effect. I would have never expected to find such a lovely Riesling from Australia, a pity that it will be near to impossible to find in Europe.

Christmas Day was dedicated to great wines, three especially were over the top:
Markus Molitor - Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spatlese 2006 - When we go to Germany we are in another planet for Riesling. I cannot describe how perfect was the marriage with the foie gras!!!
Guigal-Cotes du Rhone 1994 - Everybody knows that Guigal is the master of the Cote Rotie but when I have seen in front of me a bottle of a simple Cotes du Rhone almost adult (it would have been 18 years old only in a few day) I was giving mentally not many chance to it thinking he would have been gone from a long time. Such an amazing surprise it was when after having pulled out a cork in perfect conditions (good sign,) we pour the wine. It was a lovely and  completely alive bottle and definitely a unique price-quality ratio.
Bodegas Aalto - Ribera del Duero 2004 (Magnum) - and here it is not a surprise, this is one of my favourite wines and he has never let me down. Maybe still a bit young but already very enjoyable. It was a great closure for a quality wine Christmas.

Here follows a short list of some other lovely bottles were opened in the course of the rest of the holiday. Especially I will remember a Valpolicella Superiore 1998 from Romano Dal Forno, a Brunello di Montalcino 2004 Il Poggione 2004 and another 1998, a Vin Santo del Trentino from Azienda Agricola Gino Pedrotti

But now I am sure you will be wondering....and what about wines from the host country???

I will dedicate a separate post to them later on.....I am too jet lagged to continue now!

Small producers - Big surprises

That is the feeling I have in front of some of the bottles we had in the last few weeks. Really some amazing surprises from tiny producers not easy to find but able to give good emotions:

Vignai da Duline - Chardonnay 2008 - Based close to Udine you find this small producer with only 6 hectares cultivated respecting the terroir and in a very natural way. The owner, Federica and Lorenzo are lovely and this Chardonnay was a fantastic pair with some mozzarella di bufala campana. I have in my cellar also one of their red, Morus Nigra, from the grape Refosco del Peduncolo rosso. Cannot wait to try it as well.

Valter Mattoni - Trebbien 2010 and Arshura 2009 - Found these two wines that I was looking to try for a long time at Osteria IO Personale (see previous post) in Firenze. Two real garage wines coming from this tiny producer in the Marche. The Trebbien (100% trebbiano) is produced in only 1000 bottles went absolutely fantastic together with our antipasto, it was a real surprise. The Arshura (100% Montepulciano) was also a gem. It is really a well made wine at a very decent price. The only problem is to find it considering it is produced in only 3000 bottles. Buonissimo

I Vigneri di Salvo Foti - Vinulidice 2008 - This was really a big surprise. First of all a bit of background on this wine. Coming from a  0,35 ha. vineyard planted at 1300 meters (YES, it is one of the highest in Europe) on the slopes of Etna, the most active italian Volcano. It is produced with local grape varieties (Alicante, Grecanico, Minnella and other smaller varieties).  It is cultivated only by hand and by mule and no refrigeration, yeasts or filtration are used in the wine making process. It is bottled according to the phase of the moon. What to say?? First of all it was really sparkling, who knows if this is the way it is supposed to be or something funny happened in the bottle. But it smell and taste really well. It paired fantastically with a Dos de Cabillaud and everybody around the table loved it.

Cave des Tilleuls Fabienne Cottagnoud - Amigne 2005 - Once again a show on how good could be a swiss wine. This 2005 Amigne from the village of Vetroz situated on the wine paradise that Valais is, was a great example of potential of aging of swiss white wine. It was so good with our little antipasto that I wanted to scream to have more when the bottle was over. Fantastico.

This is all for tonight, I am sure more small producers with big surprises will follow.....stay tuned.

In love with Tuscany

Last post of November dedicated to some other amazing experience we had in this lovely region of Italy.

Being in Chianti last weekend driving through this amazing hills with an enchanting view was just magical, all these colours mixing up like in a beautiful painting...it was just a fantastic experience

Our path leads us to the tiny and very typical village of Panzano in Chianti were we booked for lunch at Dario +.
Dario Cecchini is a butcher in this village that thanks to his smartness and definitely good marketing create a huge business around the famous and typical bistecca alla fiorentina. In the village there is his butcher shop plus three restaurant, Dario + opened only for lunch and where we had our meal, Solociccia opened only for dinner and l'Officina della Bistecca.

