Italian Village appoints Jared Gelband Wine Director

Italian Village appoints Jared Gelband Wine Director ... to restore cellar to historic eminence ...

The historic Italian Village restaurant, a Chicago landmark since 1927 has appointed Jared Gelband as its new Wine Director. Jared has worked the Chicago fine dining and wine scene for more than a dozen years for such well known establishments as Chicago Prime, Del Frisco's and others.

The Italian Village wine cellar holds a Best of Excellence Award from Wine Spectator Magazine, one of the most esteemed benchmarks in the restaurant market, with over thirty thousand bottles of more than a thousand different wine selections.

Italian Village actually consists of three different restaurants in one site and the wine cellar serves all three restaurants at its location at 71 West Monroe opposite the Chase Bank Tower plaza in the center of loop.

The three restaurants each have their own chef, kitchen and waitstaff. Italian Village continues to be operated by the founding Capitanini family, who today are represented by the second and third generation descendants of the founder Alfredo Capitanini and is the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in Chicago.  The three dining rooms that make up Italian Village represent three different cuisines and dining experiences - the flagship Italian Village with its classic traditional Northern Italian cuisine within the quaint atmosphere of an Italian village. The trendy chic Vivere showcases a start-to-finish approach to everything on the menu, from house- and hand-made pasta in a modern Chicago landmark contemporary dining room designed by Jordan Moser, full of unique shapes and angles in a stylish feel ideally suited for the forward-thinking haute cuisine, while La Cantina, features the classic menu, hospitable ambience and service at The Village.

Jared, a native of suburban Chicago sees this as a break through opportunity to build on the solid foundation of the wine program, and to restore it to its earlier eminence when it held the highest Grand Award. He intends to capitalize on the extensive inventory investment in Italian, Bordeaux and selective American wines, expand its global coverage, modernize the operations, and adopt social media and other promotions to showcase the world class selection, great values, and rare wines, all complementing great authentic food in a setting for all occasions.

Jared loves life in the cellar which serves as his office where he spends his days researching new wines, managing the inventory, and updating the extensive wine list to pair wines to showcase the cuisine and menu's of each of the three restaurants while offering wines for all tastes and budgets.

Dining hours and evenings are then devoted to promotion, serving as Sommelier and assisting the dining and bar staff in the property's three restaurants. While each restaurant boasts in own kitchen, chef and waitstaff, the cellar serves all three dining operations.

On this day, we were meeting Todd Alexander, Winemaker from Force Majeure Vineyard and Winery in Red Mountain, Yakima/Columbia Valley Washington. Visiting Chicago with his wife Carrie, Marketing Director for Force Majeure on a promotion tour, we met at Italian Village to bring together two emerging voices and forces in wine and fine dining to share offerings, visions, plans, and to explore synergies and opportunities for collaboration.

Jared gave all of us a tour of the Italian Village cellar and uncovered and showcased from its extensive thirty thousand bottle collection of deep selections in classic Italian's, rare Bordeaux, as well as several premier wine's from Todd's previous endeavors such as Bryant Family wines in Napa Valley.

Watch for upcoming wine and dine tasting journal reports on Italian Village.

http://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/

Jared with Force Majeure winemaker
Todd Alexander

Showing wine treasure vintage Chateau Petrus.

Todd Alexander and Bryant Family selection
from Italian Village cellar.

A day at the office for Jared Gelband, in Italian Village
cellar with Todd and Carrie Alexander and author.

Italian Village appoints Jared Gelband Wine Director

Italian Village appoints Jared Gelband Wine Director ... to restore cellar to historic eminence ...

The historic Italian Village restaurant, a Chicago landmark since 1927 has appointed Jared Gelband as its new Wine Director. Jared has worked the Chicago fine dining and wine scene for more than a dozen years for such well known establishments as Chicago Prime, Del Frisco's and others.

