SUB-ZERO WINE BLOG

Jay & Lora at Del Posto
85 Tenth Avenue, NYC
December 2006

In Italy wine has always been considered a part of the meal, and Italian wines tend to more compatible with a wide variety of dishes than their new world counterparts. The custom in Italy has always been to eat and drink locally—in Tuscany bisteca Fiorentina is washed down with Chianti, the cows and the grapes having been raised within sight of each other. Here in America, we tend to be more eclectic in our eating. The cuisine of Piedmont isn’t as well known on these shores as it should be, but the wines of Piedmont region are widely available on Italian restaurant wine lists and they can carry you throughout a meal as you move from lighter to heavier dishes as we proved recently at Del Posto in New York. With fish and shellfish dishes, the whites made from Arneis grapes are very versatile---delicious with our Nantucket scallop carpacio. The Piedmontese have several native red grapes to choose from and they often accompany their pasta with a light, fruity Dolcetto; heavier pastas--like our garganelli Bolognese--go well with Barberas; their relatively high acid makes them a great match for dishes with tomato sauce. Finally, for meat and game and dishes, you can hardly compliment a great dish (like our roast chicken with black truffles) better than to pair it with the King of Wines, a Barolo made from the noble Nebiolo grape on the most favorably exposed hillsides of Piedmont. These wines require age show their best—our 1997 Vietti was just beginning to come into maturity. But they’re worth the wait. And in the meantime, you’ve Dolcetto and Barbera to quaff.