Our lunch was lovely not only for the very high quality of the food (for lunch two menus are proposed, one that includes a fantastic hamburger made with this high quality meat, and a second called accoglienza that includes a dish called "sushi del Chianti" and other top local delicacies) but also for the conviviality and the possibility you have to make new friends during the meal. Lunch is in fact served on a big table where everybody can make friendship with their neighbour, so that's what we did! A very nice experience extremely recommended. Also to mention, you can take your own wine and drink it with no additional charge!

Cinta senese

After this lovely lunch we headed to a meat and salumi paradise, Macelleria Falorni in Greve In Chianti. In the beautiful main square of Greve under the arcades you find this place where you can really find all what a meat lover want including an incredible selection of all different and possible kind of salumi. We are looking forward to try some of the Cinta Senese specialities we bought there!!!!

And to close these set of recommendation we cannot avoid to mention a place where you can find some good wines to pair with all these lovely flavours. The place to go when in Firenze is Vinoteca al Chianti. Fantastic selection of sometime very small italian producer but also some fantastic stuff from Burgundy and an amazing selection of Champagne. At the end of my morning of purchase they offer me a little sip from a bottle that they had there open without telling me what it was. As soon as the liquid touch my lips it blows my mind....no wonder, it was an Yquem 1982!!! Only this was worth the trip to this fantastic enoteca. A must go for all wine lovers.

MILANO

Lovely weekend spent in my city that I am starting to love more and more now that I am not living there anymore. No restaurants to talk about considering that both nights we were there we had excellent dinner at friend's places where we shared some great food and a few amazing bottle of wines.
What I want to briefly talk about are a few places in Milano that I absolutely love and one more recent discovery.

First of all my favorite wine shop: Cantine Isola in Via Paolo Sarpi. In the middle of the Chinatown of Milano you can find this amazing little wine shop with one of the best and most interesting wine selection in town. You can feel the passion and the continuos research that the owners put to choose the labels they are presenting. Also, not to forget, this place is a great spot for "aperitivo" considering that they have an incredible number of wines that you can try by the glass together with an interesting selection of different kind of crostini that keep going out of the kitchen during the whole evening. Really a place not to miss in town.

A few steps away from the enoteca you can find another little gem for gourmet fanatics: La Baita del Formaggio. As the name may suggest here the speciality is cheese, an incredible selection, but also their salumi and cotechino are good. If I would be living in this area would be so easy to organize a dinner with such amazing shops nearby!!!

Another "must go" for me when I am in town is Comptoir de France in the area of Porta Romana. First of all is a wine shop, with an amazing selection of wines from all region in France. But the real reason that took me here every time I am in town is to make a supply of terrine. They have a great variety of this amazing pate' coming from different french region. Our favorite is the most classic "Terrine de Campagne". Amazing paired with a glass of simple and easy red wine.

And now the most recent discovery. Downtown Milano in one of the side gallery in Corso Vittorio Emanuele a new super-luxury mall opened:Excelsior Milano. What interests us (especially me!!!) is the heaven you will find on the floors underground. First of all a really interesting cellars with a beautiful wine selection plenty of interesting labels and producers. But then the food section....I can hardly imagine a better selection of delicacies all in one place than here. If you love food I think this place will become one of your hot spot not only in Milano but in the whole Italy. Try and judge it yourself!!

