Deluca Trattoria & Rock Wall Wines

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

The dinner tonight at Deluca , www.delucatrattoria.com,  was being hosted by Gourmet Wine Getaways and was featuring Kent Rosenblum, the owner of the winery. 

Kent used to own Rosenblum Winery but received an attractive offer for a buyout and took it. He had wanted to retire but after awhile the creative juices started flowing again and he just had to make at least one kind of wine. So Rock Wall Wine Company was formed.  I had not seen Kent in many, many years.  Good to catch up.

So I took the plunge and drove from work to El Segundo. One hour on surface streets from where I work Normally this is an area I would not go to on a weeknight. Weekends would be doubtful also. Not freeway friendly at all.  Met friends who actually live close enough to the restaurant to walk there. Lucky them.  

We started out with a "reception" featuring numerous cheeses and Meringhe (which is sauce/jelly). A 2015 Lake County, Sauvignon Blanc was poured. I really liked this wine. Not too mineraly, acidic or grassy. Very pleasant and drinkable. Cheeses were very good. A nice variety.

Dinner started at least 30 minutes late. But with the wine flowing it did not matter. We were served Bruschetta di Branzino all 'Acqua Pazza (crazy water branzino) and a Bocconcini di Filetto con Porcini ( filet mignon with porchini mushroom) . The branzino bruschetta turned out to me the best thing I had that night. Excellent. The beef bruschetta was slightly dry and  the meat was a  little tough and over cooked for me.   The wine was a 2014 Rigg Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon. Excellent wine. Well balanced and complex. Many layers.  Was a little young but should cellar for at least 10 years.

Next dish was a Spezzatino di Coniglio con Risotto alle Erbe Aromatic  (Gabriella's rabbit stew with aromatic herb risotto). I love rabbit but this was a not a dish I would order again. I have eaten rabbit since I was a child and know what it should be. In fact when I was married we raised rabbits and had the meat on the dinner table at least once a week.  Rabbit was dry and the risotto was dry also.  Not the creamy way it should be. Flavor were good but it didn't make up for the dryness of the dish.  A 2014 Julie's Vineyard, Russian River, Zinfandel was paired with this dish. Big jammy nose and rich flavor. A typical Kent Rosenblum Zin. That is what made him known before. Zinfandel. 

Last dish was a Bocconcini di  Cinghiale con Pappardelle (Gabriella's wild,boar sauce over pappardelle). Again good flavors but the wild boar sauce was way to salty and the pasta was slightly overcooked. Not too bad put again not al dente. The wine paired was another winner. A 2015 Le Mur De Roche, Napa Valley, Petite Sirah. Another big wine.

Dessert was good. a housemade Tiramisu. But the sparkling wine was a big disappointment. 2015 Sparkling Blanc de Blanc.  Tasted much more like a sauvignon blanc grape. I did not finish mine. Taste just turned me off. 

I think perhaps that since this was their first large banquet style dinner that restaurant held the kitchen may have been overwhelmed getting all the food out at the same time. Quality suffered because of it.  It is much different cooking for a banquet style meal for close to 50 people  than individual meals during a normal restaurant service. My friends have dined at Deluca numerous times and they agreed that the dinner was not up to  Deluca's normal standards.  I also had a problem with service. Three times they came and took the used plates away and three times they forgot to give me a clean plate. Everyone else managed but somehow I got  "lost in the transfer" somehow. Plus one of the times I had to ask 3 people before I was finally given a replacement. So I think the kitchen and staff were out of the element. Just need some more large dinners to get the hang of it.

But a nice evening, really good wines and a fun time.The prices on the wines were excellent but alas I am trying to pare down and not buy for a year or so. I am less than 500 bottles now so I have made some inroads but not enough to start buying again. Maybe when I get down to 200 bottles I might take a look at it again.