MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE STAYING PUT IN MILAN By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER ANDAZ and ALDO SOHM WINE BAR By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR WINES FOR THE HOLIDAYS By John Mariani
❖❖❖ STAYING PUT IN MILAN By John Mariani Il Duomo (photo by John Mariani)
Though Milan is usually a
tick down from Rome, Venice and Florence on
tourists’ list of must-see Italian cities, it is
in fact one of the grandest and possibly the most
civilized city in Italy. I shall write about
Milan’s rich history, elegant culture and
wonderful trattorias at another time, so for the
moment let me concentrate on where to stay in this
wealthy Lombardian city, which now has a passel of
the finest deluxe properties in Italy. HOTEL
PRINCIPE DI SAVOIA One
of the grandest of the old hotels in Milan is the Principe di
Savoia on
the broad Piazza della Repubblica. I hadn’t
been back in years, so I was enchanted to see how a
hotel that had for decades lived on its historic
reputation had been transformed in such a careful
way as to maintain its original grandeur while
adding 21st century
glamour to the public and private rooms. Restored
and brightened by designer Thierry Despond, its
lobby and hallways were polished and softly lighted,
its rooms, like the Ambassador Suite in the photo
above, not just freshened but wholly reconceived by
marrying classic good taste with every amenity.
There’s a gorgeously seductive swimming pool, a
state-of-the-art spa and fitness center and a
beautiful tea room.
There is also complimentary limo service
to the city’s center. (Breakfast is not included in
the room price.)
PARK HYATT MILAN The tasting menus at
VUN is €115-€150; a la carte, first courses
€30-€45; pastas €25-30; main courses €42-€45.
HOTEL MILANO SCALA
❖❖❖ NEW
YORK CORNER
Small Is Beautiful: Two for Midtown By John Mariani ALDO SOHM WINE BAR
Aldo Sohm Wine Bar is open
Mon.-Fri. for lunch and dinner; Sat. for dinner.
THE SHOP AT ANDAZ FIFTH AVENUE 212-601-1234 Although
more
of a traditional restaurant than Aldo Sohm Wine
Bar, The Shop, located just across from the NY
Public Library, is about the same size and has
something of the same ambiance, via a strong use
of wood panels, overhead lighting, sofas, and
strong colors.
And it does seem like a place to come by
before theater or for a light meal on the run or
if you’re staying in the hotel upstairs. Large plates
range from "peaches and cream" sweet corn risotto,
Pernod, tarragon and mascarpone ($23) to a
terrific crispy pig’s ear salad. Spaghetti cacio e pepe—pure
Roman comfort food—is so simple that it is
extremely easy to screw up, but Mr. Santoro’s is
textbook perfect, not soupy, not dry, impeccably
al dente with just enough cheese and black pepper
to give it zing.
❖❖❖
I’m asked often enough what wines I’d want to
have if stranded on a desert island--which are the
same wines I'd love to serve for Christmas and New
Year's dinners. I always have my answer ready: Just my
favorites. I don’t want trophy wines or antiques. I
want wines I can thoroughly enjoy right now and for
several years to come. I want them to go well with
food. With
those parameters in mind, here’s my dream list of
six wonderful wines to be stranded with from
appetizers through dessert. Edoardo Valentini Trebbiano
d’Abruzzo—Trebbiano is a workhorse grape in
Italy and not much in favor these days. But
that’s because only a rare, even eccentric,
winemaker like Valentini knows how to produce a
great wine from this over-planted varietal. I
remember the first time I tasted his Trebbiano
d’Abruzzo, at a seafood restaurant on the Adriatic.
The waiter brought a ten-year-old vintage I tried to
refuse. But he insisted, and I was astonished how
this usually negligible white varietal had such
marvelous fruit and acid in perfect tandem. It just
exploded in my mouth. And age—usually the killer for
Italian whites—had given it complexity and
character. With
fish it is a nonpareil white wine. A vintage like
2007 should cost about $90-$100.
La Tâche—If
choosing a pricey red Burgundy, why not the more
prestigious Romanée-Conti? Sentiment, perhaps. Years and years
ago I grew to prefer La Tâche, a Grand Cru owned by
the same Domaine de la Romanée-Conti that owns
Romanée-Conti, as well as Richebourg and Romanée-St.
Vivant. Any
of these will do nicely, but for me La Tâche has
more of the taste of what I like about Vosne-Romanée
vineyards—a silkiness of texture, a refinement of
tannins and fruit, and enormous finesse at every
point on the palate. The 1990 is drinking
beautifully now and will for years to come. Expect
to pay at least $4,500 for a bottle. BV
Georges de la Tour Private Reserve—If
only more California wineries emulate this glorious
red wine from Beaulieu Vineyard, founded by
Frenchman George de la Tour in 1900! It has
long set the standard by which to judge the
character of the finest cabernet sauvignons of any
region in the world. It is always big but never
massive, full of California sun but never grapey,
complex throughout with a long, walnut-and-dried
cherry finish. And it is always in balance and,
unlike so many Napa Valley cabs, it can go on
forever. I’ll take a case of 1982. Much to my
amazement, prices for BV, even for the 1982 and
wines of the 1990s, stay steady at about $80-$100.