And as I mentioned at the beginning let's talk a bit about the wines we had during the week end as well.
First of all an amazing red coming from the North part of the Rhone Valley. Crozes Hermitage La Rouvre 2007 from Yann Chave. An amazing and complex Syrah and definitely one of the best price-quality value I had recently. Normally wines from this denomination are less considered and easier but this one was really a hit.
Another very different but also quite impressive red was the Grumello 2007 from Mamete Prevostini. I love these Nebbiolos coming from the mountain not only for their elegance and perfumes, but also because I love this area of Italy and I admire all the work that all the winegrowers of this area needs to do in order to produce these fantastic wines. Chapeau to all of them!
Another mountain wine, a very different product. The "Vino da Uva Stramatura - Fletry Au Vent" from Grosjean. A passito (sweet style of wine) with grapes dried by the wind produced in Valle D'Aosta in a very limited number of bottles. Absolutely lovely it paired amazingly with our dessert.
And from Italy to France again for the last wine. Coteaux de Layon Fleurs d'Erables 2010 from Domaine des Sablonnettes. Chenin blanc from the Loire Valley produced by this really small Domaine. Not overly sweet was a fantastic companion for a cheese plate with a selection of Brie de Meaux, Vacherin Mont d'Or, Blue d'Auvergne and Langres. 

Around Europe

I am in the middle of another big period of travels.  Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania, Italy, and not much time to enjoy this autumn at home taking advantage of all the bottles lying in my cellar to drink in front of the roaring fire in one of this humid and chilly November night. But should I really complain? Of course not, I am living so many beautiful experiences, meeting a huge amount of interesting people with so many different cultures and of course, why not, trying and sampling some fantastic and interesting new dishes.

In this moment I am in Firenze, where we are keeping finding unbelievable restaurant and trying the old ones that we already loved. Last night we went again at Osteria Io Personale (see my previous post) and experienced again a fantastic culinary delight. Today for lunch we found another hidden gem, Il Teatro del Sale close to the amazing mercato di Sant'Ambrogio where you can find amazing fruit and vegetables and what your foodie mind always dreamed about. Teatro del Sale is part of a group of restaurant all in this corner of the city and it is connected to the restaurant Cibreo one of the most renowned restaurant in Florence. It's a private circle (but is pretty easy to become a member) and it works as a restaurant but in the night there are all kind of events that you can enjoying while having dinner (music, theatre etc.) and it works as well as a gastronomy shop with some incredible quality products in offer. I found here a wine that I was looking for that I had almost no hope to find especially in Italy. It is produced by a guy from Florence that moved to France in the area of Banyuls, deep south of France, closed to the border with Spain. Check out the website : http://www.vinyerdelaruca.com/
This wine is produced in only 1000 bottles in a complete byodinamic environment with maniacal precision to details. Also the bottle shape is very different and fascinating and apparently all bottles are handmade by a friend of him leaving next to his vineyards. It is not cheap but I am so glad that now one bottle is going to be in the cellar. I can see this wine to be the best companion to an amazing chocolate dessert.
Coming back to our lunch the concept in this restaurant is pretty casual but the quality of food is really top. There are a number of antipasti that you can take from a large buffet, all with seasonal vegetables and freshly made. We had some creamy and lovely polenta, a broccoli pure' , a lentils salad, some beets and potatoes salad and a few others. Also all the bread and focaccia that you can choose are handmade and so flavourful. From the open kitchen the chefs are screaming which plate will come out next and when the plate is out all the people go queue (shortly) for their portion. Today we also had some lovely paccheri with tomato sauce and an incredible grilled chicken with roasted potatoes. Really a simple but amazing lunch.


Our restaurant in Georgia


Just coming back a few days ago, precisely to last Sunday I also want to spend a few words about my Georgian adventure. Considering I was with a colleague in Trabzon for work we decided to head to Georgia, that is only two hours away, precisely to the city of Batumi, a seaside resort on the black sea. Trip was lovely all along the coast and it is incredible to see how simply and poorly some people can leave. Once we pass the border you can still feel that we are in an ex Russian republic and some ruins of ex Russian Army camp can still be seen. The city is weird, mixing new and incredibly modern building to some ex Soviet Union style huge building almost falling apart. Foodwise the experience was interesting. We went to one of the nicer restaurant in town and food was, I would say, pretty good. Some differenf little fish as appetizer and a very nice Batumi Kebab as main dish, consisting in very tasting meat mixed with some beautiful yogurt. The thing I loved more of the whole lunch experience then was the bread. Just ouf from the oven, warm and absolutely delightful. This world is full of surprise and that's why is so exciting (even if a bit tiring) travelling so much.

Lovely Georgian bread