Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Found a few people who wanted to join me for this dinner tonight. www.michaelsonnaples.com, Menu was interesting and the winery name intrigued me. Donnafugata. An old Sicilian winery. Silvio Di Silvio was the winery rep from Italy. Charming man and got more so when I found out one of the wines tonight had 6 obscure grapes in the blend. This to me was worth the price of the dinner. I ended up getting 5 more new varietals for my quest. I now have 465. Really pushing to get to the 500 mark.
We started out with Arancino D'Aragosta, leeks and lobster stuffed rice ball. Good flavor but would have like a bit more sauce on the plate. Wine was a 2014 Zibibbo Lighea, a dry muscat. Good pairing and nice way to start the meal
Second course: Spaghetti al Nero con Ricci di Mare, squid ink pasta with Santa Barbara uni. Slight fishy taste to the pasta, needed just a light touch of salt which I added . Uni was good but wished there was more of it. I thought the amount of uni was "chintzy". A 2010 Chardonnay "Chiaranda". Unusual nose and taste. I would not have taken it for a Chardonnay. 6 months in stainless, 3 months in oak and then into the bottle. The bottles are not released for another 3 years. If I was in the buying mode I would have picked up a few bottles of this wine.
Third course: Tonno con Panelle, Smoked Ahi tuna with chickpea fritter, oven roasted cherry tomato and walnut pesto. Loads of flavor, tuna was perfect. Paired with a 2012 "Sedara", a Nero d'Avola. Again another very good match.
Main course: Agnello al Forno. Devils Gulch leg of lamb with artichokes, potato puree and eggplant caponata. Had several bites and boxed it up to take home. I was pushing my full meter and we did have dessert coming up. Wine was a 2008 "Mille e' una Notte" a Nero d'Avola along with 6 other obscure grapes. Ninella, Vetriolo, Alzano, Nocera, Perricone, and Nerello-Cappuccio. I had the Perricone on my list already. But 5 new ones for me. I am a happy wino. This was a very good wine. a bit pricy but excellent pairing.
Dessert was a Panna Cotta alle Mandorle, almond milk panna cotta with almond cookies and blackberries. served with a 2013 "Ben Rye" which was a sweet muscat. Had faint wild strawberry with a touch of honeysuckle.
So a very good dinner, excellent wines and good company. My kind of night.
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