Have you ever tried that famous Super-Tuscan called Ornellaia? If not, there is a good reason to do it, as we are going to serve it by the glass during our new wine festival. It will be rather impossible to name a wine publication that have not yet issued its highest mark to that precious prodigy invented by Lodovico Antinori some 30 years ago… Besides Ornellaia we will show another two reds from Tenuta dell'Ornellaia: Le Volte и Le Serre Nuove. All wines are blends based on French grapes.

In case you would be willing to tame the thirst caused by merciless weather, there will be a comfortable entry program consisting of two wines from Maremma by Terre di Talamo: white (Vermentino in purezza) and rose’ called «Piano Piano» (which means «step by step», - not a bad name, eh?)

The new specials from our Chef Costantino include: canape’ with tuna fillets and arugula; prosciutto with melon; pappardelle with seabream and squash flowers; enigmatic ravioli; risotto with chanterelle and two very particular main courses.

Congratulations with arrival of both summer and new wine festival!

Why not to meet June with Gavi in the glass?! (There will be two wines from Castellari Bergaglio: fresh Salluvii and late-harvest Pilin). And then why not to continue with beautiful rose’ called Gròttolo from Colle Massari?!! Be careful as that particular rose’ is awfully pleasant to sip so the overdosing could be an issue… For the red part of the game we propose Governo di Castellare from Castellare di Castellina (made with traditional Tuscan Governo method, when the juice of lightly dried grapes is added to the wine that just finished fermenting), Bolgheri Rosso from Le Macchiole (a voluptuous blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese and Syrah) and pure Sangiovese called Torrione from Fattoria Petrolo (a brother of famed Merlot Galatrona). By the way, in 2009 our festival’s Torrione of 2007 vintage made to the “top-100 wines of the world” by Wine Spectator with honourable #37.

A coinciding specials from our Chef Costantino Passalacqua includes: steamed baby sturgeon with couscous and cappers; wood-burning oven baked bruschette with cherry tomatoes etc.; spicy bavette with baby octopus and shrimps in tomato sauce; homemade fettuccine with ceps and stewed squids; risotto Parma style; kingklip fish tomato stew and grilled beef on skewer with brandy and Dijon mustard sauce.

Just one more thing: have you tried our caffe’ affogato yet? The one with artisan Italian ice-cream?.. :)

We hope to match the end of eventful spring with the wine festival of Veneto: Soave and Valpolicella (including Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto) from Tedeschi. Interestingly enough, the family name “Tedeschi” translates from Italian as “Germans”. So we have a nice opportunity to raise a glass for the friendship between Italy and Germany, or the one between Ukraine and Russia, or the one between Greece and Euro…

Chef Passalacqua prepared an accordingly powerful special menu, where the partners for both Soave of the festival are: schiacciata from prawns with avocado cream; sautéed mussels with garlic sauce; homemade pasta trofie with halibut ragout; grilled sea bass with red vinegar sauce. All festival’s red wines will enjoy a partnership with spicy bavette pasta with spinach and speck ham, or with risotto with smoked sausage and pecorino cheese. For the sliced grilled beef steak with pink pepper and eggplant concasse Chef recommends either Ripasso or (even better) Amarone “Capitel Monte Olmi”.

Boun appetito!

We tend to believe that another wine festival should nicely fill the gap between now and the May holidays. This time we will be serving Vermentino and Super-Tuscans from Maremma. The supply of Vermentino is provided by Colle Massari which may be easily recognized for their important red called Grattamacco (by the way, we have a decent vertical of that Cabernet-based wine in our cellar). Among their white wines we have chosen Irisse (a blend of Vermentino and Greco Bianco) and a white version of Grattamacco (Vermentino in purezza). Each wine is made in funny quantities of around 10,000 bottles… The reds are from Rocca di Frassinello – a joint venture of Castellare di Castellina and Domain Baron De Rothschild-Lafite. All three wines represent a blend of Sangioveto (local version of Sangiovese), Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The range is quite comfortable: from an easy drinking fruity Poggio alla Guardia through the well-balanced Le Sughere di Frasinello all the way up to the mighty Rocca di Frasinello. Strangely enough, as we climb the organoleptic ladder, the participation of Sangioveto is getting higher and higher. It seems unrealistic to suggest that French guys were able to mitigate their typical snobbishness towards non-French wines and aboriginal grapes, so, who knows what has happened in the quiet and remote land of Maremma… Would you guess?

As always, our Chef Costantino came up with the new specials just in time. There will be a plenty of seductions in the menu. Just a few examples: fennel au gratin with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano; homemade tagliatelle with langoustines; Sicilian style spaghetti with sardines; risotto with red pesto sauce; beef medallions with pureed Jerusalem artichoke… Forget about the diet, - life should be tasty!!!

P.S. Please note that as of May 1st osteria Pantagruel and pizzeria Napule' will not be accepting any discount cards.

Sergei Gusovsky

A very particular wine festival we propose, really: all six wines of the festival are, what Italians call, in purezza, meaning they are made purely from a single type of grape. In case with whites, we proudly introduce two Soave from Ca'Rugate – a distinguished producer from the province of Veneto. Both Soave made from indigenous Garganega variety. Both – a single vineyard wines. Both unoaked. For the red part of the party we have chosen Chianti Classico (pure Sangiovese obviously) and two super-tuscans: Regina di Renieri (Syrah from Montalcino area) and Girolamo – magnificent Merlot from a very mature (40 years) vineyard in the South-Eastern corner of Chianti Classico zone. All red wines come from Castello di Bossi, a rather young (on the Tuscan scale) producer who started bottling its wines around 20 years ago and whose reputation has been only growing since.