The Italian Village wine cellar holds a Best of Excellence Award from Wine Spectator Magazine, one of the most esteemed benchmarks in the restaurant market, with over thirty thousand bottles of more than a thousand different wine selections.

Italian Village actually consists of three different restaurants in one site and the wine cellar serves all three restaurants at its location at 71 West Monroe opposite the Chase Bank Tower plaza in the center of loop.

The three restaurants each have their own chef, kitchen and waitstaff. Italian Village continues to be operated by the founding Capitanini family, who today are represented by the second and third generation descendants of the founder Alfredo Capitanini and is the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in Chicago.  The three dining rooms that make up Italian Village represent three different cuisines and dining experiences - the flagship Italian Village with its classic traditional Northern Italian cuisine within the quaint atmosphere of an Italian village. The trendy chic Vivere showcases a start-to-finish approach to everything on the menu, from house- and hand-made pasta in a modern Chicago landmark contemporary dining room designed by Jordan Moser, full of unique shapes and angles in a stylish feel ideally suited for the forward-thinking haute cuisine, while La Cantina, features the classic menu, hospitable ambience and service at The Village.

Jared, a native of suburban Chicago sees this as a break through opportunity to build on the solid foundation of the wine program, and to restore it to its earlier eminence when it held the highest Grand Award. He intends to capitalize on the extensive inventory investment in Italian, Bordeaux and selective American wines, expand its global coverage, modernize the operations, and adopt social media and other promotions to showcase the world class selection, great values, and rare wines, all complementing great authentic food in a setting for all occasions.

Jared loves life in the cellar which serves as his office where he spends his days researching new wines, managing the inventory, and updating the extensive wine list to pair wines to showcase the cuisine and menu's of each of the three restaurants while offering wines for all tastes and budgets.

Dining hours and evenings are then devoted to promotion, serving as Sommelier and assisting the dining and bar staff in the property's three restaurants. While each restaurant boasts in own kitchen, chef and waitstaff, the cellar serves all three dining operations.

See the updated Wine Cellar feature on the updated Italian Village website.

On this day, we were meeting Todd Alexander, Winemaker from Force Majeure Vineyard and Winery in Red Mountain, Yakima/Columbia Valley Washington. Visiting Chicago with his wife Carrie, Marketing Director for Force Majeure on a promotion tour, we met at Italian Village to bring together two emerging voices and forces in wine and fine dining to share offerings, visions, plans, and to explore synergies and opportunities for collaboration.

Jared gave all of us a tour of the Italian Village cellar and uncovered and showcased from its extensive thirty thousand bottle collection of deep selections in classic Italian's, rare Bordeaux, as well as several premier wine's from Todd's previous endeavors such as Bryant Family wines in Napa Valley.

Watch for upcoming wine and dine tasting journal reports on Italian Village.

http://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/

Jared with Force Majeure winemaker
Todd Alexander

Showing wine treasure vintage Chateau Petrus.

Todd Alexander and Bryant Family selection
from Italian Village cellar.

A day at the office for Jared Gelband, in Italian Village
cellar with Todd and Carrie Alexander and author.

Sassicaia Owner Dinner and Vivere Vertical Tasting

Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Owner Dinner and Vertical Tasting at Italian Village Vivere

Special wine dinner featuring a flight of eight vintages of Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia paired with a tasting accompaniment four course dinner - hosted by Italian Village Chicago and Wine Director Jared Gelband and featuring producer co-owner Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta.

Background - The Story

In the 1920s the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta dreamt of creating a ‘thoroughbred’ wine and for him, as for all the aristocracy of the time, the ideal was Bordeaux. This is how he described it in a letter to the esteemed wine critic, Luigi Veronelli dated 11 June 1974: “…the origins of my experiment date back to the years between 1921 and 1925 when, as a student in Pisa and often a guest of the Salviati Dukes in Migliarino, I drank a wine produced from one of their vineyards…which had the same unmistakable “bouquet” as an aged Bordeaux….”

