With a trip to Italy less than two weeks away, my excitement is really starting to take hold. Spending the afternoon discussing the itinerary with a friend while watching college basketball (my team lost but will be back and better next week!) I was quickly inspired to have an Italian night. I decided to stop into the local grocery store on the way home and turn my inspiration into reality.
Arriving home with all the ingredients for a great meal tends to earn a few brownie points and today was no exception as I was greeted with warm reception. After preparing an antipasti plate to satisfy the rumbles in our stomachs, we indulged in Provolone Cheese and Italian Salami. A few slices in, we both noticed something was missing: an easy drinking Italian red. Then came the questions: How much to spend? Buy a trusted favorite of try something new? Large producer or small family winery? As we racked our brains to remember Bishop's Cellar's offering of Italian reds (under 30$ and something we hadn't tried) a lightbulb came on: Why not use www.wineonline.ca (Bishop's Cellar's online retailing partner)to help aid us in our decision?
Both avid internet users, we hopped on our laptops and used the search criteria to narrow the choices and locate the perfect match. After deliberation and several suggestions, we settled on Sartori Regolo Rosso . This red would match perfectly with rest of our cheese plate, yet wouldn't over power the Spinach and Cheese Ravioli with Tomato Sauce simmering away on the stovetop. I redeemed my brownie points and suggested that Hannah run to the store and grab the bottle so we could finish off our snack properly; in the company of wine. Living in close proximity to store definitely has it's benefits, and, within minutes she returned with the missing link.
Now the fun begins: exploring a wine for the first time. Out comes the trusty corkscrew. Now the foil and cork are our only barriers between the wine and our anxious glasses. We debated decanting, yet chose to use our large wine goblets to handle the task of exposing the wine to more oxygen (a trick that can help enhance many bottles of red wine). The wine showed exactly as expected; rich and smooth (benefiting from the unqiue Ripasso wine making technique used widely in the Valpolicella region) and paired perfectly with our pasta.
As we finished our meal, friends from the Valley arrived and the bottle on our table quickly turned from quaffing pleasure to conversation piece. Interested in my upcoming adventure to Europe, we informed our friends that in just 3 short weeks, I would be fortunate enough to enjoy the wines of Sartori (and perhaps this exact wine) at their winery in Verona. An experience I'll be sure to write about! With just a few drops left, and as other friends arrived anxious to start their Saturday night, we finished off the bottle and shifted our conversation from Italian wine to my buddy's newest endeavor: purchasing a miniature zebu (A dwarf cow that stands only 3 feet tall) for his ever growing hobby farm. Today as I write I'm still left wondering, at what point did our conversation change from ripasso to dwarf cattle?
Till next time,
The Guy in the Warehouse - Matt
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I picked up some spicy Italian sausage at the Market yesterday to make a pasta sauce which is now simmering away on the stove, so reading this while the herbal garlicky smells invade my home makes me really hungry.... I guess I should put the water on and uncork a bottle of rosso. Buon appetito!
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