The new special menu from Costantino should provide a plenty of possibilities for the food and wine pairing. Soave will be a great match for either “black box” of halibut or potato gnocchi with seafood, as well as for the prawns stewed with white beans. Both lasagne with porcini and English-style roast beef should be fine with any of the reds while for the risotto with curry we highly recommend either chunky Chianti or persuasive Syrah. And should you want to try a praised (tre bicchieri from Gambero Rosso) Recioto di Soave, nothing could be better with it than a decent bite of creamy Gorgonzola. Buon appetito!

Sergei Gusovsky

We hope you did enjoy our festival of Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone and if you really did, then the next one is going to be of the same power and joy: wines of Southern province of Puglia from the famed Leone de Castris. There are 350 years of history behind the winery. It all started in 1665 when Duke Oronzo, Earl of Lemos left his native Spain for Salice Salentino… In the second half of XX century Leone de Castris became widely recognized for their fragrant rose’ appropriately called Five Roses. The wine is quite demanded nowadays as well but it’s not a rose’ time yet, isn’t it? We’ll get back to it when the warm days and summer terraces come. The program of current festival will include two Chardonnays (oaked and non-oaked) and three Negroamaro based blends: fruity Maiana, jammy Messere Andrea and a blockbuster Salice Salentino Riserva Donna Lisa.

Sergei Gusovsky

Our first wine festival of 2010 is dedicated to the wines of a distinguished producer – Gerardo Cesari. There will be all important types of wines of Veneto represented: Soave, Lugana, Valpolicella, Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone. All but Amarone of 1995 vintage – by the glass. What a lovely opportunity to follow the evolution of Valpolicella from just Valpolicella through Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso (cru Bosan, ‘06) to Amarone della Valpolicella (cru Il Bosco, ‘04)! As always, just in time is the new special menu from Costantino where spaghetti with stewed seafood ragout and lasagne with pesto should match Soave very well; halibut and basmati rice salad with vegetables and curry will be nicely supported by Lugana (as well as Seabass fillets baked “al cartoccio”); Valpolicella should work fine with warm ciabatta toasts with mozzarella and prosciutto di Parma, while Valpolicella Ripasso will sustain a mighty attack from homemade fettuccine all’amatriciana and, finally, the power of Amarone is to be balanced by lamb meat balls stewed in tomato sauce with aubergines. In Gerardo Cesari and Costantino Passalacqua we trust!!!

Sergei Gusovsky

This Thursday the winemakers of Beaujolais will celebrate an overwhelming success of smart marketing campaign supported by millions of naïve drinkers of the Nouveau plonk. The words may seem harsh, but we believe they reflect the essence of the situation (more on that here). So in order to provide a reliable substitution we are starting with the Contro – Beaujolais Nouveau wine festival! Four wines from four indigenous grapes from for producers from four regions of Italy. Namely: Nero d’Avola (Firriato, Sicily), Sangiovese (Aia Vecchia, Tuscany), Barbera (Montaribaldi, Piedmont) and Corvina Veronese (Zeni, Veneto). The comfortable prices and nice impressions are guaranteed!

This Friday our chef signor Passalacqua will support the wine festival with the new specials with seafood and fish in abundance (including oysters, octopus, mussels, clams, squids, shrimps, cuttlefish, turbot etc.) in all kinds of preparations and presentations! Just in case you can’t manage without the meat dish we will have tournedo steak with whiskey sauce for you.

P.S. For those desperate to have their bottle of fresh Beaujolais we arrange an ambulance station at boutiquebar Biancoro with Beaujolais-Villages Primeur от Louis Jadot. As you see, it is not just Beaujolais, but Beaujolais-Villages as well as it is not just Nouveau, but Primeur. And it’s Louis Jadot, you know… so, we tried our best :)

Sergei Gusovsky

Hopefully you are not influenced by all the flu-related paranoia and so will be willing to entertain yourself with our new wine festival dedicated to a couple of very popular indigenous Italian grapes – Vermentino and Sangiovese. You may know that Vermentino is a white grape that shows his best in Sardinia, particularly in the area called Gallura. During the forthcoming week we are going to serve by the glass both Vermentino di Sardegna and Vermentino di Gallura. Both wines will represent a well-established and respected producer - Sella & Mosca. In case of Sangiovese, our repertoire is slightly bigger and thus you could meet three styles of this quintessentially Tuscan grape, all of them from Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona winery and all of them – a pure 100% Sangiovese. Please start tasting with the mild and comfortable super-Tuscan called Ciacci Piccolomini, then try a nicely arranged, very modern and convincing Sangiovese from the Montecucco zone of Tuscany and, finally, have a deserved sip of the noble (and extremely pro-drinking priced) Brunello di Montalcino.

Sergei Gusovsky

To finish off our wine marathon (3 festivals within 5 weeks) we will serve by the glass four Aldo Conterno wines: Chardonnay Bussiador, Barbera Conca Tre Pile, Barolo and Barolo Granbussia!!! Needless to say the wines are not cheap. But the producer is a “contemporary legend in Barolo” (Burton Anderson) and if you are willing to learn what does it mean to be a moderate traditionalist – familiarizing yourself with Aldo Conterno wines is a must. His Barolo could show “about every nuance of which great Barolo is capable” (Nicolas Belfrage). My English is definitely not good enough to protect this announcement (and the festival) from being called snobbish so please accept another quote. Here’s how Mrs. Jancis Robinson quotes Mr. Aldo Conterno: “they (Barolo and Barbaresco, - SG) are not easy to understand and, since they are made in small quantity, that matters little”.

Sergei Gusovsky