In the 1940s, having settled with his wife Clarice on the Tenuta San Guido on the Tyrrhenian coast, he experimented with several French grape varieties (whose cuttings he had recovered from the estate of the Dukes Salviati in Migliarino) and concluded that the Cabernet had "the bouquet I was looking for."

A wine made mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon was a fundamental change to the Tuscan and Piedmont tradition of Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, respectively. The innovative decision to plant this variety at Tenuta San Guido was partly due to the similarity Mario Incisa had noted between Tuscan terrain and that of the Graves area in Bordeaux.

‘Graves’, or ‘gravel’ in French refers to the rocky terrain which distinguishes the Bordeaux area; similarly, the gravely vineyard sites in Tuscany impart the same characteristics on Sassicaia, "stony ground", as its cherished French brother.

The Marchese's first vintages were not warmly received. Critics accustomed to light, local wines were not encouraging; it was not taken into consideration that wines made from the more complex Cabernet Sauvignon grape would need more time to mature and develop. And thus from 1948 to 1967, Sassicaia remained a strictly private affair, only to be consumed at Tenuta San Guido.

Each year, a few cases were stored to age in the Castiglioncello di Bolgheri cellar. The Marchese soon realized that by ageing the wine it improved considerably.

Friends and relatives now urged Mario Incisa to experiment further with his project and perfect his revolutionary winemaking style. It was not until 1968 that Sassicaia was first commercially released – the welcome was worthy of a Bordeaux Premier Cru.

Over the next few years, the cellar was moved to a temperature controlled location, steel fermentation vats replaced wooden vats, and French barriques were introduced to the aging process.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, Sassicaia has been produced in the style of a Left Bank Bordeaux Premier Cru - 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc.

On this night, Italian Village in Chicago hosted co-owner of Tenuta San Guido co-owner Pricilla Incisa della Rocchetta. A special menu course was prepared to complement a flight of eight vintages of Sassicaia, served from the cellars of Italian Village by Wine Director and co-host Jared Gelband and the Vivere Restaurant staff.

The dinner was featured in a Forbes.com article submitted by wine write Tom Hyland and included a picture of Ernie seated next to Priscilla. 

 In attendance were the 'Pour Boys', our wine group, below, above, Dr Dan, Vivere manager Gerardo Castillo, Rick, and Vivere wine director Jared Gelband.

 

Priscilla spoke of the history and heritage of Tenuta San Guido, then introduced each course with an exposition of the vintages and the releases.

 
Prior to the courses we were served Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto Toscana 2017- a Bordeaux varietal comprised of Merlot.

With the dinner courses we started with Sassicaia 1998 and 1999, two contrasting vintages - a warm year and a moderate year - served alongside chanterelle mushroom plate - a perfect food wine pairing!

Antipasta 

Portabella Mushroom Guanciale

White Polenta Mascarpone and Tomini

Next was an incredible lamb ragu in bolognese sauce with pasta served with Sassicaia 2000 and 2001. This was another incredible food wine pairing experience - perfectly matched complementary tasting profiles.

Primi

Braised Lamb Shoulder Ragu - Saffron Tagliorini
Charred Tomatoes - Shallots - Parmesan Regiano

This was followed by ribeye steak in a rich red wine reduction sauce served with Sassicaia 2004 and 2005, another contrast in two disparate vintages - a warm and a moderate year.

Secondi

Rib Eye Fiorentina - Salsa Verde

Purple Peruvian Potato Puree - Guidalberto Jus

Finally, Italian Pecorina cheese with toast points served with young brash, bright, brilliant Sassicaia 2015 and 2016.

Formaggi

Pecorino Capriano

Fig Jam - Crostini

Italian Village - Chicago Vivere Restaurant - http://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/

Thanksgiving feast and wine flight

Thanksgiving feast and wine flight

We gathered for customary Thanksgiving dinner feast with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, cranberry salad and fresh baked crescent dinner roles. We served an accompanying wine flight.