Warre's
Vintage
Port—To me Port is dessert,
although I think it’s also the best cheese wine in
the world. Attempts
by other countries at capturing the
beauty, richness, nutty sweetness, and magnificence
of a vintage Port have been futile. They lack
the depth and fineness of the Portuguese original
from the Douro River vineyards. I’ll gladly drink a
Tawny or even a lightweight Ruby any evening, but if
I want to settle in for the night, an old Vintage
from Warre's, say 1955 or 1977, would be all I could
ask for. Anything younger wouldn’t be ready or
right. The ’77 might still be found for about
$90-$100. ❖❖❖
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIS PEOPLE,
“A very
long time ago, when I was hustling tarot-card
readings before a Grateful Dead show in Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., one of my patrons — a big, bearded
biker — handed me a wad of crumpled dollar bills and
a map. `If you’re going to the next show in
Rochester,' he said, `you can camp at this guy’s
house.' The next afternoon, my friend and I
arrived at the house, pulled our backpacks out of
the trunk of the car and rang the doorbell. The guy
in Rochester, it turned out, had no idea that some
biker at a Dead show in Saratoga had been handing
out maps to his house. But sure, he said, we could
pitch our tent. He made us coffee. More strangers —
all with the same map — filed in throughout the
afternoon. By evening, a small shantytown had
materialized in his backyard.”—Rosie Schaap, “Holy
Smoke,” NY
Times (Dec. 14, 2014)
Wine Column Sponsored by Banfi Vintners
Reliable Old Friends
by Cristina Mariani-May
Earlier
this month I dedicated this entire space to the top ten
reasons to enjoy Rosa Regale for the holiday season. But if man
must live on more than bread alone, there is plenty of
room for other wines this time of year.
Fizz the Season – no other time of year lends itself to
bubbly more than this.
In Italy, which long ago mastered the art of
comforting hospitality, Prosecco is the ultimate hospitalian
wine. Many
restaurants offer a glass of Prosecco to arriving
guests. I
like to point out that prosecco is like Champagne in
that it is named for the unique part of the world it
hails from and has bubbles, but most of the time the
similarities end there.
Prosecco is not typically complex, austere or the
drink of millionaires; it is the light-hearted bourgeois
bubbly, to borrow a French term. Maschio is one of
the leading producers of Prosecco. They offer
two types on the US market: Maschio Brut:
a straightforwardly dry, crisp, clean wine that is very
reasonably priced and also available in 187ml “stocking
stuffer” sizes. But
Maschio’s masterpiece is Maschio dei
Cavalieri, or the knights/cavaliers/gentlemenly
Prosecco. It
is the ne plus
ultra of prosecco – a Superiore from
the heartland Valdobiaddene
and within that from the prestigious Rive di Colbertaldo
subzone. A
smooth and silky bubbly that just exudes elegance. And is still
a bargain! If you are a Champagne lover, then
consider what Italy can do with wine fermented in the
bottle as our French cousins do. Banfi Brut is a
blend of the classic champenoise
grapes – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc,
fermented in the bottle with some additional bottle
aging before release.
It yields the yeasty, toasty flavors of its
French counterpart.
Prefer a little color? Consider Cuvee Aurora Rose,
a 100% Pinot Noir that takes its blush from brief
contact with the grape skins during fermentation (don’t
we all blush from a little skin contact?). It is pale pink and subtle, dry and
round.
Want to keep even closer to Italian traditions in
sparkling wine? Then try some dry Lambrusco. I can suggest
two to start, depending on your mood. Feeling dark,
moody and deep? Try some OttocentoNero from
Albinea Canali. This opaque,
bone dry, austere Lambrusco will not only help you
ponder the true meaning of the season, but cut through
rich holiday foods like a laser. Feeling bright and perky? Then
opt for FB
Lambrusco, which creatively stands for ”Fermented
in the Bottle.” This is made
from the Sorbara varietal of Lambrusco, which has low
color and high acid, making it a bright light. While it is,
as the name more than subtly suggests, fermented in the
bottle, the sediment is not removed – making it less
like Champagne and more like a Weiss Bier. Each glass
will be slightly cloudier than the last but more
intensely flavored.
This is a nod to the “Metodo Ancestrale” or ancestral method
that the farmers used to make their wines – bottled in
the cool of early winter when some natural sugars remain
in the wine, only to ferment fully dry as spring
temperatures warmed the cellar and re-started
fermentation. The
ultimate Vino
Naturale!!!
Whatever form of bubbles you choose, my family and I
wish you the most sparkling of holidays! ❖❖❖
JUST IN TIME
FOR CHRISTMAS!
WATCH
THE VIDEO Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
columnist for USA
Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
a contributing editor for Ski and a frequent contributor
to National
Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com
and Elle Decor.
"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
their travel seriously," says Potter. "For
travelers who want to learn about special places
but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for
the privilege of staying there. Because at the end
of the day, it’s not so much about five-star
places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK:
Eating Las Vegas is the new on-line site for Virtual Gourmet contributor John A. Curtas., who since 1995 has been commenting on the Las Vegas food scene and reviewing restaurants for Nevada Public Radio. He is also the restaurant critic for KLAS TV, Channel 8 in Las Vegas, and his past reviews can be accessed at KNPR.org. Click on the logo below to go directly to his site.
Tennis Resorts Online: A Critical Guide to the World's Best Tennis Resorts and Tennis Camps, published by ROGER COX, who has spent more than two decades writing about tennis travel, including a 17-year stretch for Tennis magazine. He has also written for Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Esquire, Money, USTA Magazine, Men's Journal, and The Robb Report. He has authored two books-The World's Best Tennis Vacations (Stephen Greene Press/Viking Penguin, 1990) and The Best Places to Stay in the Rockies (Houghton Mifflin, 1992 & 1994), and the Melbourne (Australia) chapter to the Wall Street Journal Business Guide to Cities of the Pacific Rim (Fodor's Travel Guides, 1991).
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John
Mariani.
Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani, Misha
Mariani,
John A. Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein,
Andrew Chalk, Dotty Griffith and Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Dargery, Bobby
Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.
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