Food, Wine & Friends PAGE 180
We were delighted to be able to host our dear friend
SERGIO GERMANO,
a famous winemaker from Italy's Piemonte region.
Signor Germano produces a stellar sparkling wine in the Langhe, so, for
comparison, we opened a bottle of Sonoma's Gloria Ferrer "Carneros
Cuvee," a wine with more than 8 years' of aging on the spent yeast.
Our guest of honor...
...Sergio Germano
And the bubbly is surprisingly good. It's crisp and fairly
yeasty...unusually elegant, too.
We prepared a simple, small menu for Sergio, beginning with
Crab Cakes.
We had a 2006 Horst Sauer Silvaner from the Franken region...I'm a big fan of
this wine, but don't think Weimax customers would be interested in paying $32 a
bottle for it.
Yet, it's a delicious, crisp, flavorful Silvaner of extraordinary character.
Bruce Flatow brought a 2000 vintage Chablis from Raveneau. It was not as
overwhelming as it should have been...Bruce felt it might have been 'corked' or
somehow "off."
Sergio did not find the wine to be flawed but said "It's simply not
terribly expressive."
As we finished the crab cakes, though, the wine seemed to finally blossom.
I brought the remaining portion of the bottle back to the shop for the crew to
taste and Ellen also found it to be, possibly, "off."
A little palate cleanser made of Gamay came next...
...and this seemed to hit the spot with the guests.
Bruce
Davoe
Next it was time for the main plate...
Asparagus with red peppers, Portabellas and Shitake Mushrooms.
Oven Roasted Potatoes and Grilled Small Loin Lamb Chops.
We had a taste of Sergio's "Mama Mia!" Barbera...a
nicely juicy Barbera showing lots of red fruit aromas and flavors.
We had a lovely bottle of 1995 Dunn Napa Valley Cabernet
Sauvignon. This was showing nicely...developed and closing in on maturity
and very drinkable now.
Then it was time for dessert...
Burlingame Avenue's "The Cakery" had some nice fruit tarts this
morning and these went beautifully with the honeyed sweet wine from Topaz.
We thoroughly appreciated being able to host Sergio, having
dined with him in Piemonte last year.
Thanks Davoe & Bruce!
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