On July 23rd, our wine group got together for a Wine Dinner at Ca del Sole restaurant in Toluca Lake, Ca. The wine theme was wines from Campania and we had some stellar wines!
There were 2 white wines, one was a 2007 Torre Gaia Falanghina Sannio which was very crisp with some apple and pear fruit with a nice mineral body in the style of Italy. This is what K&L Wines had to say about it:
Sannio Falanghina shows a brilliant straw yellow color and nuances of greenish yellow, very transparent. The nose reveals intense, clean, pleasing and refined aromas which start with hints of apple, pear and plum followed by aromas of pineapple, hawthorn, almond and broom. The mouth has good correspondence to the nose, a crisp attack and however balanced by alcohol, good body, intense flavors. The finish is persistent with flavors of apple, plum and pear. Sannio Falanghina ages in steel tanks.
The next white wine was one from Umbria. It broke the theme, but we brought it as it was a 2006 Grechetto from Sportoletti Assisi. This is Linda's favorite white wine and I don't think it's exported to the United States, so I brought it along with us. I believe this grape was brought from Greece a couple thousand years ago and grows well in Umbria. I think it's the only region in Italy where this varietal grows.
On to the Reds...
1. A 2004 Molettieri Taurasi Vigna Cinque Querce which Gambero Rosso describes as "simply mind blowing" and Antonio Galloni describes as "simply awesome".
2. A 2003 Montevetrano which was 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 10% Aglianico. We love Italian Cab/Merlot blends and this one was really nice with the Aglinico blended in along with them. A very nice wine!
3. A 2003 Naima Viticoltori de Conciliis. This wine was my favorite of the night as it was wonderfully balanced with nice fruit forward and very smooth! It still maintained the dryness of Italian wines which make them so great!
4. A 2003 Feudi di San Gregorio Irpina Serpico. This wine was super dry with stewed fruit and it needed to be decanted to really open up. After a couple of hours of decanting, it drank beautifully and really went great with the food! At 11:30 when I was settling up the bill, there was still a glass left in the decanter, so I poured the last glass and sipped it while talking with out waiter, Mikele. After 4 1/2 hours of decanting, it was so soft and wonderful! I can't remember the names of the other Reds, but all the wines were great and we all had a great time!
Included are the pics taken from the wine dinner which were taken outside on their patio. Great food, great wine, and great friends! Ciao!