From the cellar I pulled a classic Champagne, then a white Bordeaux blend, a California Zinfandel, then friend Jared stopped by and opened a Barbaresco Nebbiolo. Jared Gelband is wine director at the legendary Italian Village restaurant. When he stops by, we can often count on him to bring an interesting label to share and compare.

Bertrand Senecourt Beau Joie Special Cuvee 'Sugar King' Demi-Sec NV Champagne

A blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, & 20% Pinot Meunier for the sweetest of champagnes.

This Beau Joie Champagne is distinctive in it's packaging with the bottle 'wrapped' in a basket-like shroud of 100% copper — Triple Black Limited-Edition Bottle. The 'Suit of Armor' is inspired by the Armor worn by the knights that protected the Kingdom.

From their website:

The copper scrap in transformed into artwork – In order to avoid the unnecessary waste of valuable copper, Beau's encasing is uniquely created from 100% second-generation copper scrap and turned into a functional piece of artwork.

Functionality – Beau's innovation-driven, functional design was specifically designed for the hospitality industry. No one knows more about serving the finest products and creating an experience than the industry itself.

Beau’s suit of armor keeps the champagne colder longer, reducing the amount of energy required to bring the bottle to serving temperature and eliminating the need for ice bucket storage during consumption. It also provides improved grip when opening and serving, while the bottle’s rubber punt ensures enhanced stability when pouring.

The bottle’s patented design also allows for decorative enhancements such as flowers or plumes to complement the distinct design aesthetic of individual venues.

Light golden straw colored, light, refreshing, clean, crisp, flavorful, nicely integrated and balanced fruits. Delicious.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=1762719

http://www.beaujoiechampagne.com/

Château Picque Caillou Blanc, Pessac Leognan, Graves, Bordeaux 2011

We recently pulled from the cellar this white Bordeaux and took it BYOB to local seafood eatery Chinn's 34th Street Fishery in Lisle (IL). As I wrote that night, we hold a half dozen bottles of this White Bordeaux Blanc, too oft overlooked in the cellar, passed over for something more exiting as we're Red Bordeaux drinkers. That night, we pulled this to try and actually brought a back-up wine in case it wasn't up to the call. The gals liked it a lot.

This was a nice accompaniment to turkey, dressing and the potatoes and veggies.

Golden colored with slight brownish hues, nose of citrus and stone, notes of mineral melon with a layer of slightly grassy undertones, yet pleasant with nice balance and acidity. A nice match for the seafood entrees.
Time to drink.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=1372699

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/11/chinns-34th-street-fishery.html

Carlisle Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2014

They say Zinfandel is ideal with turkey, the balanced forward full bodied fruit goes well with the dry white meat. It sounds awkward when it is also ideal for BBQ, but it seems to be so. This zinfandel is supplemented with 11% Petite Sirah.

This wine was highly rated getting 92-94 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and Vinous, 93 points from Wine Spectator, and 92 points from Wine Enthusiast. I don't necessarily share their enthusiasm although it was tasty, easy drinking and a nice compliment to our holiday dinner. 

Dark garnet colored, medium-full bodied, bright, expressive forward complex black berry and black raspberry fruits, notes of anise, pepper, hints of vanilla and oak.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2291450


Friend and wine buddy Jared stopped by and brought this Barbaresco Nebbiolo to share. Readers of this blog will know Jared Gelband as the Wine Director at Italian Village, whom we visit often for wine dinners.

Pertinace (Cantina Vignaioli) Barbaresco Vigneto Marcarini Nebbiolo 2013

This producer Cantina Pertinace is a winegrowers' cooperative which identifies with its territory, the region and DOCG appellation of Barbaresco. The label is named after a great historic local personality, Elvio Pertinace, who was born in Alba, in the hamlet in which the winery is located.

