Real Wine. Junk Food.

Wine writers are often suggesting that certain wines are best when paired with a particular delicacy, like roast duck, foie gras, kobe steak tartare. Really, how many times this year have you eaten rabbit?  Tonight we will navigate away from the three stars of Michelin, and wade through the depths of American gastronomy into the genre of culinary delights affectionately known as ‘junk food’.  We have unofficially partnered with some of the North End’s premier sources of our own guilty pleasures (White Hen Pantry and CVS) to procure a veritable feast, full with natural and artificial flavors and colors.  How will our favorite new Lambrusco fare when put to the test against the intensely satisfying, slightly alarming flavors in pizza-flavored Combos?  Let’s find out!

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The Emancipated Tasting

In the spirit of Inauguration Week and the country’s renewed commitment to personal responsibility, we are presenting you with a tasting unfettered by the traditional constraints of wine tasting. This is all about you and your palate. This is not a Blind Tasting! That pesky label implies that your senses are being restricted. Let’s call it an Emancipated Tasting. A goal of a traditional blind tasting is to identify the varietal, region, producer and vintage of the wine. All too often that format feels like a test and takes away from the enjoyment of the wine. Our goal with this evening’s tasting is to remove all the indicators that might prod you to think of what you are "supposed" to think about the wine, so that you can focus entirely on your response to the wine itself. No preconceived notions, just your impression. Celebrate the diversity of wines out there and exercise your right to drink what you love!

Wines from Valle D’Aosta (Italy)

As you turn North from Torino you leave behind the rolling foothills of the Langhe and start to climb towards Europe’s highest peak and border with France: Monte Bianco. Once a colony of Piedmont, the Valle D’Aosta was ruled by the House of Savoy for over a century. The heights of Gran Paradiso Nature Reserve collide with the often swollen banks of the Dora Baltea River where vines, grasping to the steep mountain pistes, thrive. The soils are predominantly glacial moraine so grape choices and wine styles are primarily determined by altitude (300 - 800m). This is Italy’s smallest wine region and many of the wines never make it outside the Valle D’Aosta, never mind overseas. These wines are fresh and bright and would be perfect for a summer picnic, but they are also beautiful with rich game and charcuterie, fitting for the cold New England winter. 

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Zap! Bam! Pow!

Tonight we’ve got a line-up of superheroes- wines that come from humble beginnings and save the day with their uncanny abilities. Big bang for the buck, great to drink on their own or with food, and there’s even some X-ray vision- these wines are windows to their terroir. And since they’re here at the Wine Bottega you know they’re fighting for truth and justice, vanquishing the minions of evil (those wines spewed from the factories at the behest of masked marketing departments and shady multinational conglomerates). In times like these, we need some wines to take a stand. And like a good comic book, we can take comfort that you can still find something for a just a little bit of change that makes the troubles of the day fade away.

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Feast of the Seven Fishes

It is a tradition in Southern Italy and now of Italian Americans to celebrate the night before Christmas with the Feast of the Seven Fishes also known as La Vigilia .The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates from the medieval Catholic tradition of abstinence. Meat, butter and other milk products were not allowed on Fridays or other Holy Days. Instead fish, typically fried in oil, would be served. This tradition has evolved and now the lush feast seems a far cry from any sort of abstinence! While the exact dishes vary from family to family, there are always some seven combinations of anchovies, sardines, dried salt cod, smelts, eels, squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels, oysters, and clams.

We have sought out a fabulous line-up of seafood friendly Italian wines, expanding beyond just the Southern climes to include some Northern favorites as well. From fresh and fruity to minerally and complex to lush and smoky, we look forward to opening your eyes to the wide range of wines that will compliment your Feast of the Seven Fishes.

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Selections from the Terry Theise Portfolio with Derek Whitaker

Terry Theise is known as a prophet, a master, a hedonist, a glutton, a dork. He is celebrated for his exceptionally expressive wine descriptions that venture far from the "hints of blackberry and cocoa" that inundate mainstream wine reviews. Sex, drugs, music, religion and just about anything else are fair game for his eloquent and witty tangents which have led many to look at wine in a whole new way. He is also this year’s recipient of the prestigious James Beard Foundation Medal for the Nation’s Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional for his role as a champion of small-producers making "real" wines. We are extremely pleased to have Derek Whitaker with us this evening to guide us through the tasting. Derek works with Atlantic Importing Co. and is one of Boston’s most respected wine experts (and a great guy!). We are sure he will dazzle you with his extensive knowledge of these wines from Austria and Germany.

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