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