 The winery is located in Pertinace in Treiso, Piedmont, one of the four villages in the Langhe famous for the production of Barbaresco DOCG. The coop and Vignaioli winery was founded in 1973 and is comprised of thirteen members. They all shared a tie with the Langhe hills and the same objective, to build a business and brand based on the best wines possible, produced from the Nebbiolo grape from Barbaresco.

The started to bottle their wine the late 70's, expanded their facilities in the 80's, upgrading to the latest state-of-the-art technologies, and added their own bottling in 1990.

Today, the coop consists of fifteen members including the original historic founders, the winery producing 700.000 kg of grapes, totaling around 450 thousand bottles in the name of Barbaresco. Their distribution now reaches globally with presence in the United States, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, South Korea and Hong Kong.

The wine, 100% Nebbiolo spends 18 months in Slavonian oak casks.

Bright Ruby red color, medium-full bodied, bright black cherry and red berry fruits with notes of plum, prune and black tea with hints of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon with round velvety tannins on a fruit filled finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2456929

https://www.pertinace.com/en/

Vino Viaggio Wine Dinner at Vivere’ Italian Village Chicago

“Vino Viaggio” An Italian Wine Dinner at Vivere’ Italian Village Chicago 

Italian Village Restaurant (s) in Chicago hosted another in their Curated Wine Dinner Series. Organized and hosted by Beverage (and Wine) director, Jared Gelband, these events showcase a flight of wines from a featured producer or region. Tonight’s dinner was held in the classic, iconic and historic Italian Village Vivere’ dining room.

.

I’ve written often about Jared and Italian Village and their legendary Wine Cellar in these pages - Italian Village appoints Jared Gelband Wine Director. 

And, we’ve featured several of these earlier wine dinners in some notable posts as well, such as - Sassicaia Owner Dinner and Vivere Vertical Tasting, and Castello Banfi Producer Wine Dinner at Vivere Italian Village Chicago, and another - Italian Village Villa Calcinaia Producer Wine Dinner.

We’ve hosted many spectacular wine dinners at Italian Village over the years with family and my corporate management team and board - Merry Christmas - Frozen and gala family wine dinner, and Team Dinner at Italian Village Chicago.

And of course, tonight, as with most of these dinners, we attended with several wine buddies Dr Dan, and Linda, and Lyle and Terry, from our Pour Boys wine group, with whom we’ve held many Italian Village dinners together, such as this one featured in these pages - Italian Village Vivere Wine Dinner Features Masseto Cellar Selection.

Tonight, the distinguished guest and curator was importer distributor Alessandro Boga and the wines presented featured producers that Jared and Alessandro visited during an Italian wine region trip a couple years ago.  

Alessandro is Director of the Italian Portfolio at importer Wilson Daniels. As Portfolio Director he sets brand strategy, manages the supplier relationships (Italy) and the sell to/thru market development, merchandizing and evangelizing working with retailers and restaurants.

He has a WSET Level 3 Advanced, CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine), CSS (Certified Specialist of Spirits) and Vinitaly Academy Italian Wine Ambassador/EducatorSales

Wilson Daniels is a family-owned, fully integrated marketing and sales company representing a highly selective portfolio of the most prestigious wine properties from all corners of the globe. They focus on developing long-term strategic partnerships with family-owned and operated wineries that “possess profound respect for terroir”.

I’ve borrowed some of the background content about these producers and wines from the Wilson Daniel’s site - https://wilsondaniels.com/.

Tonight’s “ Vino Viaggio Curated Wine Dinner” featured five courses prepared by Italian Village Vivere’ Chef Tony Rodriguez. Each course was expertly paired with some of a total of seven Italian wines served.

I’ve written in these pages many times that an ideal pairing of a food course with the appropriate wine amplifies the enjoyment of both. Tonight’s pairings were sensational enhancing each course for wonderful sensory enjoyment.

