Delhi Wine Club has established itself in launching restaurants, new cuisines and even new wine labels. So it was not surprising that at the special dinner to welcome the new Italian Ambassador, H.E. Giacomo Sanfelice on Monday, 13th December at the Zanotta Restaurant at The Leela, Gurgaon, we agreed to the launch of Ammirato wines with Italian cuisine, with the Ambassador doing the honours and opening the first bottle of Prosecco.
Bangalore –based Ammirato Foods India introduced nine variants of Ammirato wines including Prosecco, Pinot Grigio, Rosato (Rosé), Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Chianti Colli Senesi, Valpolicella and Valpolicella Classico in Haryana. Seven wines with a fabulous 7-course Menu might be considered royal by most standards, but the members of the Delhi Wine Club are used to working hard, doing justice to the gourmet foods with matching wines.
Scallops & bacon with plum sauce and the Chicken & olive were both superb in taste, like the Arancini with saffron aioli for vegetarians. But the Award for Excellence must go to the Mushroom baked with Gorgonzola sauce, as it was not only flavoursome, but the emanating aromas would make a Gewürztraminer lover fall from the chair. The Ammirato Prosecco, after it was officially launched by the Ambassador Sanfelice, was slightly off dry- perhaps 9-12 gms/L of sugar - but it was very pleasant on the palate and a great accompaniment. The good thing about the bubbly was that it would handle slightly hot and spicy Indian food as well and would also go with cheeses and some desserts and vegetarian food too. The zingy texture could have lasted slightly longer in the bottle and on the palate.
Dr. Claudio Ammirato, the owner of the company, who had come from Italy especially for the launch, explained that this could be due to the fact that the wines had just arrived from Bangalore and had not rested. As a rule of thumb, any wine should be made to rest from two days to two weeks after travelling, otherwise it would be temporarily bruised.
The celebrity Chef Kunal who is one of the judges in the ongoing Masterchef India was on hand to welcome the guests. Decidedly humble, this master of Indian cuisine has brought art to the Indian cuisine as one had enjoyed at the Diya Restaurant on the lobby floor and one saw several members getting pictures taken with him and the glass of Ammirato bubbly, while he shyly obliged.
Carpaccio of Lobster and octopus with snail salad and rosemary lemon oil was an exotic dish which was well matched with Ammirato Pinot Grigio 2009. I found it a bit too powerful for the Pinot which, though clean and fresh, did not leave much impression on the palate and was short. Surprisingly, about half the guests liked the mouthfeel whereas I had the other half siding with me.
Cream of chick peas with tender lamb filet/ pepper-goat cheese roll and black truffle was very creamy and delicious, a good combination with Ammirato Toscano Rosato 2008 -100% Sangiovese-based Rosé from a winery near Siena. But the wine was not crisp enough, though it had the flavours typical of Sangiovese-like cherries. It felt slightly tired in the mouth and although the favourite with a few people, did not muster enough support from the audience to merit an award of excellence.
Pasticcio pasta with oven roasted corn-fed chicken and Barolo cream or Mediterranean vegetables and chanterelles ragout was a favourite with most-helping the votes were the Ammirato Valpolicella 2008 and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2008-both of which were medium bodied wines with berry flavours and a good mouthfeel. As Chris Pohl, CEO of the company explained, these wines were simply to be enjoyed with the food and were worth keeping ‘on the table’ in a household or in a restaurant without burning a hole in the pocket.
After the four courses, the members were ready to take a break before getting back to the work at hand- the Sorbet was a good conversation piece as it helped clean the palate and most people were happy to experiment some more with the wines before the final course was served –bringing out the two final wines of the evening, a Chianti Colli Senesi 2007 and Ammirato Valpolicella Classico 2008.
New Zealand lamb shank oven-braised, in balsamic reduction with anchovies was well prepared but looked like the end of the line for me-so much food had been demolished. Mrs. Sanfelice, the ambassador’s wife loved her Spicy Yam stew with root vegetables and Parmesan froth- here again the Chef had shown his exceptional talent, but she would not take any more. The lamb matched both the wines-dry but fruity with a pleasant mouthfeel and a balanced taste, with tannins tucked away in the background, a delightful condiment for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
The Chef wouldn’t let go of us so easily. The Trio of Granny Smith apple dumplings, Baked and Mousse and a special Italian cheese sampler with walnut bread and olive chutney would have won anyone’s heart after the hearty meal we were having.
There had been so many varietals to choose from that the ‘Drink till you Drop’ offer given to the members to celebrate the launch was not taken up by anyone. Although some pretentious, self-proclaiming Sommelier might scoff at the evening’s proceedings, it was great fun taking feedback from the members and guests about the wines of the evening. While there were staunch supporters and opponents to the Grigio and Prosecco, all the red wines finished with a positive vote, with the Chianti Colli Senesi and the Valpolicella Classico sharing the top honours.
With the prices to be announced shortly and expected to be very affordable, Ammirato seems to be a potentially explosive new wine-it could rock the whole wine industry. It will depend a lot on how the company handles the golden goose. But Zanotta is steaming ahead to rub shoulders with the top Italian restaurants in Delhi. Incidentally, the Senior Sous Chef Thapa is getting more innovative by the day. The biggest testimonial about the food excellence came from the Ambassador who, when introduced to Chef Thapa, complimented him in Italian, sure of himself that such delicious Italian food could be crafted only by an Italian chef.
Ammirato wines were launched in Bangalore earlier this month and this was the launching moment for them in the North. ‘We plan to get them to Delhi and Goa in our next phase,’ says Chris Pohl, the South African-German who is the CEO of the company for India and Sri-Lanka and claims to have many aces up his sleeve-it looks like the members of the Delhi Wine Club only saw a preview of the things to come.
Subhash Arora
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