The courses and their respective paired wines …

Antipasto

Poached Mussels / White Wine Gel / Lemon preserve /Parsley Oil / Capers / Squid Ink Tuile

Benanti Metodo Classico Carricante 2021

Insalate

Poached Pear / Gorgonzola dolce Mousse /White Balsamic Pearls / Walnut Praline Dust /Endive Curls / Pear Consomme / Micro Sorrel

Elena Walch Gwurtztraminer 2023

Elena Walch is a 5-generation family-run estate in Alto Adige, a region in the North-East part of Italy that led the wine quality revolution in the area and has gained a prominent international reputation. An architect by trade, Elena Walch married into one of the oldest and most significant wine families of the region and brought new, modern concepts to the traditional approach. 

Today, the responsibility for the family business is in the hands of Elena’s daughters, Julia and Karoline. With 220 acres in cultivation, including the two top vineyards Vigna Castel Ringberg in Caldaro and Vigna Kastelaz in Tramin, Elena Walch owns the most important “protagonists” of Alto Adige winemaking.

The vineyards represent the ideal terroir for the ‘home of Gewürztraminer’ with its loose soil, characterized by the high lime content, but also deep sand tracts and porphyritic rocks. Warm days with abundant sunshine, accompanied by cool mountain evening temperatures, produce characterful and elegant Gewürztraminer of classic typicity.

The wine with its typical dry Alto Adige charm and personality, gleams in intense straw yellow with hints of gold reflections. 

Classic Gewürztraminer notes are mirrored in the bouquet – intensively aromatic notes of rose petals, flowers and spices. The wine presents itself rich in finesse on the palate, with fresh fullness, harmonic elegance and a long finish. ​

This was one of the most vibrant and expressive Gewürztraminers I recall ever having and was one of the wine finds and memories of the evening. 

Pasta 

Braised Pork Cheek Agnolotti / Fennel Pollen / Roasted Garlic Emulsion / Fennel Stems / Sunchoke Chips/Fennel Frond Oil / Sicilian Black Olive Ash

Benanti Etna Rosso 2022

Benanti Etna Rosso “Contrada Calderara Sottana “ 2021

The 50 year-old vines hail from the Contranda Calderara Sottana vineyard located in the village of Randazzo on the northern slope of Sicily’s Mount Etna, grown in volcanic sands, rich in minerals, with good organic matter content.

This wine is made from 100% Nerello Mascalese, a renowned indigenous grape variety of Sicily. The fruit comes from 50-year-old vines grown in the Contrada Calderara Sottana vineyard, situated in the picturesque village of Randazzo on the northern slope of Mount Etna. 

The unique volcanic terroir of this region, with its rich, mineral soils and altitude, imparts a distinctive character to the grapes. The old vines, carefully tended, produce low yields of exceptional quality, resulting in a wine that captures the essence of Mount Etna’s rugged landscape and complex, layered flavors.

Winemaker notes - Bright ruby red color with spicy aromatics and scents of ripe red fruit. Full-bodied, balanced tannins with structure to age gracefully over the next 10 to 13 years.

This was rated 94 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

"This is a relatively new addition to the Benanti portfolio. The 2022 Etna Rosso Contrada Calderara Sottana shows dried fruit and blackcurrant with pressed rose and crushed volcanic rock. Fruit comes from one hectare on the north side of Etna at 685 meters in elevation with a good amount of organic matter in the soils. There is a hint of strawberry-like ripeness on the close, but otherwise, the wine remains impressively tight, polished and streamlined in texture."

Carne 

Osso Buco / Polenta Custard / Charred Cipollini /Porcini Dust / Veal Reduction Gel / Sage / Garlic Pearls

Arnaldo Caprai Montefalco Sagrantino 2020

This family-owned winery began in 1971 when textiles entrepreneur Arnaldo Caprai purchased 12.5 acres in Montefalco. In 1988, he passed ownership and management on to his son, Marco, who began the project to cultivate the promotion of the grape that has been growing in the Montefalco region for more than 400 years: Sagrantino.  

Arnaldo Caprai Sagrantino Collepiano is a bold expression of Montefalco’s rich winemaking heritage and the distinctive Sagrantino grape, which is found only in this region. 

Collepiano is Sagrantino’s area of production at Caprai. The name means “gentle slopes”, that characterize the hills that are now home to 25 to 30 year old vines. 

The area possesses the ideal terroir for this varietal, all the elements of place most suited to produce this wine - perfect southern sun exposure and well-draining limestone and clay soils, that allow the Sagrantino grape to thrive. The vineyards benefit from the region’s unique microclimate, where warm days and cool nights help preserve the grape’s natural acidity while promoting the development of rich, concentrated flavors.

This wine represents the renaissance of Montefalco as a premier wine region, showcasing Sagrantino’s deep, robust character with flavors of dark fruit, spices, and a touch of earthy minerality. 

This is a style we love and embrace and this was clearly my WOTN - Wine of the Night. 

This Collepiano is a testament to Caprai’s commitment to crafting wines that highlight the distinctive qualities of this exceptional grape and its home.

Reviewer notes (Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate) - Sagrantino Collepiano is a deeply complex and expressive wine. It opens with rich aromas of ripe dark fruit, including Blackberry jam, pepper, clove, and vanilla complemented by subtle notes of spices, tobacco, and a hint of earthy minerality. On the palate, it is full-bodied with a velvety texture, balanced acidity, and well-structured tannins. Powerful yet elegant; bold tannins hint at the ability for long aging.

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Tuscany Riserva DOCG 2020

This iconic wine is from Castello di Volpaia, made exclusively from Sangiovese grapes. Representing the rebirth of Chianti Classico as a fine wine region, it was the first ever Chianti to be recognized in  the top 3 of “Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of the Year” with the 2015 vintage.

This is 100% Sangiovese sourced from several vineyards -Casavecchia, Casetto, Castellino, Campo a Prato, Pratolino, Santa
Caterina, Santa Maria Novella and Vignavecchia. 

They all have light soil consisting of sandstone except Castellino  and Santa Maria Novella, which are composed of clay on slopes. Sitting at around 2000 feet, they are from one of the highest-elevation wineries in the Chianti region. All have a sunny southern, southeast, southwest exposure. They were planted planted between 1970-2002. 

This was aged  24 months in a combination of Slovenian and French oak casks, then a minimum of 3 months in bottle.

Producer’s Tasting Notes - “A pure expression of the best Sangiovese in the Volpaia estates, the Chianti Classico Riserva has a ruby-red hue with a trace of garnet. The nose is elegant, displaying hints of spice and fruit.”

Dolce - Fig and Honey Semifreddo / Fig Gel / Labneh Almond Dust / Cocoa Tuille

Arnaldo Caprai Umbria Montefalco Sagrantino Passito DOCG 

Another Arnolda Caprai wine from the distinctive Sagrantino grape, they have become the leading producer of top quality Sagrantino di Montefalco, wine produced exclusively from this native variety from the Umbria wine region.

This traditional version of Montefalco Sagrantino derives its name from the Latin “sacer”: a holy wine destined for consumption during the Christian celebrations.

This sweet wine was made from semi-dried Sagrantino grapes from 25 to 30 year old vines grown in limestone and clay soils.with a sun drenched southern exposure. It was aged 15 months in French oak and minimum 12 months aging in bottle.

Producer Tasting Notes - “The sweetness arrives first to the nose with scents of blackberry and strawberry jam, revealing vanilla and cinnamon. Warm and sweet, soft and intense. The tannins work to balance the sugars and leave the palate cleansed, ready for another taste.

Like the earlier pairings, this enhanced the dessert course wonderfully. 

Another spectacular food and wine evening in an iconic historic setting. Watch for their upcoming wine events on their website - https://www.italianvillage-chicago.com/.